PINK SALT

Pink Salt.  What an odd name.  At this point in time, pink salt means salt (sodium chloride) with a pink tinge, from Hawaii, Pakistan, Peru, etc.  For amateur cooks, it often means “a curing salt containing 6.25% sodium nitrite”, which is dyed a bright pink so as not to be confused with regular salt.

I picked some up today by going to the little hole in the wall,literally called the Sausage Source – it’s like the old office of a closed gas station.  In there, I found curing agents like the pink salts, I found meat slicers, sausage casings and more spice combinations for breakfast sausage, corned beef, jerky, etc than you can imagine.

So what?  Well, as most of my recent posts, it’s all about Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie.  In it, his recipes often reference and include pink salt.  It’s the red color we find in store bought corned beef and bacon.

Speaking of bacon, I have a small pork belly portion in the freezer and I intend to make fresh bacon with it and my new pink salt.