18

In a recipe where you’re dissolving salt in water or a similar mixture(not sprinkling it as a seasoning, etc.) is it possible to substitute, for example, 1 gram of kosher salt with 1 gram of table salt?

I understand that you can’t do this by volume, but if both salts are mostly NaCl and I’m going by mass, then they should be close to equivalent, right?

shwoseph
  • 489
  • 4
  • 9

3 Answers3

26

Yes. In general diamond crystal kosher salt requires about twice the amount (by volume) as table salt, but measuring by weight is best and works with any salt.

myklbykl
  • 4,674
  • 9
  • 30
  • 5
    Yikes, no. I just did the math based on Morton's kosher and regular salts nutrition data. The mass part is correct (they are extremely close in terms of mg sodium per gram), but doubling the volume is way off. By volume, you only want about 25% more of kosher salt to be equivalent, with the caveat that how finely ground different brands of salts are could affect the volume calculation. –  Mar 23 '20 at 13:16
  • 14
    Anjama — Diamond Crystal kosher salt is not the same as Morton's kosher salt. Every different salt has a different mass:volume ratio. 2:1 is a close approximation for DC:table. – myklbykl Mar 23 '20 at 14:28
  • 6
    And that is the reason why going by weight is the only right choice when following a recipe. – bracco23 Mar 24 '20 at 09:50
  • It's really silly and hipstery how all recipes these days call for "kosher" salt. Stupid trend, IMO. Just salt to taste. As a seasoning, salt has the advantage that you can season after cooking. Most other seasonings and spices need to spend some time with the food your cooking, – Emanuel Landeholm Apr 12 '20 at 16:18
  • @EmanuelLandeholm — there is nothing silly or "hipstery" about using kosher salt. DC kosher salt is really easy to use in cooking. It is less dense, easier to use by hand, dissolves easily, and is more visible on foods (among other reasons), so chefs like to use it for most things. For things like baking it doesn't matter, but why have two types of salt when one will do? I own about six types of salt, and I use all of them, but 98% of the time I use Kosher salt even if it doesn't matter just because it's right on my counter in a salt cellar and easiest to grab. – myklbykl Apr 12 '20 at 16:27
  • P.S. When you use salt is super important in cooking. Sometimes you season last, sometimes right when you add food, sometimes beforehand, &c. You can't just throw salt on afterwards and expect good results. – myklbykl Apr 12 '20 at 16:30
  • I guess. Where I'm from, everything is "kosher" salt, ie. NaCl, with a dash of Iodine. I don't agree with when you salt in cooking. Sure, it drives out moisture, which is why you wait with salt, or salty condiments/sauces, but other than that I just add salt at the end if I miss the target. – Emanuel Landeholm Apr 12 '20 at 16:40
  • @EmanuelLandeholm, first, yes it's super important when you season. I can't write a treatise here to explain why, but there are many, many places you can easily find this info. Second, it is called kosher salt because it's used in the kashering process, not because the salt itself is more kosher than, say, table salt. – myklbykl Apr 12 '20 at 16:45
  • I typically wait with sodium salt. I often use sauces and condiments that are high in sodium salt, like soy sauce, mustard and fish sauce. Even ketchup or canned tomatoes can throw you off. Rarely do I need to add pure NaCl. – Emanuel Landeholm Apr 12 '20 at 16:49
  • Sure, there are rubs that call for salt, or salty condiments. You need to be careful with those. Thing is tho, an under-salted dish can always be salvaged. An over-salted dish is screwed. – Emanuel Landeholm Apr 12 '20 at 16:58
11

Low-sodium salts may be an exception. They replace sodium with potassium, which is heavier. But the percentage replaced is not standardized, so check the package for details.

MSalters
  • 579
  • 4
  • 8
  • 4
    A potassium atom is heavier than a sodium atom, yes, but the *density* of NaCl (2.17g/cm3) is actually a bit higher than KCl (1.98g/cm3) since it packs more tightly in the crystal lattice. It isn't a big enough difference to really worry about in any case. – J... Mar 23 '20 at 13:04
  • 16
    For chemically different salts like these, the main thing to take into account is the difference in taste strength (and other culinary effects)! Whether you measure by total mass or by the mass of sodium/potassium alone, a given mass of potassium salt won’t have the same effect on taste, cooking, etc as the same mass of ordinary sodium salt. – PLL Mar 23 '20 at 17:49
6

If the exact NaCl content is important, eg low-salt lacto pickles, you might want to consider that commercial salt will typically have a dessicant of about 1% to stop it clumping, iodine fortification will affect the activity of microflora and mined rock salt will have a fair amount of content that is not NaCl. Rock, so to speak.

But for the most part, salt is interchangeable when measured by weight.

goboating
  • 528
  • 2
  • 8