Beyond The Shaker: Salt Challenge

I ate a lot of salt this weekend. Monday morning I went to have an MRI and needed to take my wedding ring off and pretty much couldn't and the whole time I thought, "DAMN YOU SALT!".

Logan's friend Tyler has started a gourmet salt company with his brother called Beyond The Shaker. On Saturday night we gathered at another friend's house to taste 12 different dishes made with each variety of salt Beyond the Shaker sells. The best dish, as voted by everyone, would be awarded a trophy.

When I got my invitation to participate in this Beyond The Shaker Salt Challenge I thought, "Oh yeah, sure, Logan will make something!"

But then I realized I was one of the 12 people included in the challenge. Which meant I would have to make a dish myself.

As evidenced by the Beef Stew debacle, I'm not exactly capable of even adjusting a recipe, much less creating one all by myself.

Luckily my friend Laura is a chef and gave both Logan and me free consulting for this contest. Logan and Laura came up with an amazing pork tenderloin with a cider honey sauce. I found this a little fussy so I decided to make something easier, I love the taste of salty sweet things so I asked Laura for some dessert related ideas. 

I was assigned Everest Wet Salt, which, if I were a foodie type person I'd say, is a salt that tastes of lime, lemongrass and a bit of wasabi. Not so easy to cook with, so of course the girl with no culinary imagination got this salt.

I realized something about myself, while creating recipe after recipe that failed miserably. a) I'm not much of a "chef" b) I hate failing c) I often don't even try just to avoid failing.

(I already knew about myself: d) I need to chill the fuck out about 89.95% of the time.)

Giving up before trying is an excellent life skill.

I finally settled on coconut macaroons and with a little tweaking from Laura, I ended up with a pretty intriguing cookie. And I mean intriguing in a good way.

I used some pretty basic ingredients. Egg Whites, Coconut, Flour, Sugar, Almond Extract, Vanilla Extract and...

The Salt

Now there were a couple "secret" ingredients Laura suggested I add when I complained that the flavor of the salt wasn't coming through enough.

I was going to keep them secret but then I realized that's just part of cooking, boosting the flavors of the ingredients you're using.

The secret was lime zest and a little minced lemongrass. Brilliant! Thank God I know people who understand food.

But I think what really took me over the edge in the competition was my plating. Coconut with a border of the Everest Wet Salt.

Well either that or the tears that infused my cookies as I convinced myself my cookies would taste like ass and I would be laughed out of the competition.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'OVER REACTING!?'"

But guess what? I made 5th place (out of 12)! (You can see the other entries here.) Not bad for the Neurotic Chef. Additionally, no one made gagging sounds and ran for the bathroom.

Here's the recipe!

Slightly Different Coconut Macaroons

2 3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp flour
2 egg whites (whipped a little with a spoon)
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one lime
1 tsp minced lemongrass
approximately 2 Tbsp Everest Wet Salt

Mix coconut, sugar and flour in a large bowl. Stir in egg whites, almond and vanilla extracts, lime zest and minced lemongrass until well blended.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. I like mine to have a nice round shape with some irregularities in the top to let the coconut get toasted a little unevenly.

I was pretty exact when adding my salt to the tops of my cookies because of the contest. Because I am certifiably insane, I actually placed grains of salt on my cookies to be sure I had even distribution. Generally sprinkling a pinch of salt over each cookie would give you pretty good results, I mean if you don't like your salty macaroons perfect.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes until edges and a little of the tops of the cookie are golden brown. Move to wire racks and let cool.

Makes about 18 cookies using a tablespoon to scoop mixture up and place on cookie sheet

*This is not a sponsored post*

Comments

[Jana Ragsdale]

So who/which recipe won?

[Melissa H]

I love macaroons and lime/coconut combos so these are right up my alley. But do the lime and lemongrass go in the mix and all the salt on top? Am I missing something super obvious? Anyway, they look delish but the recipe didn't seem quite right to me.

[Melissa Summers]

In the mix! Oops I'll edit that in the morning.

Sent from my iPhone with fat fingers on tiny keys.

[Melissa Summers]

Really yummy blackened tilapia tacos. Delish but all the entries were amazing.

Sent from my iPhone with fat fingers on tiny keys.

[Eleanor]

Where did Logan place?

Congrats on the Top Five!

[cjm]

The first thing I thought was that you were awesome with the plating. Congrats!

[Krysta]

Oh man these look amazing!

[Lisa]

Those look delicious! Bonus: My kids won't touch coconut, so I can eat them all!

[chatty cricket]

would you judge me if I just ate that salt straight out of the jar with a spoon? Because, as a White Person, I love fancy salt. I take it very seriously.

I want to make these macaroons!! And I want to go look at the other eleven recipes to see what else I can do with all of that fancy ass salt.

[Catherine]

I just placed an order for a whole bunch of salt. What a great business concept. Tell them to get it onto Amazon Marketplace. Last year I was looking for gourmet salt everywhere and couldn't find anything like this. They need a "referred by Melissa S" button on their site!! Also congrats on the cookies.

[Mrs. D]

Congrats!

Also - yum! Those look very tasty and they sound so intriguing. I too love that salty/sweet combination. Mmmmm.

[JRM]

I'm really starting to love your cooking posts. Funny and real.

[Allison]

I was just in Detroit visiting my parents and on the way to the airport there was an interview with one of the owners of Beyond the Shaker. It was a really interesting interview, but super annoying because they only said the name once at the start we of course weren't paying attention.

[Jilly]

Interesting combination. I'd try it. I think if you need another career, you could totally be a food stylist. You'd be awesome at it.

[Patti]

Those look amazing and I bet they taste just as amazing, if not even better. I might have to try out this recipe.

[Melissa]

Citrus and coconut is a classic combination, so your instinct is spot on. Good on you for trying out something new!

[Maggie May]

i keep reading blog posts about delicious fooood!! it makes me hungry.

[Grumpy Barista]

Salt: tasty in food... AND handy on the front step to prevent embarrassing falls and various fractures.

[Melissa Summers]

Yep we've got salt. But thanks.

Sent from my iPhone with fat fingers on tiny keys.

[Dewshane]

Thanks for the recipe! I made it this weekend (sans salt...so I guess I sort of missed the point). Still, they were great!

[Wendy]

It's not enough to just see the pictures. I need to know all about those recipes and which flavor salt went into each. Way to spark interest! Great job, they look delicious.