David Hammond wrote:I believe I saw Louisa Chu on Diary of a Foodie bake a very large beet in a mound of kosher salt. You need a heckuva lot of salt, but it looked great.

Oh, my. I just made my first salt-crusted beets for lunch today (my first salt-crusted anything), and they may just be the best roasted beets I've ever had. The technique is worth trying just because it's so much fun--packing the beets in salt is like making snowballs. And excavating the beets afterward is like, well, excavating yummy beets from thicks crusts of salt! Way fun. I ended up eating one unadorned just after rinsing, another I ate with a drizzle of orange balsamic brought to me from Australia.

Interesting, every time I've tried salt-crusted anything, it tastes to me just like the non-salt-crusted anything. What would you say was different about the salt crusted beets from, say, roasted beets? I'm ready to become a believer.

Kennyz wrote:Interesting, every time I've tried salt-crusted anything, it tastes to me just like the non-salt-crusted anything. What would you say was different about the salt crusted beets from, say, roasted beets? I'm ready to become a believer.

Me too. I always feel like I just wasted a bunch of salt.

eatchicago wrote:Me too. I always feel like I just wasted a bunch of salt.

I keep the salt. I have a giant ziplock of the broken chunks of salt that I just moisten and reuse to roast beets next time around.

As far as the difference between plain roasted beets and salt-crusted ones, I don't know - I crust mine in salt and they're always delicious, so I've stuck with it.

-Dan

When you roast in salt you trap moisture plus it's a lot faster. I think the taste is more delicate and the texture is softer and more luscious than roasting without. If you use rock salt, yes, just rinse it off, dry well, and re-use.

I only have my experience today, but I agree that the resulting beet taste with salt-crusting is more delicate than roasting with/without foil. I also mixed fresh thyme in with the salt, and here, too, I thought the resulting taste was more delicate, the thyme more diffuse.

I recently tried this recipe for beet chips, and have finally found a preparation that I like for deep red beets. I used a mandolin to get the slices so I could be consistent, as suggested by the recipe, I did some 1/8 inch thick, and some 1/4 inch thick.

The quarter-inch slices tended to burn before they crisped, so unless you want your chips somewhat meaty and wet, I'd suggest sticking to thinner slices. I used the waffle-slicer on the mandolin just for fun, and it worked just fine - but a hearty sharp knife will work just as well. The mess wasn't as bad as I feared, either - raw beets aren't nearly as juicy as cooked ones - yes, my hands were stained, but returned to normal after a scrub or two. I mandolin-ed over a ceramic plate, and the beet juice rinsed right off - but I would be very aware of protecting porous surfaces when you try this recipe.

These taste just like candy, and, really, they were quite simple - we finished off four good-sized beets between the three of us in a matter of minutes, and none of us are beet lovers.