Salt Crystals: Not Just For Margaritas

I bet you never expected to see a picture of green beans on Baking Delights, huh?

The thing is, as I share my love of cooking with the people around me, who are mostly my kids, I instinctively pass on bits of information that make huge differences in the end product. I realized last night as I was photographing supper ( can you imagine how twisted my kids are?  Their mom photographs everything before they bite into it.. ) that I don’t tend to do that here…I might write, “salt this”, or “cut this in pieces”, but because you only see the end product most of the time you don’t see how I do it or why you shouldn’t do it another way. Alot of you are much better cooks than I, and could teach me a thing or two but I thought today I would begin to share some tips  about ingredients on a regular basis.

Crystallized Sea salt is one of my favorites. It has a distinct taste, which you don’t really expect. I mean, salt is salt, right? Nope.  Someone sent me sea salt from France a few months ago..It was pink! And it tasted much different than anything I had had before. So, yeah, different salts are different. Use whatever you want when you boil water for pasta but when you are salting food try a few different kinds to see what you like. And I am not talking Morton’s and the store brand.

Anyway. I like sea salt crystals for using as a table salt. Rather than giving the vegetables an all over salty taste you get distinct tastes. In this case; the green beans, the butter and then the occasional burst of salty crunch. It is one of the things that sets really good food apart from mediocre food.

In baking there are some cool things you can do. If you are making a savory pie, like tourtiere you can brush an egg yolk wash on the top crust and sprinkle with the salt crystals. The finished crust has a golden hue with a bit of glitter to it and the salty crunch adds interest. Be sparing with the amounts you use. If you are making chocolate chip cookies sometime try sprinkling the tops of a couple with crystallized sea salt, especially if you, like me, love that contrast between sweet and salty as with chocolate covered pretzels. Yum. Again, be sparing. You don’t want it to overpower the other flavors just give them an added pizazz.

Being creative and adventurous with your cooking keeps it from being boring and it is the thing that ultimately sets you apart from others.

Hey! Don’t forget…Leave a comment to be entered in the Donna Reed Divas Apron Contest. You can leave a comment on every post from that post on until it’s over and you will be entered EVERY time you leave a comment. I can be a pretty prolific writer, so if you can be a pretty prolific commenter you might have a good shot at it.
Also…Are you checking daily for the Scavenger Hunt? Find all the words and you can win this way cool Autumn gift basket from B5. But you have to read the posts in the participating blogs daily to do it. It is a good way to expand your horizons.
Last, but certainly not least..Please, please, please..Don’t forget to make a pink dessert for the Boobie Bake-off every bit of the proceeds of that will go to breast cancer research in the name of the winner. And it will be fun to see all of the creative stuff you come up with.
So… a cornucopiaof things happening  this month and it isn’t even Christmas yet.