Kampot BBQ salt

Street barbecue is everywhere in Cambodia, from the skewer carts on Phnom Penh riverside to the beach grills at Otres. What they have in common is high heat, a lot of fat dripping into charcoal, and a very short cooking time. A delicate seasoning is wasted in that environment. It burns off, or the smoke covers it.

This blend is the opposite of delicate. Coarse Kampot sea salt carries spices chosen because they survive the grill, and the grain is left large on purpose so that some of it is still crunching when you eat.

How to get the most out of it

Use it as a dry rub half an hour before cooking on beef, pork ribs, chicken thighs and lamb, or scatter it over the meat straight off the grill while the surface is still hot enough to release the aromatics. Both work, and they give different results: rubbed early it seasons the meat, thrown on late it seasons the mouth.

It is also good on corn on the cob, on grilled halloumi, on roast potatoes, and mixed into a burger before shaping.

A practical gift

Of everything on our shelves, this is one of the products visitors buy as a gift and then come back for a second time. It needs no explanation, it costs little, and it survives a suitcase. Available in our Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Kampot shops.