We have a lovely new range of flavoured Dorset Sea Salts that are ideal for cocktails, marinating meat, cooking and finishing.
There’s a whole world of science around salt, with its primary use in cooking as a seasoning to enhance flavour. It’s an essential mineral component of a healthy diet, but should be used in moderation. It’s also used to preserve food such bacon, smoked salmon, pickles and butter, that would not exist without salt. It’s also a binding agent, colour controller, and helps provide texture to bread. In Japan, some shops stock 300 different types of salt, depending on what’s on the menu.
So, when we offer 7 new flavours of salt, you should be asking “is that all?”. Still, if you are thinking of a Sunday Rib of Beef or a ribeye this bank holiday, and you liberally sprinkle some smoked sea salt into the flank before popping it on the grill, you will be in for a treat. You can then sit back and enjoy a well-earned bloody mary, with Chilgrove Vodka, Tobascco, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce and some tomato juice from the Isle of Wight, along with a sprinkling of celery salt.
The local line-caught bass are back in season, and just a pinch of lemon and thyme salt will lift this delicate fish, in fact it’s a great excuse to use the salt to try new recipes and experiment. Here is a salt and pepper squid recipe that has to be one of my favourite meals, courtesy of John Torode who visited Dorset Sea Salt.
Salt and pepper squid with chilli dressing
Serves: 2
Ingredients
Chilli Dressing:
10g dried long chillies, toasted
30g palm sugar
20g fish sauce
100ml lime juice
Oil for deep frying
10g garlic cloves, skin on
10 white peppercorns
20g sea salt
100g plain flour
500g (cleaned weight) medium sized squid, slit open and scored on the inner side, then cut into large pieces
A good handful of fresh coriander, leaves picked off
25ml chilli dressing
Method
- To make the sauce, crush the chillies in a pestle and mortar then combine with other ingredients
- Fill a deep pan or deep fat fryer one third full with oil and heat
- Peel half the garlic and pound with the remaining whole cloves. The cloves should split open and the flesh and the skin should come together.
- Throw the pounded garlic into the preheated oil, lower the heat to a bubble and leave to cook for a good 5 minutes, stirring every so often. The garlic will float to the top and be crisp.
- Using a straining spoon, remove the garlic and drain well on kitchen paper
- Place the wok back over a high heat, when the oil starts to shimmer it is ready to cook in
- Meanwhile pound the peppercorns and sea salt together in a mortar and pestle then add the flour and set to one side
- Once all the garlic is cooked, toss the squid in the seasoned flour and coat well
- Drop a quarter of the squid in the oil and fry for about 3-4 minutes – the squid should curl and go crisp. Remove from the oil and place on a preheated tray in the oven until the remainder is cooked.
- Place the garlic in a large bowl with the picked coriander and add the cooked squid, toss well and serve on individual plates with the chilli dressing around the outside