Ingredient

kosher salt

See also: salt

A coarse-grained, additive-free salt named for its use in the koshering process; the coarser crystals make it easier to pinch and season by feel than table salt.

Buying guidance

Diamond Crystal if you can find it -- the large flakes are easy to pinch and forgiving of small errors. Brands are not interchangeable by volume, because the crystals differ in size: where a recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal, use about 1 tsp Morton (denser crystals, roughly 1.5 times as salty by volume), or about 3/4 tsp fine table or sea salt.

Storage

Unlike herbs and other spices, salt doesn't lose potency or go stale over time, so there's no need to replace it for freshness. The only real storage concern is moisture -- humidity can make it clump, so keep the lid on tight and add a few dry grains of rice to the container if it's kept somewhere damp.

Used in 20 recipes