Is expensive Salt actually worth it?

[@StevieRay.]

Finally, I need to know what salt to use to season my cutting board

[@BigDipLip]

I marinated my cutting board. So there!

[@kwerby3285]

Also my cast iron!

[@ice7347]

Why i season my SALT, and NOT my food.

[@Succcccccccccccc]

Is this an Adam ragusea reference?

[@cinnamoncat8950]

@@BigDipLip why i marinate my salt in meat

[@thattubaguy217]

I am a new home cook and your content is a godsend. I feel like to truly comprehend something i need to understand how and why something works, the fact that it does is rarely good enough for me. Your content scratches that itch that almost no other chef focuses on, thank you so much. I truly have a deeper and more complete understanding of cooking thanks to you

[@EthanChlebowski]

I'm glad to hear it! I also have that need to really understand the "why" behind what I'm doing.

[@clementinedanger]

@@EthanChlebowski I'd be interested to know what percentage of your audience is autistic like me, because your approach is a godsend for brains that never stop asking "why tho?"

[@Potent_Techmology]

@@EthanChlebowski Did you know your name is basically "Breadman" in Polish?

[@Shinkajo]

​@@clementinedangerdo you have to be autistic for that?

[@nathanlambshead4778]

@@clementinedanger I'm one. Not autistic, but I have been described as having the 'hamster in the wheel of my brain running full speed all the time' :)

[@oliverc1293]

I work in global food policy, including fortification, including fortification of salt with iodine (sometimes with iron and other minerals, too). I was so relieved by your excellent breakdown of iodised salt. It's so, so incredibly important and has been a huge success. Your explanation, including why it's no longer necessary in contexts of high dietary diversity, is spot on.

[@blin555]

I disagree with this statement. Currently there are still plenty of iodine deficiency around the world even in the united states. There are also extra factor for iodine deficiency such as home cooking became less popular and vegan diet. At current consumption pregnant woman in the united states have mild risk of deficiency so if you're pregnant or vegan iodized salt is absolutely necessary. For foreign audience of ethan this is even further from the truth. For norway (not just salt but still fortifiying it's milk with iodine) is the reason why the incidence of deficiency. germany, uk, other areas in europe with poor iodine content in it's soil, west pacific, africa iodine deficiency is still a large problem or only mitigated due to iodized salt (german, uk, or other european mostly for pregnant woman not general population that have mild deficiency problem). Reducing consumption on such salt as suggested mean we are going backward on successful public health program for most society. Because diverse diet is available doesn't mean people going to do it. The amount of iodine present on meat/dairy product also highly dependant on iodine fortification and what soil those animal food are grown and the water the animal drink.

[@Pikawarps]

@@blin555Oliver specifically stated that Ethan’s explanation is a good one with diversity of food, your counterpoint is that not everyone gets diversity of food, we know this, but both Ethan and Oliver addressed that

[@shawno8253]

@@blin555 If you read the whole comment youll realize that they agree with you

[@clairefraser4315]

This is very much secondhand knowledge but one of my sisters professors in college (she's a pharmacist) was of the opinion that a lot of Europeans still have a slight iodine deficiency. We have basically over industrialized our veggies so much they don't contain a lot anymore and normal table salt has fallen out of favor. I actually use different ways to supplement my iodine intake cause I don't like salt and mostly use vinegar as a flavor enhancer.

[@oliverc1293]

Thanks for the interesting replies. Blin - we do agree, I think, but I could have been clearer in my statement on the reduced need for fortification in contexts where diverse foods are available. Fortification absolutely still plays a role in vast parts of the world: places where diets are not diverse (obviously), and also consumer groups whose diets might be deficient in a micronutrient for any other reason. That might be choice, or affordability, or higher need for some populations (pregnant women, say). The challenge is to set levels of fortification that are appropriate to the context. We don't want staple foods with high levels of a fortificant if it's either redundant or leads to excess consumption. But nor do we want to fall short in the provision to people who might be getting most (or all) of a particular micronutrient from fortified foods. The standard-setting process is often long and complex for exactly this reason, so between us we've certainly come right to the nub of the issue.

[@pmbrig]

I'm a retired MD and a pretty experienced home cook - my French grandmother and her sister were both professional chefs. Thank you for your very complete and accurate summary of using salt in cooking. It reinforces what I've learned over a lifetime of medical work and good cooking practice. I especially love your emphasis on doing experiments to see how different techniques affect the experience of eating. "Don't argue about it - do the experiment!" And you include the crucial point that everyone's taste buds (and aroma receptors, too!) are different, so the experiments will teach you about what works best for you specifically. What makes an experienced cook different from a newbie is that over years of trying different techniques and balances of taste, you've already absorbed the results of countless experiments in real life. Your suggested experiments will accelerate learning for less experienced cooks.

[@dseych]

Absolutely love these deep dives man, thanks for putting this together. Keep up the good work

[@EthanChlebowski]

Thank you, will do!

[@sierrawilson4438]

And please keep it up with the dramatic soundtracks 😅

[@Potent_Techmology]

@@EthanChlebowski learn Polish kolega

[@Rvbcaboose714]

I watched a video randomly on eggs, didn't look at the video length. 3 questions turned into 300 and I was thrilled hahah tough to learn from 4 min videos with a 30 sec intro and 30 sec outro 🤣 agreed his are a far better format

[@Rvbcaboose714]

Just could do without him being sponsored by non stick pans that have truly horrific chemicals that leech into our bodies

[@alexk.6520]

What timing on this. I just bought Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat yesterday. I finished up the salt section of the book this afternoon so a lot of this information in the video was a nice refresher!

