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Recipes with fine salt

6 recipes that use fine salt, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Labneh with za'atar, takes 15 minutes. It is most often cooked with garlic, bay leaves and coarse salt.

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Parmigiana di melanzane

Parmigiana di melanzane is Campania's big summer bake, made when aubergines are cheap and glossy and served for Sunday lunch or carried in a tin to the beach. Fried slices of aubergine are layered with a quick basil tomato sauce, fior di latte and grated hard cheese, then baked until the edges bubble and darken. It is better warm than piping hot, and better still the next day, cut into neat squares. Chef's tip: salt the slices and press them for 30 minutes before frying; they drink less oil and the layers stay distinct instead of watery.

90 minVegetarianItalian
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Labneh with za'atar

Labneh is the thick, tangy strained yogurt that Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian families spread on a plate every morning, swirl with olive oil and scatter with za'atar, the wild-thyme, sumac and toasted sesame mix of the Levant. It sits beside olives, cucumber, tomato and warm khubz at breakfast in Beirut and on the mezze table at night, and the firmer version is rolled into small balls and kept in jars of olive oil for weeks. Here salted yogurt hangs for a full day until it is as thick as cream cheese, then goes out two ways: spread in a dish, and rolled into balls. A common mistake is using low-fat or set yogurt with gelatine; it gives a thin, chalky labneh, so choose full-fat plain yogurt with only milk and cultures. Chef's tip: stir the salt in before straining, not after, because it draws out more whey and seasons the yogurt all the way through.

15 minChutneys & DipsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bagnet

Up in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, in towns like Vigan and Batac, bagnet hangs in market stalls in golden slabs: pork belly that has been boiled, dried and deep-fried so the rind is puffed and crunchy all the way through. Ilocanos chop it into rice bowls, add it to pinakbet and dinengdeng, or eat it with sukang Iloco, the region's dark sugarcane vinegar. It is richer and crunchier than lechon kawali because it is fried twice. A tomato and onion salad with a little shrimp paste cuts the fat. Chef's tip: the second fry, in hotter oil after a rest, is what makes the rind bubble; skip it and you get chewy skin.

150 minMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Hakka salt-baked chicken

Hakka families in the Dongjiang river valley of eastern Guangdong are said to have invented this dish by burying chickens in hot salt to cook and keep them while on the move. Wrapped in paper and surrounded by sizzling coarse salt in a wok, the bird cooks in its own juices: the skin turns golden and taut, the meat stays dense and moist, and sand ginger gives it a warm, peppery perfume. It is a celebration dish in Meizhou and Huizhou, served chopped on the bone, at room temperature or warm, with plain rice, blanched greens and a little sand ginger dip. Chef's tip: dry the chicken uncovered in the fridge before wrapping it; wet skin steams instead of roasting and turns flabby.

90 minChickenGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Cebu-style lechon belly

Cebu claims the best lechon in the Philippines, and its whole roast pigs are stuffed with lemongrass, garlic and spring onion so the meat needs no sauce. Lechon belly (lechon belyo) brings that flavour to a home oven: a slab of pork belly is rolled around the same herbs, tied, and roasted slowly, then blasted with heat until the rind turns to crackling. It is the centrepiece for Cebuano fiestas, Christmas and big birthdays, carved at the table and eaten with rice and a little spiced vinegar. Chef's tip: score only the meat side, never the skin, and dry the rind in the fridge overnight; an unbroken, dry skin crackles evenly.

250 minMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Southern fried chicken

Across Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas, a platter of fried chicken still anchors Sunday dinner after church and every summer family reunion. Bone-in pieces soak overnight in salted, peppery buttermilk, which seasons the meat right through and keeps it juicy, then get a craggy flour coat that fries up deep gold and crackly. Serve hot or at room temperature with coleslaw, biscuits, mashed potatoes or corn on the cob. Chef's tip: let the dredged pieces sit on a rack for 15 minutes before frying so the coating turns slightly pasty; it clings better and makes the crunchiest crust.

65 minChicken
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with fine salt