Why Table Salt Is The Worst For Cooking

Salt is salt, right? Well, yes, but also no. It turns out the answer isn't as simple as sprinkling some of this seasoning into a dish to achieve the perfect flavor. There are myriad kinds of salt and, while most salts don't waiver much on flavor (this is where salt is, in fact, salt), using table salt in your cooking can actually make your food way saltier than you want. The culprit is actually the size and shape of the salt crystals, which seriously affects the way it's absorbed into and flavors the food.

Salt ranges from the uber-basic varieties like iodized table salt to more exotic options like black Hawaiian salt and smoked salt. While some, like Himalayan pink rock salt or smoked sea salt have had additives that change the flavor, when it comes to cooking, the most important thing to remember is you don't want to use too much of it. Basic table salt is a super finely ground variety designed to absorb well, but thanks to its fine grind, it's also easy to over salt food without realizing it.

Larger crystal salts, like Kosher salt and sea salt, do an equally effective job of seasoning food, but because the crystals are much larger and irregularly shaped, they take up more space. This way, when you add a dash of Kosher salt or sea salt, you are adding much less than you would if adding a dash of table salt and are therefore less inclined to over salt your food and rely on seasoning to taste rather than seasoning by the amount of salt.

Table salt is known for often having iodine added in, a practice that began in the 1920s as a means of getting a key nutrient to the population. As salt is one of the most widely used seasonings, this was an ideal way of getting iodine into peoples' diets. It also contains an anti-caking agent that helps it dissolve easily into food. But while the iodine makes table salt healthy, the anti-caking agent can change the taste of certain dishes, particularly savory dishes, often resulting in an overly salty, metallic taste.

Baking, however, is not affected by this problem. When you pair that with the fact that baking requires precise measurements and when salt is called for in an older baking recipe, it is widely expected that table salt is going to be used, as it was the common salt used back in the day. Even for modern sweet recipes, table salt is perfectly acceptable, especially if you're not using salted butter. This allows you to make great baked goods that taste spot on every time without having to use pricey alternatives, like fleur de sel, which costs significantly more than a container of basic iodized table salt.