[@Ledoes7]

Same here😂😂

[@AsherMaximum]

I was thinking he should do a video on each of those now

[@alexk.6520]

@@AsherMaximum Agreed! Ethan and the author share the same ability to break things down in a really easy-to-understand manner.

[@joshvanmoorsel7460]

Pretty sure Ethan conceptualized this entire video to defend himself from not salting his BLT tomato :P

[@AmirhoseinHerandy]

And he still didn't test that one specifically.

[@warrentuck1554]

absolutely agree the bacon i buy with tomato does not need the usual scattering of salt that tomato alone needs, but I'm 70 and only 2000 taste buds left (very good point Ethan!) so, just a little iodised salt / table salt i thought would be good - but I get my BLT's at my local and the chef says - he agrees with Ethan. I guess depends on your local bacon.

[@jscmain]

my only confusion is salting the tomato brings out its own flavour. the sodium in the bacon and cheese isn't magically going to transfer to the tomato in the few seconds one bites into the sandwich and everything is mushed together. you will get the right balance of saltiness, but depending on the tomato, lose the taste. luckily he's using a god damn good tomato so probably doesn't need it. us poor folks using shitty store bought tomatoes needs all the salt it can get haha

[@theuncalledfor]

@@jscmain Do you not chew your food...?

[@animesh_sensei]

@@theuncalledforlmao so true blud thought he was on to something with his yapping

[@johnr2090]

I never thought I would find an hour video on salt so interesting, but Ethan proves me wrong!

[@IntoxicusFreeman]

As a chemist, I very much respect that you actually did proper research and put out content based on science fact. Everything is a chemical, water is a solvent, nothing os inherently bad because it's a "chemical" or "solvent." The poison is in the dose.

[@EthanChlebowski]

Thank you! It's been awhile since high school chemistry, but hopefully I did a decent job at explaining the basics!

[@MrMartinSchou]

I also love when people say things like "it's natural - that makes it healthy". Dog shit is natural. Arsenic is natural. Polonium is natural. None of it should be in your food.

[@Sleezy.Design]

It's similar with the word "natural". People praise the word, like "there are only natural ingredients" inside. But it doesn't mean anything. Uranium is also all natural.

[@alexeecs]

As a chemist, how did you not notice his mistake in explaining chemistry, atoms are not charged, ions are charged. Atoms are unstable due to the electron shells not being complete

[@MrMartinSchou]

@@alexeecs Probably because the pedantry isn't needed in a video on food. Speaking of pedantry, atoms are considered unstable when they can have radioactive decay. It's not a matter of being positively or negatively charged.

[@qaszim2012]

Dude you are an international treasure, your videos are informative and agendaless which is rare in this day and age.

[@GillesBomon]

"Why I salt my sponge, and not my steak." - Ethan.

[@kaseyrolow]

Thats hilarious lol

[@copisetic1104]

I was having health problems, I was diagnosed with low iodine, I started using iodized salt again along with iodine drops. I feel much better now.

[@sebaschan-uwu]

Why do people just not use iodized salt? It's called table salt because it's supposedly so commonly used you'd just have it at your table. Why do people go out of their way to not use it? Do you think governments worldwide make salt with iodine in it for fun or something? They do it for exactly this purpose; preventing iodine deficiency.

[@lilith3953]

@@sebaschan-uwu It contains gluten, and thus makes those gluten intolerance/allergy/coeliac disease sick. About 20% of the population have some kind of problem with gluten. That's why I don't "just use iodized salt:" because it triggers my immune system to destroy the lining of my gut and makes me really really sick.

[@OreoBambino]

@@sebaschan-uwu In my country (EU) they add Fluoride to the salt, not Iodine.... But I read that the US adds Fluoride to the water, is that correct?

[@catrice1296]

@@sebaschan-uwuidk i just use what my sister buys which i just checked and it doesn’t have iodine. Personally i need to work on eating more salt bc i have low blood pressure.

[@Malakith]

@@OreoBambino Iodine is often times added to salt, even in the EU. Fluoride is really uncommon in salt, at least where I am in the EU. I certainly haven't found it in any common supermarket before. And yes, in the US they do add Fluoride to tab water, it is also still done in some European countries.

[@churchren3899]

As an amateur home cook who loves science, this video is a cornucopia of information and well thought-out tidbits of information! I absolutely love this kind of things and I would love to see more of it! Especially if you were to pair up with food science nerds like Kenji!

[@TheReignOfChaos94]

This is the most insightful cooking video I've ever watched. Perhaps even one of the most insightful videos in general. I can't believe I spent an hour watching a video of salt and not only enjoyed it, but wanted more. This video will make me a better cook. More content like this please!

[@samuelboisvert8054]

I wonder how deep this video about salt is gonna go ''Atoms are the building blocks of everything''

[@alexeecs]

He made a mistake in that explanation, not a great start

[@OrbObserver]

"To discuss the tastiest salt you must first invent time and space"

[@thattubaguy217]

​@@alexeecsmf he doesn't need to explain quarks or string theory to explain why salt is salty

[@OrlyVlogt]

Or does he 🤔

[@leanansidhe6332]

@@alexeecs Oh no, he didn't explain orbitals

[@DJMavis]

I had this randomly recommended and thought it might be a simple salt review. This was absolutely brilliant. I am an experienced cook and I learned so much. Thanks

[@shnerdz]

please do msg next!

