Grilling food on a Himalayan salt block like this one is something I only heard about recently, but I've learned it's a pretty clever idea.

Place the block on a grill opposite from the charcoal or otherwise on low heat, let it slowly and evenly heat up for 30–45 minutes — to the point where drops of water instantly sizzle away on it, a temperature it will maintain for a while — then cook on it any food you'd like to impart a delicate but complex salty flavor to.

Steak, chicken, pork loin, fish, shrimp, veggies, et al are all perfect candidates for this method. Once the food's cooked, you can use the included porcelain-coated steel holder to transfer the salt block, food and all, to the table and serve your guests right from the cooking surface. Neat.

You don't just have to use it for grilling, though. Mark Bitterman of Portland, OR specialty shop The Meadow offers a bunch of handy tips for cooking and serving on a salt block:

Serve moist food on it, such as mozzarella and sliced apples, and the food will pick up a delicate saltiness that sets it off perfectly.

He also talks about freezing the block for other uses:

• Freeze a Himalayan salt plate for two hours. Scoop cream or sorbet atop.
• More fun yet, freeze a Himalayan salt plate for two hours. Then, over medium heat, warm lightly whipped sweet heavy cream, egg, honey, and aged bitters, and refrigerate. Remove the salt slab from freezer, pour mixture on it, slowly lufting with spatula, for a salt-tinged ice custard you will not soon forget.

As it happens, Mark wrote a whole cookbook on salt block cooking, so be sure to check that out.

Get this salt block + holder set for $41 on Amazon.