Even by volume, the amount used may not make a huge difference in salinity. A pinch will still be a pinch.
As Linda’s table illustrates, the weight difference between 1T of Morton’s and DK is 1/6 oz or <5g. You just have to habituate yourself for larger volumes and remember what you’re using. Or weigh.
Does nobody want to measure pinches?
It really isn’t as simple as that.
People use Kosher salt for two reasons: (1) to cook with (duh) and (2) as a finishing salt.
Because Diamond Crystal Kosher salt is shaped differently than, say, Morton’s, it is less salty and more crumbly by volume than Morton’s. This is important in two ways.
First, it means that Diamond Crystal salt dissolves quicker (than Morton’s) so it prevents inadvertent overs-seasoning and by definition allows for more precise seasoning. Which, if you are anal (and I am), you appreciate. Second, because of the lighter and smaller flakes (as a result of being crystalized in an open brine, as opposed to the more common evaporation method), Diamond Crystal Koshers salt sticks to food better, which makes it the perfect finishing salt for meats and salads.
And, yes, a pinch is a pinch and within any one single pinch any variances will be trivial. But enough of those variable pinches together collectively (as you would, say, seasoning a steak or as a finishing salt on salad) then those variances do add it up and become, well, a difference.
I don’t use Kosher salt as a finishing salt. I usually use Maldon and sometimes Fleur de Sel as a finishing salt.
In most recipes I see that call for finishing salt, Maldon or Fleur de Sel is specified.
Yeah, it is pretty simple. Mortons and DC are equally salty.
No, it has nothing to do with precision. It has to do with tasting slightly faster, and therefore perhaps more often, s’all. If you wanted precision, you’d go by weight.
If you want to use DC as a finishing salt because it sticks better, you’d be better off using a dedicated finishing salt that is flakier yet.
Dosing for overall salinity will just depend on what you’re accustomed to. Many people switch back and forth or make-do. As long as you mind the density, it’s all interchangeable.
I may have missed something, but I’m thinking about using it when I pre-salt or dry brine a protein. If I were to exaggerate to make my point, a single chunk of rock salt would be as effective as a sprinkle of salt that weighed the same?
BTW, I have a tough time pinching “table salt”, which I mostly use in baking, so I don’t pinch.
My pinches
The “new” DC seems finer than I remember, and finer than whatever I have in my “pig” right now.
I think that’s the Lucky’s market “Sunny Select”.
OMG I need to get a life. 
Thanks. We need a “Frown Face” or “Cry Face” response option for sad news like this.
Very limited sample, and probably I’m overly biased, but I don’t think Cargill has a good corporate culture - I interviewed with them as an engineer and it was like an aggressive 3-on-1 wrestling match, and them all acting quite arrogant.
As it concluded they asked about my interest in the job and I said “No thank you”, even though I had nothing else lined up at the time.
as I dimly recall from the times information on the internet could be reasonably considered to be ‘accurate’ . . .
the label / description “kosher” has zip comma zero to do with religion
all pure salt can be considered to be “kosher”
other salt ‘ingredients’ like iodine and ‘flow agents’ do not “violate” kosher standards, but do render the salt ‘unpure’ unless inspected and approved…but only because it is not ‘inspected and approved’
unless the whole process is inspected and approved by the kosher-authority-of-your-choice, it’s not kosher.
koshering / kashering is ‘named’ for it’s use in blood extraction from meats.
and that is a big kosher rule
the ‘salt’ is innocent - its use is however runs very deep in other kosher requirements.
I’m dreading ANY sort of response to this and I hate to be “that guy”, but there is a definition(s) of how much a “pinch” is:
" If you want to get very technical and scientific, a pinch is generally defined as 1/16 teaspoon . While there’s some debate about this, The New Food Lover’s Companion considers a pinch to be 1/16 tsp, while a dash is “somewhere between 1/16 and a scant 1/8 teaspoon.” Not all cookbooks agree. So there’s your answer."
https://www.atcoblueflamekitchen.com/en-ca/how-to/pinch-salt.html#:~:text=If%20you%20want%20to%20get,So%20there’s%20your%20answer.