[@EthanChlebowski]

100% will be doing an msg deep dive in 2025. There's a lot different things I want to test and understand.

[@onetouchtwo]

@@EthanChlebowskicontent pipeline king 👑

[@bluecup25]

@@onetouchtwo He's a beast

[@newglof9558]

Makes Stuff Good

[@Gandhi_Physique]

@@newglof9558 Yeah, I've watched something.. swear it was from this channel, but it was basically "MSG makes food taste better, but it affect bad tasting food more than good tasting food." Something like that, idk.

[@fluffiestsugar]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate how much effort you put into explaining the "why" of cooking. You explain the science, and the practical applications, and then your preferences and it has helped to inform my cooking decisions and experimentations so much.

[@Dr_V]

In some parts of Europe there are still insufficient dietary sources of iodine, so most table salt is iodized just to be on the safe side (you can't really OD on iodine this way so there's no risk involved). Here in Romania it's actually illegal to sell table salt without a minimal (regulated) iodine content, non-iodized salt can only be marketed/labeled as a food preservative (for stuff like pickling, cheese making, cured meats, etc) or an animal feed supplement.

[@erzsebetkovacs2527]

That reminds me, how do you sell Turda mined salt with this regulation?

[@Dr_V]

@@erzsebetkovacs2527 With sneaky labeling of course 😉 Like all other local salt mining companies they actually do make an iodized product and that's the only one labeled "sare de masa" (table salt), others are named like "sare fina" (fine grit), sare grunjoasa (coarse grit) or "sare gema" (gem/rock salt).

[@OreoBambino]

Here (also Europe) they put Fluoride in the common brand of table-salt, not Iodine.

[@mircomuntener4643]

Unsalted broth changed my cooking game significantly. It allowed me to control the amount of salt and level of flavour in the dish. It lets me add regular bouillon or whatever else source of salted flavour on top of the broth without making it too salty, but bumping the flavour.

[@theuncalledfor]

So, you mean, not actually unsalted, but salted with bouillon or stock cubes or stock powder instead of pure salt? Which means the implication is that you used just pure salt, or used pure salt + bouillon/whatever else (thus sometimes making the result too salty) before...? Am I understanding this correctly? I am not trying to correct you, but genuinely slightly confused.

[@mircomuntener4643]

@theuncalledfor in the example I used, I start with unsalted broth, usually either beef or chicken. That adds flavour, but no salt yet. Then I'll add regular bouillon, again usually either beef or chicken, which introduces more flavour, and at least some of the salt. It depends what I'm making, sometimes I add pure salt, sometimes I opt for something that includes salt, but I'll buy as many unsalted versions of things as I can. I can always add the salt myself if I choose. But I can't take it out of the tex mex seasoning if I want my soup to have a tex mix flair. It baffles me why seasoning mixes have salt in them, you can always add salt, but if everything has a ton of salt, it becomes really hard to play around with flavours because you're limited by the salt content. In my soup example I can really bring out the chicken flavour by using unsalted broth and adding chicken bouillon. Double the flavour, reasonable salt content. If I'd used regular salted broth, it'd be inedibly salty with the bouillon.

[@theuncalledfor]

@@mircomuntener4643 I understand now. Thank you!

[@brendashope1558]

@@mircomuntener4643this is super helpful, thank you!

[@PlaySA]

Yeah, being able to season properly on your own terms without a bunch of ingredients adding surprise salt into the dish is crucial. Buying unsalted bone broth, or better yet making it yourself, is a fantastic way to begin a soup.

[@jedikv]

This is amazing. Seeing the mechanical effect of the salt 'drawing out the water' and dissolving clarified so much for me!

[@Fusako8]

As a home cook who has very atypical taste responses, your videos help me cook for a wider range of folk than I would be otherwise. I'm extremely curious about what you come up with for MSG, and am looking forward to that video! (To give you an idea how my perception of flavors differs from normal, I have trouble distinguishing salt from pepper on many things.)

[@Rocky_Fan]

Imagine being a cashier and a guy buy kilogrammes of different types of salt

[@EthanChlebowski]

I'm also the guy just standing in the salt aisle for 15 minutes 😂

[@IXIRoLaPoIXI]

You're also brilliant sir!! ​@EthanChlebowski

[@Rocky_Fan]

@@EthanChlebowski which I'm thankful for, now I don't have to that guy

[@vandorb12]

​@@EthanChlebowskiyour store has a SALT AISLE?

[@inzanozulu]

Gotta be thinking Ethan is salting his salts with other salts for seasoning

[@weaselwolf]

I'd love to see a breakdown of MSG vs Salt for cooking. In my house we've got someone on a lower sodium diet. One way we help with that is by using MSG in cooking instead of salt. MSG contains sodium (it's in the name) but less than pure salt. It also adds a lot of other flavor compounds that make things taste better in general. I'd love to see comparisons. How much less sodium are we adding with MSG, does it taste better or just different, etc

[@ErebosGR]

You could've just checked Wikipedia. "The sodium content (in mass percent) of MSG, 12.28%, is about one-third of that in sodium chloride (39.34%)"

[@interiot2]

There are no-sodium versions of MSG. These include glutamic acid (E620), glycine salts (E640), guanylic acid (GMP) salts (E626 to E629), inosinic acid (IMP) salts (E630 to E633), and 5'-ribonucleotide salts (E634 and E635). Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any of these in small enough quantities for home-cooking use. I don't try to lower my sodium. However, there are times that the food I'm cooking already tastes salty enough, but needs more umami, so one of these would be very useful to me too.

