When I was told I was getting a Himalayan Salt Platter to review, I was skeptical on what I would do with it. The only time I have seen one in use was when Rob and I were at a restaurant in Victoria doing a food review. They were serving sashimi on it. I saw it as a fancy serving tray and not much else. So, receiving one to review made it hard to understand why someone would want one for more than just serving food on it.

Unlike table salt or sea salt, Himalayan salt has a milder flavour. You must remember how long food is sitting on it; the longer the food rests on the platter, the salter it gets. Something that is moist will pick up salt faster; like cucumber slices or eggplant could become too salty if left on it for too long. Fat will repel the salt so, if you want to reduce the amount of salt that transfers, toss the food in oil or fat.

First off, I was surprised that you actually can cook on it. You can use it in the oven, on the stove top (but not directly on an electric burner), or in a BBQ. Unlike standard cookware, where you can use it right away, this needs a little more special care so that you don’t crack the plate. It takes a while to get the temperature up high enough to cook on it.

These are the instructions provided to get it ready to be used for the first time.

The big reason why you must do this is because there could be moisture in the salt. If there is, it will crack, or even explode. It will make snapping and popping sounds as you do this too. I usually do videos of me using products but on this one, there was no point. You are looking at about three and a half hours to ready the platter, which I do feel is a waste of power just to do a demonstration video.

The cleaning is easy. Just scrape off food stuck to it using a knife, rinse under hot water quickly, and then let it dry for 24 hours before you use it again. You don’t use soap since salt is naturally antimicrobial.

For using it in a grill, oven or stove-top, it will also require a slow process of warming it up. You raise the temperature from low to medium over a period of 15 minutes, which should be hot enough but, if you need it hotter, add an additional 15 minutes bringing it up to medium high. Depending on the recipe, this process can take up to 45 minutes.

On a gas stove, it can go right on to the burner, but on an electric stove, it needs to hover at least half of an inch form the burner. You will need a wok ring or something to support it that is heat/oven safe. For an oven or grill, the process is the same: you heat it slowly, but just have the salt platter on the lower rack while you do it.

I can see if you are using a BBQ doing several different items in the grill at the same time, the Himalayan Salt Platter would work great because you need to heat up the grill in the first place. If you were baking something in the oven while it was either warming to the right temperature or in the process of tempering it, I would also see this being convenient.

But using this platter on a stove-top or oven, I think is a waste of time and energy; to do a half hour to 45-minute process just to get it ready for cooking. I was coming across lots of recipes for shrimp, which take only six minutes to cook. In an age where people are running out and buying appliances to cut time on cooking, waiting for something to warm up just for the salt flavour of the Himalayan Salt Platter I see as ridiculous.

I also saw recipes for doing pizzas on salt platters as well as chocolate chip cookies. Again, it is easier just to pop it onto a cookie sheet instead. On the stove top, there were people online using it to even fry an egg, which is overkill.

Well this I can agree that the Himalayan Salt Platter works best for, and it is not such a waste. To use it cold, just put it into the fridge or freezer for one hour and off you go.

I do like that you can use it for serving sashimi or sushi since you then don’t need to dip the fish into as much soy sauce, which can over power the taste of the fish. The salt from the platter would just enhance the flavour instead.

It is great for serving vegetables and fruits on, especially things like melons, where that little bit of salt will enhance the flavour of the melon, especially watermelon. Some people salt their watermelon and it can be a little much, but doing it on the tray makes it easier. You can even serve salads on it. Just think of putting tomato slices that have a little bit of olive oil and pepper onto the platter with homemade mozzarella cheese balls and a basil leaf. It would be very tasty.

The cool thing I found you can serve on it is ice cream! The ice cream would get a hint of salt on it. I did not see anything about doing chocolate, but I could see pouring either chocolate or caramel onto it to get that salted chocolate or salted caramel taste, especially if you were doing it on strawberries or had other fruit sitting on it.

If you are doing something like eggplant or other items that would be enhanced by the flavour of the salt, without going through the process of heating up the platter, I found that you can let the food just sit on it to cure with the Himalayan salt. You still use it cold, but you can do chicken, fish and other foods on it and just not add the additional salt during the standard cooking process. Depending on the item, you might need to flip it a couple times to get a good coat, or put the salt platter on the counter with the food on top of it, then sit the stainless-steel platter on top to add a bit of weight to help give the food more surface contact.

The Himalayan salt platter does have a use, it just depends on what exactly you want to use it for. If you don’t mind the prep time, you can use it for cooking. I know for me, I would most likely use it cold since I don’t have the time to wait, and I don’t want to waste power for something to get up to the right heat. There are a lot of recipes and potential for using it cold.

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Contributor Steve Polyak |

Topic Food | Product Review |