" What does 1 pinch equal?
1/16 teaspoon
Pinch – 1/16 teaspoon or half of a dash. A pinch has been an ancient measurement since as long as we’ve had dexterity of our fingers. This measurement can vary from pinch to pinch, hand to hand and due to different types of ingredients and grip."
Lean into it!
So that would mean we are back to volume rather than weight.
“Ah, Dude, my pinch is biggern yer pinch”.
LoL.
But more seriously, as A Certified Nerd, I have actually measured my pinch (Morton kosh, not Diamond which is hard to find here) by averaging several 10 pinches and I’m closer to 1/8 tsp per. Or about 6.5 grams per 10 in mass.
It does depend on the vessel I’m pulling from. Narrow begets a smaller pinch and wider larger.
Well…… during Covid lockdowns I got into making sourdough bread and pickles at home. The pickle experience began with a recipe from the 2nd Avenue Deli cookbook that listed kosher salt BY VOLUME with no brand name. Over the next few months I learned that, when added by volume, the brand does make a difference.
LindaWhit’s chart shows an almost 50% difference in the weight of DC vs Morton’s. A Morton’s tablespoon has quite a bit more salt in it than DC due to Crystal size. The aggregate of the people involved in the ensuing discussions found that difference to be critical to the end result.
I think it was probably on Chowhound that someone started a topic on pickle making with a recipe from a well-known New York City pickle maker. That recipe was by volume, so I switched to it until I’d made enough pickles to be comfortable using the 2nd Ave recipe which was similar but a little less complicated.
Just sayin’.
Oh, snap!
As long as the surface area contact is the same, and it dissolves, an ounce of rocksalt is the same as an ounce of kosher or table. Heck, you could press your steak between two flat slabs of pink Himalayan!
I’m sure it depends on a lot of things, including pressure, whether you spill, how the granules slip (or don’t) againt each other, hand position ad astra.
Personally, unless I’m fine-tuning seasoning, I pinch with at least two fingers and thumb.
What i like most about DC. Is the way it dissolves quickly.in water . I grabbed a handful out of the canister and into a bowl of water this morning. Tossed in my chicken thighs to brine . Ready to put on the Traeger. Cheers.
Perfectly valid preference. It does dissolve faster than Mortons.
IMO, this is a bigger boon when seasoning something that’s already cooked or cooking. If you’re salting water that’s coming up to a boil, do you think there’s enough of a difference to make a difference?
I’m in the habit lately of blanching many vegetables in highly saline water, the better to fix their colors. I go through a lot of kosher in two houses doing this. I keep both Mortons and DC, and it’s common for me to run out of one or the other. I have noticed no difference between the two dissolving, say, a cup of salt in 5 quarts of hot water. Both need a stir, but it’s not like I’m having to wait on the Mortons.
While we’re on the subject, if speed were the big virtue, a powdered salt would dissolve the fastest, or, we’d all do the math, and keep a flask of calibrated brine at the ready. That no one does this should tell us how important speed of dissolution really is.
Generally yes. But to John’s point if I don’t want to heat (and then wait to cool) a simple[1] brine, Morton’s kosher does take a lot of stirring.
So, also back to one of your points, I sometimes use the equivalent mass of a powdery salt (my pickling salt) for easy dissolution.
[1] But a lot of the time I’m boiling herbs and spices in the brine anyway. In that case of course crystal size doesn’t matter.
But to my eye, the surface area contact varies with the shape of the salt, and the shape of the meat.
FWIW, I don’t see this as an issue in a leisurely wet brine, when you are not adding salt beyond what I think is called the saturation point. But I am not a fan of wet brines for my usual proteins.
I still use Kosher salt in pickles and ferments, but not often enough to budget around it.