[@thorwaldjohanson2526]

​@@interiot2I moved to Canada from Germany, and it's so annoying that here salt is added to pretty much everything. Some times I want to add more of an ingredient like soy sauce or broth for the other flavors, but the food already has enough salt. So easy to accidentally oversalt.

[@blandrooker6541]

If someone is on a lower sodium diet, the solution is very simple: USE LESS SALT. As for MSG as a "seasoning", using MSG is essentially adding umami. The original source of MSG is from kelp. Go to an Asian market and find the Kombu. The white powdery stuff on the surface of the Kombu is MSG. Kombu is one of the basic ingredients for Japanese Dashi, along with Katsuobushi, and Dashi is the foundation of many Japanese dishes. Try this: start with a Japanese cookbook and you'll learn the basics of how to use Dashi, Miso and Shoyu for flavor, all of them pack a big umami punch. You won't regret it!

[@erzsebetkovacs2527]

Yes to all of that, plus experimenting with them versus other glutamate sources (soy sauce, fish sauce etc.) and those kinds of salt lites with reduced sodium and added potassium, which he briefly mentioned in the video.

[@_SurferGeek_]

Your Deep Dives into subjects and ingredients is what got me to subscribe. Love these things! By the way... I don't watch any short-form videos. You can't learn cooking from 15-30 seconds of flashing images and text.

[@erwinkooi6669]

Thanks!

[@lisapop5219]

The only guy who can make a 52 minute video about something most people don't think of

[@ZanyCat]

Clearly you've never seen a KZbin video essay before

[@pixart_king]

Oh fu.. it really is 52 minutes long

[@dahleno2014]

There are multiple hour long videos about the lore of kids shows. There are plenty of people who do this

[@lisapop5219]

@@dahleno2014 yall stans are humorless

[@marthasundquist5761]

We asked for it in a survey he put up! I will watch again ..too much t one ti.ewhen I am still absorbing the umamie. Salty, sweet etc concepts.

[@bo-williamgilligan1456]

love these deep dives! always some interesting things to consider!

[@Serge21M]

Thank you for this video, Ethan. 🙂 I'm planning to create a video of the same idea pointing out of what salt can do to our food. I would add other salt properties to those 7 you mentioned: 1. Salt makes food more rigid, coarse and tough. 2. Salt significantly reduces bacteria growth and allows to preserve food for months. 3. Tiny amount of salt makes food not salty but tastier for some reason, it increases the "loudness" of what already there in the dish. 4. Salt lowers the freezing point of water. Want something to stay in the liquid state longer? Add some salt. Want something to thaw faster? Add some salt. 5. Salty taste is being faded by oils. That's another way to reduce saltiness of the food in those cases where oils can be applied. Salt your salad before adding oils, give it a taste, then add your oils, taste again, most likely you will want to add more salt. 🙏🏻

[@brendashope1558]

Great additional points! Salt is amazing

[@sebastiantoplician1093]

Great job Ethan! I always love these deep dives. I watch most of them with my wife as we love to cook. Very interesting, especially learning more about salt, and seeing some of the tests. The salt/spice test was fantastic. As someone who helps friends and family get better at cooking I've had to teach a lot about seasoning, and this is going to help me better answer some questions I didn't necessarily have the most clear answers for!

[@GlennC789]

One of the silliest things I've seen some cooks do is to use expensive fancy salt to season water, like for pasta. Once it dissolves, IT'S ALL THE SAME! This is the main reason I keep cheap iodized table salt in my cabinet, but it's also perfectly fine for ordinary seasoning of foods, basically a reasonable go-to when you don't have a reason to use something else.

[@erzsebetkovacs2527]

Some chefs and bakers use kosher salt for everything, I wonder whether that's about the weight vs. volume issue with salt that Ethan also mentioned. Maybe it's just easier to have the muscle memory of one kind of salt and rest easy knowing how much salt is in one pinch, every pinch, each time.

[@Haroun-El-Poussah]

The best salt I ever used is from Dombasle, Lorraine, France, it can mainly be found under the brand Cerebos, but there are hard discount brands selling it too, like Portland (Aldi). It's not sea salt which is far inferior

[@lilith3953]

It's not all the same if you have coeliac disease or even just a severe gluten insensitivity or irritable bowel syndrome. That iodized salt you put in your pasta water would cause my immune system to attack the lining of my gut making me really really sick.

[@GlennC789]

@@lilith3953 My son has celiac. Diagnosed almost twenty years ago. I have never heard of salt being a problem?

[@Blutzen]

@@erzsebetkovacs2527 That's the main reason I use my flakey salt for everything, yeah; I don't have to break out the food scales to know how much to add to my pasta water, or steak, or avocado toast from switching it up for each of them, I just _know_ how salty a pinch of salt is.

[@rafaeljimenez7450]

This is really amazing work, please keep the detailed deep dives, makes me wonder how is it possible to have this content quality for free, greetings from Argentina!

[@KimchiFarts]

I’m so hype for this episode, y’all have no idea

[@s.n.8128]

@@KimchiFarts what in the unholy prophet is a kimchi fart. I dare not experience that

[@Zraknul]

​@@s.n.8128Fermented foods contain probiotics which can change your gut flora balance resulting in excess gas. Use them in moderation.

