An Orb

I was struck by this beautifully shaped salt sphere while we were walking through the farmers market the other day.  I had not seen perfectly round pieces of salt before.  We have worked with blocks and chunks, though there is just something about a perfectly round piece of salt that appeals to my senses.  My first thought for the salt sphere was to use it for a striking presentation of salt grated table side.  I hope other people are equally excited about perfect shapes created from irregularly shaped objects and ingredients.  A round ball of salt is unexpected.  I like that.

While our first idea is interesting, I am wondering about other uses.  Actually, Aki's first idea was not to buy a round piece of salt when an irregular shaped block would do.  She wondered what the point was in having a perfectly shaped piece if I was just going to file it down into something irregular in the process of its use. That is why I am looking for other ways to utilize this orb of Himalayan salt.

Unsurprisingly I was less enamored by the sphere. I found the jagged chunks on the table with their craggy edges and irregular veins more appealing than the smoothly polished orb. Certainly there is room for both kinds of salt in our pantry. On this day I was more struck by Alex's pleasure and fascination than I was by the salt itself. I'm sure he'll find a way to put it to good use.

Comments

[kjsoul]

I agree, there has to be a way to utilize such a beautiful shape (not to mention the color - nice). Not sure what the answer is, but using sandpaper or something similar to facilitate movement of salt particles from orb to plate may allow you to keep a sphere-ish shape. Nice find.

[ew]

I was thinking about uses for thus salt and maybe this will work. Maybe for a tableside presentation you could heat the salt in a super hot oven and cook thinly sliced fish on the orb. Think of it as sort of a reverse of salt crusted roasted fish...i dunno its the first thing that came to mind

[KN]

Pop it in a whisk to season as you go!! :)

Actually, I like the tableside grating idea.

[bill]

what about letting the sphere sit at the bottom of a cool large martini glass or other clear vessel in which to "season" the nage or bouillon for the dish. The longer it sits, the more it seasons. One would need to indicate to the guests that they do nto want to try to eat it however.

[Andrew Tepper]

How about a soup that is brought to the table cold or even frozen, and a salt sphere that is brought screaming hot?

[Paul.]

I too am for showcasing the simple and unusual elegance of the sphere.

My mind went to something like draping a strip of golden bream sashimi on the sphere. I'm thinking that pulling the fish off the sphere would capture just the right amount of salt from the sphere.