How I ruined lard by salting it with iodized salt

My story is about how important sometimes the little things are. I knew that it was impossible to salt lard with iodized salt. But I was too lazy to run to the store for a new pack. I decided that the difference between them was small. Well, how much iodine is in that salt? Miser. It turned out that there is a difference, and a significant one.

What happens if you salt lard with iodized salt?

It’s not so offensive to spoil a small piece of lard. My godfather brought me 2 kg of fresh homemade salsa. My wife, as luck would have it, was away. Therefore, there was no one to stop me. It was decided to salt it according to the good old “dry” recipe:

4 tbsp. spoons of coarse table salt;
1 tbsp. a spoonful of ground black pepper;
0.5 tbsp. spoons of ground red pepper;
2 heads of garlic.

The indicated ingredients are taken for 1 kg of lard. Salt is mixed with spices. The garlic is peeled and cut into thin slices, lard into 10–15 cm square pieces. A small layer of salt is poured into a clean three-liter jar. Then the lard is rolled in a preparation with spices and laid in layers according to the principle: pulp to pulp, skin to skin. Garlic slices are placed between the layers. The jar filled to the top is tightly closed with a lid and placed in the refrigerator. After 2–4 days you can eat delicious, tender and fragrant lard.

I changed only one ingredient - instead of table salt, I took iodized salt. And the following came out of it: The lard turned out to have a taste of iodine. It is impossible to eat it.In addition to the disgusting taste, it is also slippery due to the large amount of liquid released.

Why is iodized salt not suitable for pickling?

For as long as I can remember, there have always been several types of salt on the market - fine iodized and coarse rock salt. There is also “Extra”. It is also small, but without iodine. So here it is. All culinary recipes indicate that only coarsely ground products can be used for pickling and preservation.

Before the lard injection, I didn’t wonder why. But now I decided to figure it out. It turned out that Iodides used in the iodization of table salt contribute to the oxidation and darkening of foods. With prolonged contact with them, food can acquire a taste of iodine, bitterness, become excessively soft, and release a lot of moisture.

For example, pickled cabbage becomes not sauerkraut, but bitter and not crispy. The same thing happens with cucumbers. When salted, fish takes on a gray tint and falls apart, mushrooms darken, garlic turns blue. The bitterness is especially noticeable in squash caviar.

Iodized salt and “Extra” are intended for adding salt to ready-made dishes - salads, cereals, soups - immediately before consumption. The best place for them is in the salt shaker.

How to salt lard correctly?

Lard is an ideal winter snack. I love eating it with rich borscht, black bread and horseradish, and a glass of vodka. At any feast it is one of the first to fly off the table.

To make lard always tasty, you need to know 3 secrets:

The ideal raw material is subcutaneous fat from the sternum. It must be fresh and chilled. No more than 2 days can pass from the moment of slaughter. There is no point in salting old lard - it will be tasteless.
Salt – only rock salt, coarse.It makes the product salty and plays the role of an absorbent. In simple terms, the grains absorb juices. The salting is of high quality, and the product does not spoil for a long time.
It's better to oversalt than undersalt. Lard absorbs exactly the amount of salt it needs. You can always clean off the excess with the blunt side of a knife. But if you use less of it than indicated in the recipe, the product will become wet and quickly disappear.

I was convinced from my own experience that it is impossible to salt lard with iodized salt. It turns out tasteless and doesn’t salt well. Of course, my wife and I did not throw away the spoiled product, but processed it into lard. The taste of iodine is gone. But I would prefer to eat 2 kg of excellent lard as a bite with borscht.