[@jessicaspaulding1312]

Loved this. Thank you! I have a salt-in-oil exception/suggestion. I add salt to my (coconut) oil when making stove-top popcorn. It doesn't dissolve in the oil, but it does make for a nice even distribution of the salt. A lot of salt does remain in the pan at the end, so you do need to use quite a bit extra, but I find it to be the best way to make popcorn.

[@IgnorantBoot]

You forgot about League of Legends players, one of the largest sources of salt known to man

[@punishedwhirligig3353]

DBD is an acceptable subsitute

[@Kampos94]

Is League still a thing? I thought that died about a decade ago. True facts tho, League players produce about 10% of the world's salt.

[@nmace12]

@@Kampos94 Still one of the largest online games I believe.

[@Bellabong]

@@Kampos94 5 million westerners watched todays worlds semi-final, so yeah. But Riot has moved into the cashing in goodwill phase of its corporate evolution .

[@Shinkajo]

​@@Bellabongyup, the decent has begun.

[@ShiekSw]

Thank you so much for the incredible deep dives!!!

[@animistchannel]

A few notes: For a real interesting variable, try running salt through the Vitamix or a high-speed spice mill and turn it into a fine powder. It ends up with a smoother, quicker, more efficient effect since it dissolves and spreads through foods soooo quickly, and there is no uneveness to the texture or taste. Powdered salt mixed 50/50 with powdered sugar is an awesome flavor booster, like a subtle double-barrelled shotgun effect. It's particularly good combined with garlic or onion granules/powder, and awesome on popcorn. No gritty bits, just smooth sweet & salty flavor enhancer. I used to get this stuff called "Jurassic Salt" from Utah that was from a 280 million year old salt dome from when there was a shallow sea instead of mountains there. Highly recommend it on popcorn or corn on the cob where the subtleties of the salt itself can show. It was noticeably sweeter and tangier than other salts, probabably due to a higher trace mineral content or organic/algea residues is the original water. No, salt has no particular shelf life, so it was fun to tell people they were eating food that was almost 300 mmillion years old :) History: salt used to be pretty valuable, but has become dirt cheap today. A lot of that is because salt domes often cover oil or natural gas deposits, so the petroleum industry has spent the last 100+ years discovering huge salt deposits all over the world that can be dry-mined quickly.

[@KingGeorgeMannix]

Wow so adding sugar makes food taste better?

[@animistchannel]

@@KingGeorgeMannix Used in proper context and quantities (not as heavy as soda pop and frosted cereal levels), yes sugar can help bring out or preserve flavors in other foods. Even a spoonful in a pot of soup or a pan of gravy or steamed-fried veggies can make everything else taste... well, just more. Like he was saying about salt, if you dump in so much that you immediately taste the sugar, you overdid it. The natural sugars in vegetables tend to break down and go sour or bitter over time, especially when they are kept heated for extended service, or reheated as leftovers. A dash of sugar replaces that and makes the dish taste fresh again. "Sneaky old restaurant secret."

[@lorupan1]

I think your comment is very interesting. Thanks for sharing!🧂🍿🌽

[@doahnunn472]

Saw this video and immediately began watching. Always hyped for these deep dives.

[@Sam-ol1gb]

Very informative video for the home cook and you really put a lot of time and effort into these deep dives and we all really appreciate it! Keep doing what your doing 👏

[@pelewads]

When talking about diluting over salted food, you specifically mentioned potatoes. Potatoes work far better than many ingredients because starches tend to need much more salt. You could also use rice, or pasta. These ingredients will work far better than other vegetables, or meats. Great video. I love what you do.

[@mdickard8354]

The book Salt by Mark Kurlansky is a really interesting dive into how salt plays just as much of a role in history and civilization as water does.

[@matteverhart8200]

Came here to say the same thing! Cannot recommend this book enough. If you liked this video, do yourself a favor and seek this book out.

[@legendarygary2744]

The amount of work you pour into making these videos really sines through. Thank you for making these extended deep dive videos - I've learned a lot about a subject that I thought there wasn't much more to learn about!

[@jessicawilson8240]

I love adding sugar to more rich tomatoey dishes like spaghetti and casseroles and stews full stop (not a crazy amount, a tablespoon tops for a large batch) but it does an amazing job of mellowing out over salted dishes and actually works best imo with what would otherwise be too much salt.

[@JamesonWilde]

Use carrots instead of sugar.

[@thadiusthudpucker]

Diabetes here I come

[@GreenT_LoR]

Another fascinating video, especially the iodized salt portion! Thank you so much for all you and your team does!

[@Antonius17b]

45:48 With great power comes great responsalinity

[@sethgreenwood6488]

Greatest timed comment ever

[@alexhurst3986]

I taught a food lab class for Nutrition majors in college. I would have LOVED to have had access to these videos back then. Your information is well presented and thoroughly researched. All of your deep dive videos are amazing. Thank you!

[@C00KI3Z_And_Dad]

Finally! I’m always trynna figure out what salt to use to make my food salty….now I know. Cheers from Denver!!

[@severoon]

When you do the MSG video, you may want to take a look at Vietnamese cuisine, a lot of dishes depend on balancing MSG and salt in combination. You may want to reach out to Chad Kubanoff (former Alinea line cook), he has been exploring this exact thing for the last few years.

[@sevware]

20:15 I loved the salt bae riff, it's nice seeing Ethan being a bit silly at times

[@gypseetim]

I love the distinction of making spices on chicken taste better, after the chicken had some salt seasoning. Outstanding video, I learned a lot!

[@Xarthis]

Have you heard of Kala Namak? That is a salt with some sulphur content. It is useful to add an "eggy" taste to foods that do not have eggs in them.

