Season Food Perfectly by Cooking on a Himalayan Salt Block

Flavorless and under-seasoned food is such a disappointment, but hey, overly salted food ultimately has the same effects—double-edge sword anybody? Cooking your food on a Himalayan salt block may be just what you’re looking for to add an extra oomph to your food. Himalayan salt varies in a pink to reddish color; it’s often known for its minerals and is said to be the purest sea salt in the world.

Karen Ahn over at WonderHowTo swears by using a salt block:

Something alchemical happens when food meets a Himalayan salt block. Unlike regular table salt, you can't over- or under-season your food. Not to sound too mystical about it, but it seems like the salt fuses with the food to provide just the right amount of savor.

Himalayan salt blocks are awesome at conducting heat evenly; once you heat the slab, you’re good to cook thinly sliced food right on top.

It’s a matter of heating up your salt block slowly. You can do this right on the grill, or on top of a gas stove top (make sure to add a couple drops of water to the surface when heating, you’re looking for the sizzling action for the perfect temp). You can even use your oven, but you’ll want to make sure your block is tempered first on the stove top.

Slap on some veggies or protein on the heated Himalayan salt block, and you’ll have seasoned deliciousness cooked to perfection. Not to mention, an awesome presentation for your guests. You can even cook pizza dough or dinner rolls on the thing (oven method). Don’t be intimidated by the salt, you can cook anything and everything on it.

You don’t even have to heat up the salt slab if you don’t want to. Freeze the salt for a beautiful presentation of cold desserts like sorbet. You can also chill the slab in the fridge, and place fruit, veggies, or sushi on it too.

The prices for the Himalayan salt slabs varies anywhere from the mid $20s to the $70s range. It would make for a great Holiday gift for the food enthusiast (or, heck, even for yourself). So no, this is definitely not an expensive gimmick, it actually works, and will make a huge difference in the flavor of your food.

There is a method to the madness of what to look for when buying a salt block and even more in-depth tips of cooking and cleaning with the thing. Karen provides some great tips and resources to point you in right direction in the link below.

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Photo by: Craig Hatfield | Flickr

Season Food Perfectly by Cooking on a Himalayan Salt Block