Chop off the old block

Of the many ways to season a steak, none comes close to sizzling it on ancient salt, writes Shanthini Naidoo

Steve Maresch, chef-owner of The Local Grill in Parktown North, Joburg, imported "tiles" of 2000-year-old Himalayan salt to line the walls of his famous cold room, where he ages cuts of beef. "Salt from Africa is mainly in grain form, and this was the only salt that I was able to find in tile form. The tiling project didn't pan out, and I was left with the tiles afterward. We started serving sushi on them, but finding we could cook on them was a bit of luck," said Maresch, whose restaurant won the nationwide Wolftrap Steakhouse Championship earlier this year.

Maresch said he tried heating the blocks on a stove-top but found a closed gas grill to be the best way to get the salt up to 400°C. It takes about half-an-hour to attain ideal heat.

"The salt's melting point is 800°C, but we started off on low heat with fish and calamari. Eventually we tried steak and it was lovely. The whole point is not to use any artificial flavours and seasoning, to keep the meat simple and tasty. It gets a gentle saltiness but also 90 trace minerals from the salt block."

Maresch cooks the steak for about three minutes a side, depending on the thickness, seasoning with pepper and lemon juice.

The salt block, which weighs about 6kg, can also be heated in a conventional oven for about 20 minutes. "It is a natural product with faults and cracks which we can't see, so I wouldn't heat it on a stove-top in case it shatters."

Vegetables and fish can also be cooked this way.

"The block must be washed after you use it, which causes slight melting, so it gets smaller over time. But you would use it hundreds of times before it loses any weight," said Maresch.

It is not possible to serve salt-grilled steak to the restaurant's large numbers of diners, so Maresch saves it for special occasions and his beef appreciation classes.

• Salt blocks are R350 each from The Local Grill, (011) 880-1946.