Came here to mention this as well. Black or red salt are somewhat similar, and I think aren't just "spiced salt" because they essentially contain just significant amounts of specific elements, not actual spices.

[@oktalon]

I have this black-ish salt, actually. And it indeed tastes like fried eggs to me. It's really interesting

[@oktalon]

I have this black-ish salt, actually. And it indeed tastes like fried eggs to me. It's really interesting

[@GS-xp5jq]

Fun fact "kala namak" directly translates to black salt.

@@GS-xp5jq Ah, I know black salt also as a variant with lots of carbon.

[@cecinkm]

i recently moved into my first apartment after living in dorms, and while i did some cooking at home in high school, i now cook a lot more and your videos have been super helpful! i’m a STEM student so having the science and the blind tests work with how i learn and makes me excited to try techniques and ingredients (within my budget anyway,, looking at the balsamic video haha). anyway all that to say, thank you for another great video! i bought some coarser sea salt salt recently and i’ve been liking it a lot more than my basic table salt, i like the little texture and bursts of saltiness when i use it as a topping, and i feel like it makes it easier for me to properly salt things because i can better see the salt pieces.

[@ElijsDima]

Regarding spices... Would love to see video(s) dedicated to specific, maybe less-commonly used spices and going into detail on how to use them well in cooking. E.g. Nutmeg. we used to use nutmeg a LOT in the 1800s, and it's almost disappeared from our kitchens these days. A whole video on how to really use nutmeg - not just in sweets, but all dishes - would be neat.

[@Discoshrimpisproud]

Cheese sauces-- the barest sprinkle of nutmeg makes a Mornay absolutely sing. Homemade mac and cheese will be forever changed.

[@DHD-]

Nutmeg has psychoactive effects when taken in quantity. I wonder if there is any effect when consumed as a micro-dose, and if perhaps that's why family gatherings are more enjoyable after pumpkin pie and eggnog. And by enjoyable I really mean tolerable.

[@CrimeVid]

Nutmeg was much used, but I would venture to guess that Mace( the outer shell of nutmeg) was used in more dishes, it goes into loads of white sauces and baking.

[@EthanChlebowski]

Yes, nutmeg itself is super interesting. Also the fact that another spice mace, is the outershell of nutmeg.

[@sirsanti8408]

​@DHD- Nah I think it's more the alcohol

[@marklee1960]

Excellent presentation. You get to the point without unnecessary distractions like horrible overwhelming background music and pop ups. Thank you.

[@yuriydee]

I think the biggest take away for me from this video is to keep two salts handy. One fine grain for marinades, sauces, soups, and essentially anything else that will dissolve similarly. But also keep a large flaky salt for finishing off dishes that are being served (like the avocado toast example).

[@PlaySA]

I a very partial to the himalayan pink salt grinders you can find anywhere. Yes it is just salt, but vision is a part of great food and I think the color and size (even after grinding it is still rocky) are perfect for those applications where you want the salt itself to be a focal point not just hidden and dissolved.

[@checkandmate4703]

Increadable video! Being a chemist I always wish to learn the fundamental principles and reasons why things work the way they do. Unfortunately with cooking many people simply repeat things without understanding them, making cooking unbearably hard to learn. This video finally made me understand why salt is so important!

[@86fifty]

Dang, what good timing! I had JUST started reading that one famous 'salt heat acid fat' cookbook, and just a few days before, I saw Adam Savage on his YT channel Tested, do a show-and-tell about Jacobsen's Salt tins of flavored mixes. I admit, I was thinking it was all a heap of crock, but the video aspect really helps me understand what they're getting at - especially comparing pre-salted lettuce (ew) to pre-salted steak (yum). I also appreciate your layperson advice of "pick a type and get familiar with it" compared to the restaurant-haute-cuisine-focused perspective of the author of that cookbook. I sure won't be cooking in France anytime soon! So all I need is to know Just Enough, which you do SO well on your channel, fr. Would absolutely LOVE a vid on spices! But there are legit SO many, I'm sure it would take a long time to put together, so no rush!

[@TonyD_GoBucks]

Great job Ethan. Love when you do these. Keep it up!

[@NicholasSandar]

One thing I was surprised you didn’t mention with regards to trace minerals: there’s plenty of well-established research on how salt-adjacent ion ratios affect our *perception* of flavors. The classic example here is beer makers fussing over the sulphate-phosphate ratio to make a bitter beer “rounder” instead of “sharper”, even while measuring out with identical IBUs. Even coffee folks are jumping on that bandwagon, controlling ion levels in the water inputs. It sounds like junk science the first time you hear it, but a deep understanding of the mechanism that underlie taste receptors really connects the dots, here.

[@Just-Nikki]

That sounds interesting. I may look into this.

[@richardfellows5041]

I think this was your best video ever. I learned more from this than any of the other cooking videos I have ever watched. Thank you!

[@EmissaryOfSmeagol]

You asked what kind of video topics we want to see, and my reply was salt! I'm happy to see this video!

[@N3v3rm1nd91]

At first when i started watching your videos i thought you were just another run of the mill cooking influencer, but this video is your best yet and proves you are trying to maximize your cooking knowledge through an evidence based learning process which i really appreciate as a viewer (and a learner as well)

[@jeffreychandler8418]

one small comment to be pedantic. While salt is not a fuel or energy source, it is critical in the distribution and effective usage of fuel/energy sources. It's basically a transport boat for most of our important inputs

[@Gandhi_Physique]

Yeah, sodium is huge in running your brains neurons if I remember correctly.

