Salt Of The Earth
Bon Appétit|April 2017

How Did Maldon Become the One Name-brand Ingredient Every Chef and Home Cook Can Agree on? Nick Paumgarten Travels to the Marshe of Essex, England, to Sift for Some Answers.

Nick Paumgarten
Salt Of The Earth

ONCE UPON A TIME, salt was just salt. It was the stuff in shakers and canisters, the gustatory equivalent of the treble dial. You used more, or you used less. Whether it was a little girl with an umbrella, a toss over the left shoulder to ward off bad luck, or a nontaster’s affront to the chef, it was all just salt.

This was more than 20 years ago, but well after people learned that there might be finer coffee than Medaglia D’Oro in a can. Maybe the first inkling was the coarse salt on the rim of a margarita, or a salad invigorated by sparks of La Baleine, or a virgin bite of chocolate sprinkled with fleur de sel. For Mark Bitterman, the author of Salted and the coiner of the term selmelier (which so far seems to have been applied just to Bitterman), the epiphany was a transcendent steak at a relais in northern France in 1986. He deduced that the difference-maker was the rock salt provided by the owner’s brother, a salt maker in Guérande in Brittany. Bitterman came to learn, as all chefs now have, that before salt was just salt— before it was industrialized and homogenized—it was a regional and idiosyncratic ingredient, perhaps the quintessential one, precisely because it was so universal. You could tell salts apart, prefer one to another, and pair them with different foods. You could acquire a salt vocabulary, tell salt stories. If you could be a snob about coffee, beer, butter, peppers, and pot, why not sodium chloride?

This story is from the April 2017 edition of Bon Appétit.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the April 2017 edition of Bon Appétit.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM BON APPÉTITView All
The Bargaining Table
Bon Appétit

The Bargaining Table

To face her toughest critic, chef Michelle Bernstein of Miami's Cafe La Trova empowers her kid with choice

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2023
Into the Woods
Bon Appétit

Into the Woods

The only thing standing between me and a perfectly executed faux sick day was...a cake

time-read
6 mins  |
May 2023
Built to Last
Bon Appétit

Built to Last

California design studio Commune outlines sustainable strategies for kitchens

time-read
1 min  |
May 2023
In the Limelight
Bon Appétit

In the Limelight

At Este in Austin, pastry chef Derrick Flynn's Oaxacan crema semifreddo is like a Key lime pie that went on vacation to the Mexican coast

time-read
1 min  |
May 2023
VEGAN FOR EVERYONE
Bon Appétit

VEGAN FOR EVERYONE

This one's for the vegans, and the sometimes vegans, and the never vegans, and anyone who wants a fast, filling, and delicious weeknight dinner that also happens to be vegan

time-read
8 mins  |
May 2023
Trash Talking
Bon Appétit

Trash Talking

At Shuggie's in San Francisco, everything is garbage and that's a good thing

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2023
DIGGING AT THE ROOTS
Bon Appétit

DIGGING AT THE ROOTS

In her latest book, Ever-Green Vietnamese, beloved teacher and food writer Andrea Nguyen takes a closer look at the plant-centric origins of her culinary heritage

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2023
DO YOU KNOW YOUR WATER FOOTPRINT?
Bon Appétit

DO YOU KNOW YOUR WATER FOOTPRINT?

You’ve heard of a carbon footprint. But hinking about its lesser-known counterpart is becoming ever more urgent

time-read
8 mins  |
May 2023
Take It Slow
Bon Appétit

Take It Slow

For Pierce Abernathy and environmental art collective Aerthship, mindful eating is a way of life

time-read
10 mins  |
May 2023
Soufflé for Seder
Bon Appétit

Soufflé for Seder

Claire Ptak, owner of London bakery Violet, makes a lofty molten chocolate cloud that's kosher for Passover

time-read
2 mins  |
April 2023