What's the deal with designer salt? Test and find out

IN A RECENT column, I talked about being bold with salt -- experimenting with the difference that thorough seasoning can make in your cooking.

But, as you might have noticed the last time you tried to buy some at a specialty food store, salt has gotten quite complicated. There's kosher salt, British sea salt, French fleur de sel, Hawaiian red clay salt, roasted Korean salt, black salt, pink salt, coarse salt, fine salt, crystals, flakes and more.

I have a friend who's mad for a hand-mined Big Sur salt. And I've even heard of restaurants with salt sommeliers (although that might be urban legend).

You may be wondering, what's the deal with designer salt?

The short answer is: Salt is salt. No matter where it's from or how much it costs, all salts are roughly 99 percent sodium chloride, your friend NaCl from high school chemistry. The rest is minerals, and in such trace amounts you probably won't taste the difference from one to another.

In fact, in a Vogue magazine food column reprinted in "It Must've Been Something I Ate" (Random House, $15), Jeffrey Steingarten wrote of experiments that he and some food scientists conducted, concluding that very thing.

So when you're using salt in a recipe where it's going to dissolve -- in a soup or a saut, for example -- there's no point using anything fancy.

Where you may notice a difference from one salt to another is in a raw application, as in a final sprinkling before you eat. Two things account for that difference, the first being mineral content, where one may have a little magnesium and another has iron or potassium.

The other, more likely thing that makes a difference between salts, though, is texture. Depending on the construction of the salt crystals -- fine, coarse, flaked, whatever -- they will melt, or not, and land in different spots on your tongue, affecting the way your food tastes.

In other words, when the salt is going to get cooked in, use whatever you have on hand, one that's not expensive. When it's going to be sprinkled on top, you might find that different types of salt make the same food taste different.

Try a few and see what you like. Experiment with size, shape, color and place of origin. Play. If you discover something, great. If not, let the salt snobs duke it out while you sit smugly on the sidelines.

But why is kosher salt suddenly popping up in so many recipes? One reason is that kosher salt -- which should really be called koshering salt because rather than being OK to use if you observe kosher dietary laws (which all salt is), it's the salt that's used to prepare meat in accordance with those laws -- is simply a form of salt that many chefs know and are familiar with. So with the increased popularity of chefs and restaurant cooking, there has also been an increased popularity of kosher salt.

Many professionals prefer kosher salt because it doesn't have ingredients such as calcium silicate, dextrose and potassium iodide, which are added to many table salts. Also, kosher salt's larger crystals make it easier to grab and sprinkle with bare fingers.

I've also heard chefs say that it's just what they're used to -- they've worked with kosher salt so much that they have confidence knowing how much of a pinch will make how much of a difference.

Does this mean you have to use kosher salt when it's called for in a recipe?

Absolutely not. But note that because of those large crystals, kosher salt takes up more volume than table salt. So if you want to substitute table salt for kosher salt, use about 50 percent less by volume than is called for.

On the other hand, if want to use kosher salt in a recipe that calls for table salt (usually referred to as simply "salt" in an ingredient list), you can use about twice as much.

One caveat: in baking, use the type of salt that the recipe specifies. Besides adding flavor, salt plays chemical roles in baked goods that shouldn't be messed with.

Goat Cheese Truffles

with Fancy Salts

Different salts here will give these not-too-sweet truffles different looks, textures and, depending on the salts and your sensitivity, tastes.

3 ounces soft goat cheese

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

2 to 4 fancy salts, preferably different colors and textures

With dampened hands, roll 1-tablespoon portions of goat cheese into balls about 1-inch in diameter. Arrange balls on a parchment- lined tray and refrigerate.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water. Remove chocolate from heat. Using a truffle fork, fork or toothpick, dip a goat cheese ball into the chocolate, turning to coat. Let excess drip off and return truffle to tray; wait about 30 seconds and sprinkle with a few crystals of salt. Repeat with remaining balls, using different salts. Refrigerate until chocolate has hardened. Serve cold.

Makes about 12 truffles.

Per truffle: 81 Calories; 8g Fat; 3g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 7mg Cholesterol; 115mg Sodium.