[@jeffreychandler8418]

@@Gandhi_Physique yup, it is the primary constituent for electrical pulses. But it also aids in the absorption of nutrients, minerals, sugars, hydration, etc.

[@Augusto9588]

It isn't an energy source by itself but sodium stimulates metabolism

[@jeffreychandler8418]

@@Augusto9588 yes.

[@jdh0O9]

That sounds great, but a normal person already gets enough salt through a typical diet, so adding more could increase the risk of health issues like high blood pressure. It is advised to consume no more than 5 grams of salt per day, according to the World Health Organization. The average American actually consumes about 8.5 grams of salt per day, which is well above the recommended 5 grams per day and that is already considered quite high by WHO but they wanted a realistic and reachable goal. So using 5gr a day in cooking would be to high if you eat other stuff from a supermarket as well (most stuff have to much additives like salt or sugar)

[@devoted2lostcauses]

Love the deep dives! Really hope to see the one for MSG. I love the way you present information and thoroughly explain and test things.

[@mastermachetier5594]

When cooking bbq for Brazilian pichana I always used the diamond crystals and it tastes amazing . Cue the other I am at my dad’s he is making it with a different course salt the result meant that there were some little salt balls still stuck to the steak after cooking . This crunchy texture from the salt made such a difference eating experience . Weird how all the senses play a role in eating . Not just the straight “flavor” of the meal

[@agatarosicki467]

Definitely love your videos! And you explain everything very well. I who and Blind can fully understand and grasp the concepts that you were speaking of. Thank you very much. And I will look up your other channel!

[@Efferheim]

The most important part of salt is knowing how much you are adding. If you are constantly using different kinds of salt, it can be difficult to know how much you are adding, while if you exclusively use one kind of salt, you get a feel for how much you are adding very quickly.

[@jeffreyschmidt3997]

Wow, this must have taken an enormous amount of work to complete. Thank you so much for this. I was going you might take it one step further in the science and talk about sodium's time in the body as an electrolyte (e.g. nerve and muscular function) and how we probably evolved our palates to consume the right amount of salt to ensure proper cellular physiology. Learned a lot from this video, and the stuff that was review for me was exceptionally articulated. Great job, again!

[@kamatanurag]

Holy crap! An hour passed by like watching a 10 min video. Amazing content! Well researched, packaged, and presented. Kudos to you and your team. Keep up the great work!

[@cookboymakhathini4073]

Thanks bud, that was well researched and well put together. I really enjoyed it.

[@s.n.8128]

i use the biggest and cheapest rock salt for the grinder, and then the maldon flakes as a finishing salt.

[@wanderingcelle]

I really like your deep dives like this. My question on salt is more about heavy metals which at trace amounts IS a problem depending on which heavy metal it is. A lot of times this can be added during the processing of the salt and not in the salt itself initially. Heavy metals in spices is also an issue either due to adulteration, how the spice is processed, or how the spice is grown.

[@bb581]

Your videos are amazing! I feel like I’m getting to know my spices for the first time. I’m 48😂 Never put any thoughts behind truly getting to know my spices.Thank you kindly for this. Cooking is more exciting and inviting now. I want to “create” now rather then” I have to”Game changer for sure!❤️

[@cignet]

This is one of the best videos you've done - I love how deeply eductational and scientific you get with your content. Thank you so much for all your hard work

[@renebeier]

Himalaya salt because it looks great in the salt grinder.

[@RoySATX]

Personally I use Himalayan Sea Salt, not for taste but because of its density, and the texture this density creates out the end of my grinder. As far as taste is concerned, texture and density DO matter when sprinkled on my food, not so much when dissolved in water obviously. I avoid Iodized table salt because I often can taste the Iodine. Not always, but more often than not and it's not a pleasant taste, metallic like when you put your tongue on a nine-volt battery. The little salt packages that come with fast food must be double-dosed because they taste foul with Iodine.

[@ficolas2]

​​​@@RoySATXyou can also get rock salt. Himalayan salt is kind of a scam, expensive for no reason, but its not super expensive anyways, so who cares. Also, keep in mind the iodine is there for a reason, thyroid problems are the cause of a whole lot of problems, including development problems, and intellectual disabilities. I highly doubt you are able to taste the iodine once in the food, maybe when tasting the salr itself. Also iodized salt is not fortified with elemental iodine, which has a metallic taste, it is fortified with sodium iodide, that has a... Salty taste, and very slightly bitter, even when pure. It's less than 10mg/kg of it too. So yeah, if you tell me you notice the taste, I'm sorry but it may be nocebo.

[@wailingalen]

I buy Himalayan salt from dollar tree in bags super cheap

[@martinmorsch7507]

Its also not from the Himalaya mountains and additionally it prolly is less healthy cause it contains more heavy metals…

[@billykulim5202]

cheapest salt are less salty in my oppinion, this will affect your cooking if you change to different brands salt, for me i use less himalayan salt, and add more if using cheapest salt

[@marksizer3486]

Not all new, but a wonderfully thorough video. Thank you. I look forward to the MSG and layering videos.

[@TrainerInTraining]

26:01 "So to finish this video...." (still has another half hour of video)

[@T3chWarri0r]

What an amazing video ! Can’t wait for the spices video to learn more on them as well . I can even imagine looking multiple videos on this big topic .

