Cooking For Engineers

[seachefrob]

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IF SALT IS FRESHLY GROUND VS. PREVIOUSLY GROUND ????

[melva02]

I don't think the difference between preground and fresh-ground salt is the same as for pepper. With pepper and other spices you have volatile aromatic compounds that escape, but salt is an ingredient that makes things taste more like themselves (the only true "seasoning" according to Alton Brown). The main difference is control of the grind size. I keep table salt, kosher salt, and canning salt on hand, and then I have whatever sea salts I've bought recently, and if one's too grainy I smash it up in a mortar.

[Michael Chu]

I agree with melva02 -- freshly ground salt does not impart additional flavors or aromas. It does produce chunkier pieces of salt which may play differently on the tongue than table salt, but it's easier and cheaper to use kosher salt (which comes in good sized flakes that are easy to control with your finger tips and large enough to stick to foods and produce concentrated bursts of saltiness).