Last year, Samin Nosrat turned the cooking world upside down with her book, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, in which she promises to turn anyone into a great cook if they pay attention to those four simple elements.
"This is the most essential book I have seen in decades," Rach says.
Samin came on the show to show off one of the incredible powers of one the book’s primary elements: salt.
“The main thing that salt does is that it makes things taste more like themselves. It enhances flavor," she explains. And while salty food is delicious on its own, these magic crystals can add big flavor to dishes that aren't traditionally thought of as salty.
Check out the video above to see one way that salt can transform something tart and bitter like grapefruit juice. Using a spoonful of the juice sprinkled with salt, Samin shows how salt can suppress bitterness. “By giving a contrast, it makes sweet things even more sweet,” she explains.
Salted caramel or even chocolate brownies sprinkled with sea salt are both great examples of this cool phenomenon.
You can even harness salt’s magical powers for correcting burnt food. After scraping the burnt bits off, Samin recommends a generous sprinkle of salt to “correct” the harsh bitter taste. Who knew?
