Basic Seasoned Salt

Virtually every recipe cooked on the grill calls for salt and pepper. In a perfect world, you’d dose the salt and grind the pepper fresh every time. This is not a perfect world, however, and having a batch of premixed seasoned salt on hand can save a lot of time and trouble. There’s no shortage of commercial seasoned salts, but most of them are loaded with MSG and sugar. The following formula may seem simple, but it reacts in complex ways on your taste buds. The coarse crystals of salt and cracked black peppercorns give you little bursts of flavor. The black, white, and cayenne peppers provide three different sorts of heat. Black pepper is the most aromatic; white pepper has a stinging, front-of-the-mouth heat; while cayenne is pure fire that’s chiefly experienced deep in your gullet. Put them together and you get a seasoning mix that makes just about everything on the grill taste better. Note that some people like a touch of sweetness in their seasoned salt, others don’t, so I’ve made the sugar optional.

NotesTry This!

Sprinkle this mixture on steaks, chops, chicken, fish—on just about anything you cook on the grill.

CostInexpensive

Total Timeunder 15 minutes

Make Ahead RecipeYes

Dietary Considerationdiabetic, egg-free, gluten-free, halal, kosher, lactose-free, low carb, peanut free, soy free, tree nut free, vegan, vegetarian

Five Ingredients or LessYes

Taste and Texturesalty, spiced, sweet

Type of Dishdry rub