[@davydrowland]

Have you done a video on different starches like cornstarch, potato starch, rice starch? I just need to know if there’s a difference between them? can you use them interchangeably? Help

Tapioka, manioc, even rice has a balance between two actual starches (which is why gluttonous rice is different from basmati, and even long vs short grain), arrowroot, and you're suddenly up to xanthan carrageen agar etc as well. They're definitely all different and can't be substituted 1:1 and sometimes not just even by different amounts since the texture, temperature behavior, stability to pH etc are all different.

[@davydrowland]

Woah,.. definitely about to do a deep dive

@@davydrowlandModernist Cuisine has several chapters on gels and thickeners and it's one of the few I actually keep referring back to. It's very fascinating, and even my home kitchen currently has like 6 different ones around 😬 (more if you count eggs)

[@Blahnik1182]

This is a beautiful video, Ethan. You really nailed it.

[@joshXnovak1]

43:49 “🖕🏻😩🖕🏻”-Ethan

[@nekoDan]

Informative and useful! I really enjoy these deep dives into skills and foundational information for cooking.

[@Guchiechoochchandhi]

There was a lot of info in this video to digest. At first it was a little bland, but I added salt and it became much tastier.

[@marwanhamze6329]

Thank you very much for addressing how to "not oversalt" your food. I should definitely test those percentages and see which one I should go for.

[@vsznry]

I love that Maldon salt. The Kirkland salt tastes sour & bitter to me.

[@rekleif]

It does have a very clean and nice taste compared to the Iodized salt we generally use for cooking here in Norway. It's best use though is as a finishing salt. I can easily taste the difference, even in mash and soups, but at a point it gets to expensive to only use that. Nothing beats it on steaks though.

[@jackfromthe60s]

He literally proved they taste the same in the video.

[@katiekowalke2788]

I want to see a deep dive on how you do a deep dive! ❤😄 so much passion! Thank you for your time and energy being spent entertaining and educating

[@LeDoctorBones]

A misconception at the beginning: Atoms are all neutrally charged and either giving or recieving more electrons changes this. When atoms fulfill the octet rule they turn into charged ions.

[@alexeecs]

3:41 Don't think it's a common conception, feels more like he misspoke to me Though it could become a common misconception if this video becomes viral lol

[@vwmann11]

Ethan, this may be your best video yet. Highly informative and applicable. Keep up the good work.

[@ImBarryScottCSS]

He's dropped it booiiiiiii! Inject that saline knowledge directly into my brain Ethan I am ready.

[@brad5659]

I visited the Maras salt mine in Peru today. Salt is incredible and so undervalued

[@DD-DD-DD]

@37:30 PLOS Biology has a study on perceived spice heat factor of food with respect to visual cues beforehand. A large portion of "heat" is in our heads, based on cues received just before consuming.

[@lisaswope4380]

Well, my grandaughter didn't have an expectation of "heat" when she bit into that chili pepper!

[@Gandhi_Physique]

Probably just depends on the person really. A whole bunch of marketing and association with a really hot pepper isn't going to make most of the "ghost pepper" foods I've tried taste spicy. Yet my ghost pepper hot sauce is reasonably spicy. Probably similar to the placebo effect, which doesn't work on everyone.

[@DD-DD-DD]

@lisaswope4380 key word - "portion", I didn't say "entirely"

[@DD-DD-DD]

@Gandhi_Physique since the study is about visual cues, and we interpret things we see through the lens of our personal history, what you're saying is obvious, but correct

[@celineellis]

Loved this - Ive always battled with the idea of adding salt to the cooking rather than adding it after it’s cooked and this just really solidified it for me when to do both! Off to do my own chicken breast test!

[@Ang3lzzzzCr33dPR]

This is why Morton Kosher is the standard salt for baking/cooking for me and for many chefs and homecooks as well. It's the most balanced, accessible and affordable salt there is at least here in the US.

[@superfly_7077]

In Germany we sadly don't have that for obvious reasons

[@kjh23gk]

@@superfly_7077 Lol, you can definitely get coarse salt in Germany, which is all that "kosher salt" is.

[@marjoriebelt2842]

For me and possibly other of your viewers who live in Europe (where Kosher salt is not always easy to come by) this was a great lesson and a relief. So many recipes from the US insist on the one or other brand of Kosher salt that I’ve been nervous about trying them. Now I feel I understand better how to get around the “wrong salt” problem.

[@nocontabanconmiastucia939]

Just a quick note: Iodine inhibits yeast and bacteria growth, so that's why iodine salt is not used in fermented baked goods and lacto-fermented produce. As far as I am aware.

[@armandfair3398]

Salt is used in almost all fermented baked goods to regulate yeast growth

[@nocontabanconmiastucia939]

@@armandfair3398 Not sure what you mean. I just wanted to say that if you do Sauerkraut or yeasty pizza dough, avoid "iodine salt". 100% based on my mistakes.

[@tianamarie989]

​@armandfair3398 they're saying specifically iodized salt isn't used.

[@Augusto9588]

I have always used iodized salt to bake bread and pizza, never had any issues.

[@Edmund.]

sourdough requires bacteria and yeast, it might just inhibit one of them enough that it would fail the product.

[@ryandeakyne3265]

This is, without question, your best and most important video to date.

[@truthruster]

Didn't want to miss a single second so binged on this masterpiece while taking a dump

[@ericbaker8807]

Bravo on the production of this video. Well done.

[@veryboringname.]

18:53 99% sodium chloride 1% hair

[@BEE-HEALTH-078]

I was so relieved by your excellent breakdown of iodised salt