Fleur de sel takes gourmet cooking to a delicious new level
White
gold, the caviar of sea salts, the 7th wonder of the gastronomic
world… Fleur de sel, with its variety of surprising flavours and
colours, adds an extraordinary touch to all your creations—even
your desserts! Find out how to add a highly innovative and
unexpected touch to your cuisine. Fleur de sel is the condiment of choice in the kitchen. It subtly seduces your taste buds by bringing out all the flavour in a celebration of refined taste.
Fleur de sel is a rare, natural sea salt composed of small, flaky crystals with a moist texture that’s not like regular table salt. Harvested in September, paludiers or sauniers with flat, chestnut wood spades sweep the crystals from the surface of evaporating seawater. Fleur de sel is truly the purest of all salts. Its complex taste is less saline, featuring the delicate aroma of violets with a balance of minerals and flavour of the sea
Harvested in France and other areas of the world, fleur de sel comes in several different colours and flavours, such as pepper or violet and iodine or seaweed. Deliciously rich, black lava sea salt from Hawaii, which is used to enhance the taste of fish, neutralizes toxins in the body. Sel rose himalayen (Himalaya pink salt) comes from ancient seas that dried up more than 200 million years ago. Vanilla-flavoured fleur de sel from the Île de la Réunion makes scallops an irresistible delight.
- For a marvelously delicious summer meal, lightly sprinkle fleur de sel over thinly sliced ham, a meat or fish carpaccio, or even foie gras.
- A pinch of fleur de sel on a veal or lamb shank brings out even more flavour of an already delicious dish.
- Even on desserts, a light dusting of fleur de sel is a delight: on apple pie or over slices of melon with sherbet. Some chefs have even used it when creating chocolate desserts—the fleur de sel subtly extends the flavour and the pleasure.
- Because it dissolves rather quickly, add fleur de sel at the end of cooking meats or other main dishes. It’s a wonderful way to highlight the flavour.
- Before you make coffee, add a pinch of table salt to the water and boost the flavour to its maximum.
- Sprinkling fine salt on the exposed pulp of a cut lemon will preserve it for later use.
- To make whipped cream more quickly, add a pinch of fine salt before beating.
YOU’LL FIND A VARIETY OF FLEUR DE SEL AT THE DELICATESSEN.
Features was inspired by:
Charest, Nicole. Fleur de sel, Recevoir, summer 2004, p.
120-121.