Himalayan salt block anyone?

[HotJambalaya]

Have just come across this, and it sounds kinda fun.

Basically a slab of salt that you cook on. Heat it up on the hob and cook meat on it. Because the slab is made out of salt it gives it a good flavour too.

Some interesting info:

http://themeadow.com/pages/guide-to-himalayan-salt...

http://www.gourmetsalt.co.uk/blog/27-what-are-hima...

and an amazon book on it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1449430554/ref=...

Think it can be quite a laugh, similar to those restaurants that give you a raw steak with a hot stone, but in this case where your 'stone' is seasoning it for you too.

Tempted, and interested if anyone has one

[David A]

Obviously I've not read anything and will ask here first.... Say you cook a rib eye is it just the heat/seat thatbstops any juice soaking into the salt?

Think I'll be getting one though!

[HotJambalaya]

From what I've read it's much more rock like then porous so it isn't really a problem, just wash and scrub with warm water after use too, apparently only takes off a very thin layer

[Jer_1974]

Sounds great but does it work on induction.

[HotJambalaya]

Jer_1974 said:

Sounds great but does it work on induction.

Nope!

Can heat it up in the oven though I guess

[Tickle]

This looks inteteresting.

[HotJambalaya]

Tickle said:

This looks inteteresting.

yeah, I'm quite fascinated, I think I'm getting this one

http://www.gourmetsalt.co.uk/products/132-himalaya...

From what I've read it should be a minimum of 1.5 inches thick to minimise the chance of cracking under heat. I'm quite curious about the "instant curing" of raw fish etc too in addition to cooking on it.

Think it would make quite a novelty gift too.

[Tickle]

There were a few smaller ones (slightly) on ebay for £19.

The link you put on shows a bigger more useable size.

Will have look into it, sounds good though if you can get the thing hot enough and will it be messy in regards to fat dripping off the edges into the burner.

[HotJambalaya]

Yeah, I'm a little hazy about uses for small ones. A number of sites say that you should have a separate one for cooking and presenting, though I'm not sure if its a ploy to sell you more.

[Todzilla]

I was given one of these as a birthday present. I too thought it was a really interesting way to cook a good steak. I followed all of the instructions to the letter and the bloody thing cracked in several places - plus got really badly stained brown in the process, which wouldn't clean off. Plus the steak wasn't anything better than what i could've cooked normally… But don't let that put you off, just my experience! They're certainly a great conversation piece.

They look awesome as a serving platter though!

One thing to consider though if you get one is to keep it in an airtight container as my one soaked up humidity like a sponge...

[longshot]

'There are as many uses for The Meadow's heavy slabs of Himalayan Pink Salt blocks as there are foods, cooking styles, whims, acts of folly, and shows of bravado.'

Pretty much sums it up for me.
An expensive way to salt your food which in 3 months you will wonder why you bought.

My missus will undoubtedly want one to sit besides the juicer, liquidiser, popcorn maker, blender, whisker, food processor, deep fat fryer, slow cooker, coffee maker, hand blender, coffee grinder, pasta roller, mixer...

[calibrax]

Sounds like an expensive & pretentious hipster product to me. There are so many pointlessly expensive kitchen gadgets out there these days.

I think I'll invent a large bowl coated in tungsten, claim that they intensify the flavour of any salad mixed in them because of unique ionic transference between the special metal coating and the salad dressing, and I'll sell them for £99 each. I'll be a millionaire by the end of the summer.

[monoloco]

Wifey bought me one for Christmas. I was a bit dubious at first but now I'm a bit of a convert. So far I've done Scallops, Crevettes, lamb steaks and rib-eye steaks. Get it stupidly hot -far hotter than you'd normally get a pan so really works well for things that need searing hard on the outside but rare in the middle -hence steaks and scallops which were superb. Extra hint of salt is subtle but nice. Only drawbacks are a) takes an age to heat up -low heat for 15mins, medium heat for another 10 mins then mega-blast for 10 mins before you can even start cooking, and b) you cant exactly 'deglaze' the pan to make a sauce!