As I described in my earlier post about salt, Ruhlman states the importance of learning to measure salt with your fingers.  This aptitude will make your food start to sing and will distinguish you from a medium cook to an above average cook.  This is my hope anyway as I embark on salting with my fingers.  

I took a look around the web too to find encouragement on why it is so important to layer salt correctly and use it as a real ingredient.  I provided a link that I liked about how to use salt to make your food explode with flavor… who wouldn’t want that.

So, this past Saturday, I sat in a wonderful cafe having a knock out vegan lunch – okay, it was Busboys and Poets.  A must visit place if you are ever in Washington, DC and happen to be a vegan or just like vegetarian food or poets or quirky political bookstores.  My mom was along to keep me company and to help me photograph my fingers.  Yes, I brought my camera, my coarse Kosher salt and my little clay bowl from Chile.  Multi-tasking is vital to life in the fast lane or even just in the suburbs.

First, I tried the 2 fingers and thumb pinch.  I consistently picked up  1/8 of a teaspoon of salt.

Next, I tried 3 fingers and thumb – this yielded a bit less than ¼ of a teaspoon.

Lastly, I tried 4 fingers and thumb – this yielded less than ½ teaspoon.

I was surprised that I didn’t pick up more.  I don’t feel I have particularly dainty hands but I was no where near a teaspoon, like I would have expected when using all my fingers.  That was it.  

Now, I know how much salt I pick up and I can quit using my measuring spoons and start experimenting with just my hands.  I have started this and it seems like I am using more salt but remember, I have switched from using fine sea salt to coarse Kosher salt.  I know they taste different but they also feel different in my hand.  I feel like my food is a bit too salty now and I need to be careful to adjust to this change.  I will keep you posted on how it goes!