Cooking Meats and Fish With Smoked Salt

1. Look for a coarse, naturally smoked salt to use as a rub for your meat. Smoked salts can be smoked with different types of wood such as alder, mesquite, oak and apple. Pick a variety of smoked salt that you feel will complement your meat. For example, a strong oak smoked salt might go well with beef, and the applewood smoked salt might complement pork. Salmon is a meatier fish that works well with a smoked salt rub.

2. Rub the salt onto the surface of your meat or fish, coating it well. You can cook your meat immediately after rubbing it with the salt, or you can wrap the meat or fish and refrigerate it for a few hours to let the rub set, and give your meat or fish a stronger flavor.

3. Cook your meat or fish on the grill, or you may choose to roast it in the oven. Meat that is prepared with a rub should be cooked using a "dry" method of cooking such as grilling or roasting because a "wet" method such as sauteing or frying will cause the rub to come off.

4. Follow the suggested cooking times for the particular meat or fish you have chosen. If you are unsure how long to cook a particular fish or meat, consult a meat temperature chart (see Resources). Use your cooking thermometer to check the temperature of the meat or fish.

Using Smoked Salts in Recipes

1. Look for a smoked salt that is finely ground if you plan to use it in place of table salt or sea salt in a recipe.

2. Substitute the amount of salt called for in your recipe with an equal amount of smoked salt.

3. Substitute smoked salt in recipes such as soups, cream or tomato sauces, pastas and even chocolate cakes or ice creams if you're daring.

Smoked Salt as a Garnish

1. Look for a coarse grained salt to use as a garnish, because garnishes are about appeal, and you want people to see the salt. Choose a smoked salt that has a rich, dark, smoky gray color as well.

2. Wet the rim of a glass in lime or lemon juice and dip the glass onto a plate filled with the smoked salt to rim a drink. A smoked salt rim goes well with tomato juice or a bloody Mary.

3. Lightly sprinkle the coarse salt over the top center of your dish to garnish a completed dish. Do not over-salt your dish; it will overpower the flavor.