Veal Salt

Last week Michael Ruhlman ran a contest for uses of veal stock on his blog, and the winning entry was veal salt. Josh Kantor was the genius who came up with this concept and won the contest. I made my first batch this weekend, so far it is everything I imagined it would be. It adds a braised savoriness to things that aren't braised or slow cooked. I finished making it this morning and used some on tomatoes and onions that I grilled tonight. They had a really nice richness that I haven't tasted before in grilled foods.

I made the veal stock overnight on Friday night using the following ingredients:
5 Lb.s veal bones (from Paulina, mix of joints and marrow bones, roasted at 400 for 30 minutes)
5 Quarts water

I brought that to a boil and put in the oven overnight at 190 for 12 hours

I then added:
1 Medium Onion
1 large shallot
2 leeks
5 carrots
5 celery stalks with leaves
4 or 5 big sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves

I let that boil for an hour and a half, removed all solids, strained and degreased the stock. I then boiled it down for a couple hours to reduce by a third to half - basically taking it halfway to demi glace.

To make the salt I put 3 cups of coarse salt into a 9"X13" baking dish and covered it with the stock (about 2.5 to 3 cups). I baked overnight at 190. I stirred it every hour or so when I was awake and it took me about 28 hours to get it fully dried. It handles like normal salt, but has a MUCH different flavor. I'm working on a few things with it and will post back as I find out more. This seems to be something that should be a staple item in anyone's kitchen.

Hi,

How do you store this salt? Refrigerator for short term use and freezer for long term?

Regards,

The original blog post on it claims it's shelf stable, which makes sense considering the salt should preserve the stock components very well. That said, I'm doing exactly what you suggest to make sure I preserve the flavor. I have a cup or so in the fridge and vacuum sealed 1/2 cup portions and placed them in the freezer