Cooking On A Himalayan Salt Slab

Following my introduction to kitchen uses of the Himalayan Salt Blocks during an episode of the Food Network's Iron Chef America, I consumed every bit of information about them that I could find on the Internet. The Himalayan salt deposits, which are believed to be 500 to 600 million years old, have been mined for more than 2000 years in what is now Pakistan. It is said that Alexander the Great stumbled upon the salt deposits with his army in the fourth century before the common era (B.C.E.). Having taken refuge in some foothill caves, their horses literally licked the crystalline rock in the walls of the cave.

Much more recently, a couple in New Jersey imported a twenty metric ton container of the pink Himalayan salt, and branded their distributorship as POSH^tm (a.k.a., "Primordial Ocean Salt Himalaya"^tm). They popularized the concept of "Saltware"^tm (putting food on the salt rather than putting the salt on food). The most prolific Internet promoters of the salt appears to be a shop in Portland, Oregon (which is exceptionally convenient for me). Their web site, blog, and physical storefront boast several variations of the pink wonder.

Although the blocks of Himalayan salt are beautiful in their natural state, I was anxious to apply them in the preparation of a meal. Poking around the Internet for information about cooking with the blocks left me with the impression that they are being used most for cold food (e.g., sushi presentation, cheese plates, etc.) and very limited hot food (e.g., fried eggs). My interest was in something a bit more adventurous. I called The Meadow and told them that I wanted a fairly large block to cook with. They had one 8" x 16" x 1.5" slab that fit the bill -- one that was suitable to pair with high temperatures. We picked it up in Portland, and took it with us to the Palm Desert.

In deciding on an appropriately daring meal to involve the salt slab, I hit on the idea of Fajitas. Fajitas are a perfect meal for the Southern California desert, and are prepared well on a griddle surface (which I imagined as a good analog to the salt slab when brainstorming meal ideas). We picked up some flank steak, onions, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, limes, and tortillas from a local "farmer's market". After marinating the flank steak for several hours, we put the salt slab on the grill and slowly increased the temperature. Once the slab was heated to ~500^o F we started to cook.

The tomatoes were put to salt first. The peppers and onions followed, receiving a generous squeeze of fresh lime. Marinated flank steak was the last to hit the crackling mineral, and required less than ten minutes to reach perfection. The tomato, lime, and marinate juices dissolved a layer of surface salt, imparting the ancient seasoning. You simply could not imagine the intensity of flavor. Although Himalayan salt slab cooking has a high propensity for gimmickry, we did not experience anything but a unique and wonderful result.

If you're interested in trying hot cooking on a Himalayan salt slab, I recommend using an array of 8" x 8" x 1.5" slabs instead of a single larger slab. The 8" x 16" x 1.5" I purchased was nice from a surface area, but could have been duplicated at a much lower cost by multiple smaller slabs.