Today is the great American holiday and I would guess that at least 90% of americans will be involved in some way, shape or form, in a backyard barbecue, or lakeside barbecue, or poolside, or campsite cookout, whatever you want to call it...somehow, and for some reason, we are drawn to the grill on this day. Maybe cooking outdoors somehow connects us with the freedom and liberation that we fought so hard to obtain. Cooking outside definitely connects us with each other, our primitive roots, and a primal instinct to incorporate and play with...fire! How else do we top of this holiday, but with a fireworks display, either of our own, or a massive spectacle (like on the esplenade in Boston, complete with the Boston symphony playing 'God Bless America'...so cool!)
Whatever draws us outside to celebrate, this is the one day on which most Americans agree, that food tastes better cooked outside...and that is exactly what I am doing on this holiday...grillin'.
We are cooking everything outside today and Saltisry salts will be with us every step of the way. We aren't cooking burgers or dogs, we've gone one step further and are cooking seafood on the grill, lobster tails and crab legs, cauliflower and whatever other veggies we need to use up in the fridge...and the beauty of these amazing salts is that they will compliment anything we put on the fire. We are also having potato salad, just to maintain some cookout tradition. I think that deciding what salt to use in my potato salad was the hardest decision...which direction do I want my potatoes to take? We started with some red potatoes, boiled and then skinned, used some red wine vinegar, shallots, french dijon mustard, parsley and I finished it with the fennel pollen salt..a bold choice perhaps, but the fennel added a suprisingly subtle layer to the salad, and is fantastic! For the grilled cauliflower, I just blanched it for about 3 minutes and then smeared it with greek oregano and some of the most yummiest smoked salish salt...divine!!!!! There will be none of this left by the time I go to bed tonight! For the lobster tails and crab legs...some preserved lemon salt suits the seafood to a tee, but for New Mexican flare, we added chili flakes and lime flake salt...a supreme combination. We also used this combo on a cold jicima salad with excellent results!!!!
The most amazing thing about these salts is that you get to create your mood, through food. You can take ordinary, everyday items to a completely different level with the salts that you use. You can use the coconut black salt on watermelon, or shrimp. You can use the apricot salt for fruit salad, or grilled mango, or pineapple, or even on dry roasted walnuts and raisins, or dry roasted sunflower seeds and raisins. The smoked salish can go on grilled potatoes or asparagus. The popcorn salt can go on grilled artichokes or radicchio. The smoked chili or six pepper can go on any meat item that you can think of...that's just it, anything goes!!!! Even the most inexperienced cooks can create wonderful flavors by using whichever salt strikes their fancy. The more obviuos flavored salts are a great way to start and get your palate used to fine salts, but for the more experienced palates, which yours will become with exposure, the purist sampler offers delicate differences, untouched by outside flavors. Whichever you use, the most important thing to remember is that there is no wrong choice. Whichever salt sounds good to you, use and experiment...you will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
As for my grilling adventure...my next experiment in honor of this red, white and blue holiday is to grill up some sourdough(white), sprinkle on some bleu cheese just before I pull it off of the grill(blue, of course) and top it off with some thinly slice tomatoes or red onions(yummy and red) and then finish this wonderfulness with some yummy six pepper or herb grey salt...I have yet to decide. Happy Grilling, Americans and stay 'salty'!!!!!
