The Big-Pot Blanching Method
I like a good salt as much as the next woman but Michael Ruhlman, what are you thinking??!! Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the author of Charcuterie: The Art of Salting, Smoking and Curing should suggest using 1 cup of kosher salt to 1 gallon of water (3.8 litres) to blanch green vegetables. Good heavens! ... my arteries are having kittens. Ruhlman says of the "Big-Pot Blanching Method" he learnt from Thomas Keller: "... the most vivid color and best flavour results when your vigorously boiling water tastes like the Atlantic ocean," he says. Now there's a good reason why I can't eat at restaurants every night. And a question: just what is kosher salt? I haven't ever seen it in Australia and know that Ruhlman's Charcuterie book calls for it constantly. Is a good-quality sea salt a suitable substitute?
