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You have finally mastered the art of smoking, and to finish off the dressing, you require some smoked salt. Most importantly, you should learn how to make smoked salt. While there are great smoked salts in the store, no level of packaging can be compared to the flavors you can get from your homemade smoked salt. Of course, by now you are asking, can you smoke salt at home? This article will teach you how to make smoked sea salt and provide more insight on smoked salt and its place in great barbecues.
Where and How to Use Smoked Salt?
What are smoked salt uses? The biggest one being that it can be substituted for salt in almost any dish. It has a smoky flavor that makes it a favorable seasoning ingredient in specific foods and recipes such as:
On Seared Meat: Dry rubbing smoked salt on meat while searing helps create a nice crust on the meat. This crust is formed by the interaction between liquids within the meat and salt. Moreover, it also adds extra smokiness to your meat and leaves it with a richer flavor.
With Salads and Side Dishes: When preparing vegetable side dishes, whether raw or roasted, sprinkling smoked salt and a dash of olive oil makes it taste better.
On Desserts: While most deserts are sweet, the savory taste of smoked salt gives you a fantastic flavor that explodes in your mouth. Next time you are reaching out for your bowl of salt, why don’t you try your DIY smoked salt and see how that turns out.
In Cocktail Garnishing: Smoked salt and alcohol are great together, and their tastes complement each other. When you make cocktails, especially strong and salty types like a Mezcal margarita, consider adding a pinch of your homemade smoked salt to get a taste of seasoned magic.
Guide to Making Smoked Salt
To finally get into the thing that brought us here, how do you smoke salt? While there are more straightforward ways of making smoked salt with just a pan and stove, the best smoky flavor can be made in a grill. Read on to learn how to smoke sea salt.
The Right Salt for Smoking
The best DIY smoked salt can be made from flaky or chunky type. Ideally, the it should not absorb any moisture as with the ordinary table version. We recommend sea or kosher salt for making your DIY smoked salt. The pockets of space in these types of salts are what make and enhance smoke adherence to your salt and give it a rich flavor.
Prerequisite Temperatures for Smoking Salt
When smoking your salt, the temperature you maintain makes a huge difference. While each grill gives out different temperatures, lower maintainable temperatures are great for your homemade smoked salt.
Maintaining a temperature of about 225F will give you the best homemade smoked salt. To realize and retain this temperature well, you might need to get the best grill thermometer. The thermometer will give the correct readings and ensure you do not babysit your smoker the entire time you are making smoked salt.
Smoking your Salt Using a Gas Grill
While most of the steps for preparing homemade smoked salt in charcoal grills and gas grills stay the same, there are two new steps. Once you arm yourself with the best small gas grill, follow these steps:
- Step 1: soak the wood chips in cold water for about an hour.
- Step 2: heat your grill till it reaches medium heat and spread two cups of your salt in a thin layer across an aluminum pan.
- Step 3: add wood chips to your smoker box
- Step 4: when smoke starts appearing from the box, place the pan with the salt on the grill and ensure it is not in direct contact with the fire.
- Step 5: cover your grill and let it smoke for an hour, then remove it from the grill.
Smoke Salt Using a Stovetop
The stovetop smoker is the quickest way to make smoked salt at home. However, care should be taken when smoking salt at home as it is notorious for setting off smoke detectors if your kitchen is not well-ventilated. In this method, you will require a deep pan, a wire baking rack, and an aluminum pie dish. These can, however, be substituted for an actual stovetop smoker if you possess one.
Follow these simple steps smoking your salt:
- Step 1: at the bottom of your wok or Dutch oven with an aluminum foil and put one inch of smoking-grade sawdust at the bottom.
- Step 2: put your wire baking rack atop the sawdust pan.
- Step 3: position your pie dish on the baking rack and spread two cups of salt over a thin layer on the bottom of the dish.
- Step 4: cover the pot and place it over high heat.
- Step 5: once some smoke is observed, let the salt smoke for about twenty minutes to be ready.
Smoking Salt Using a Charcoal Grill
Making smoked salt at home is quite easy. You do not even need the best charcoal grill to start making smoked salt. It can be done in these simple and necessary steps:
- Step 1: dip two cups of wood chips in cold water for an hour. The soaking delays your smoke and reduces the temperature of the coal.
- Step 2: fill the grill with charcoal and light it
- Step 3: let the grill heat up for about 5 minutes, while you spread 2 cups of sea salt over an aluminum foil pan into thin layers.
- Step 4: spread your pre-soaked wood chips over the hot coals. This reduces the temperature of the coals. Ensure you push your coals to one side of the grill.
- Step 5: put your grate over the grill and set the pan on the side of the grill that has no coal underneath.
- Step 6: cover your grill and adjust your venting to maintain even medium heat.
- Step 7: once all this is done, let it sit and smoke for an hour then remove it from the grill.
Wrap up
No more rushing to the stores for smoked salt. You can now make your own homemade smoked salt fast. Smoked salt will give your bbq grill a delicious taste and take your cheese or even burger to a new level of seasoning goodness.