Why learn to salt as you go? If you ever wondered why restaurant food tastes so much better than home cooked foods, here’s the secret: Chefs season food at almost every single step. That, partnered with more fat and acid, makes for incredibly flavorful food. Knowing the basics of salt, which to use when, and how to season your food from before you cook right up to serving is probably the easiest way to up your cooking game.

We recommend keeping three basic salts at home: kosher salt, fine salt, and flaky salt. Kosher salt is a kitchen workhorse and you can use it for everything from dry brining to preserving. Most recipes are written for kosher salt. Pro tip: Buy one type of kosher salt and stick with it. Popular brands like Diamond Crystal and Morton Coarse Kosher Salt have different grain sizes and salinity. Fine salt is mostly reserved for baking recipes, where its smaller grain size blends easily into batters and dough. Flaky salt is ideal for finishing dishes; as a bonus it looks and tastes great atop baking basics like chocolate chip cookies.