Salt Spray Bottles Are A Novelty That Will Shake Up Your Seasoning
When you think of need-to-have ingredients in your pantry, salt is a no-brainer. No matter what you're cooking, you just have to have it. Even the sweetest of baked goods need a little salt. However, what if you could level up the way you add salt to your favorite foods? Enter: salt spray bottles. A simple mixture of water and salt, salt spray bottles can help you more evenly add salt to a dish. The mist uniformly coats whatever you're spraying. Instead of shaking salt over your food and hoping you don't use too much, you have more control over the amount you're consuming.
Some of the best places to use a salt spray bottle? On cuts of meat, like steak. Many cuts are easy to over-season, as you might assume a thick, fatty steak or rack of ribs needs a ton of salt and pepper in order to really soak in the flavors. Using a salt spray on steak and other meats, though, provides just enough salt, without overdoing it. Similarly, spray the mixture on cooked vegetables, like roasted veggies, corn on the cob, or your baked potato, for easy, light seasoning. Salt spray is also great for salads, popcorn, sandwiches, and similar dishes wherein granular salt just won't adhere to the other ingredients all that well. Looking for a unique and impressive touch the next time you're mixing up a batch of margaritas? Forgo the salted rim and spritz the top of your drink with salt.
Making your own salt spray bottle at home
While you can buy salt spray bottles in some stores, they're easy enough to make at home, just by mixing fine sea salt with hot, filtered water, to the ratio of your choosing (for instance, 1 tablespoon of salt per cup of water). After the salt is dissolved and the mixture is cooled, put it in a food-specific spritz bottle, and you'll have a kitchen tool for spritzing bursts of flavor onto, well, anything. But there are exceptions. In instances where you need to carefully and meticulously measure out your salt (like in baking), you don't want to haphazardly spray away. Likewise, you don't want to use this mixture in anything that would suffer from the added moisture.
Beyond making a simple salt spray using just water and salt, you can also make variations on the original by including food-grade infused oils, such as citrus oils. Those are perfect for spritzing on your salads, seafood, veggies, or garlic. You could use onion-infused oils for your steak or ribs. Add a favorite herb-infused oil for extra flavors without ever turning to your spice rack. You can even incorporate vinegar for that distinct salt-and-vinegar flavor.