So, my first semester in the George Brown culinary program has ended and my second semester has just begun. I am really excited to further sharpen my cooking skills and techniques this semester and decided to look back at my last semester to see how I have been inspired. Interestingly, I find that many of the people and situations that inspired me helped to elevate my productivity and drive in the culinary program much in the same way that seasoning our dishes with salt helps to elevate and take them to a heightened level of taste for our palates. Taking from this, I decided to come up with some flavoured salts that are representative of some of these inspirations from last semester. Flavouring salt is quite exciting and simple to do. All you need is the inspiration for your salt, some coarse salt as a base and flavourings to infuse into the salt. There are various ways to add flavour to your salt. One method of doing so is by using the ‘dry’ method, in which your salt is gently pulsed in a food processor along with a dry ingredient for the contribution of aroma and flavour. Salt can also be flavoured using a ‘wet’ method, where the salt is mixed with a wet ingredient and then allowed to dry. Drying can be accomplished in various ways, including leaving the salt out in the sun for a few days, placing it into a very low temperature oven or even using a dehydrator to help extract the moisture. Additionally, salt can also be infused with even more flavour by following the ‘wet’ method using a reduced liquid with more concentrated flavours. Have a look at my ‘inspirational salts’ below and enjoy.
The photograph shows my inspirational salts plated between coarse sea salt. The following are my salts and the inspiration behind them, starting from the left-hand side: Vanilla-Espresso Salt – Inspired by how frequently vanilla beans were used in my baking class as well as how often I needed a coffee to wake me up in the early mornings. I made this salt using a wet reduction of espresso infused with Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean paste. Tomato Salt – Inspired by the use of tomato in many of the dishes in my first semester culinary courses. This salt was made using the dry method where tomato paste was placed on parchment paper, dried in the oven and subsequently pulsed with coarse sea salt in a food processor. Olive Salt – Inspired by my love for olives but dislike for traditional Greek food (which is rare for Greeks like myself but I’ve learnt not to apologize for my palate). For this salt, I used the dry method and baked sliced olives on parchment paper in the oven for approximately 1 hour on the lowest heat possible. I then added some sea salt flakes and chopped it all up with a knife to allow the salt to maintain a crunchy texture. Sesame Salt – Inspired by my newly found desire to eat Korean food after class. For this salt, I simply lightly toasted some sesame seeds in a pan on the stove and then finely ground them in a food processor along with some salt. Port Salt – Inspired for my love of wine and the art of eating and dining course. This salt involved taking an entire bottle of port and reducing it down until it became syrupy with highly concentrated flavour. This reduced liquid was then combined with coarse sea salt and mixed by hand until the salt was uniform in colour. It was then dried in the oven, followed by leaving in a dehydrator overnight before gently pulsing again in a food processor to break up any remaining clumps. It’s amazing how well my salts turned out and I can’t wait to make some great dishes so I can put these salts to use. The process was fun, and I highly recommend you try making some salts of your own based on what inspires you or the flavours you enjoy most.
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AuthorHi everyone. I'm Peter, and I have decided to follow my passion and pursue a career in cooking. I look forward to connecting with you all. Archives
February 2017
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