Mastering salt

[Deleted]

Salt is my #1 item for cooking mistakes. Even though I have been slowly but sure learning not to salt most foods when I am cooking them, I often forget how salty a lot of commercial sauces or pastes can be, and often they are enough to ruin what I am cooking without any additional help from my salt shaker.

Recently a cooking show said that you should never salt the water in which you are cooking pasta. The pasta becomes imbibed with salt, most of which you cannot taste even though it is there. If you salt the pasta after it is cooked, you use 75% less salt while obtaining the same taste that you wanted.

I always remember this tip right after I have thrown a handful of coarse salt into the pot of water.

[Deleted]

I used to do this just automatically at one time and either someone told me or I just figured it out on my own one day that it did indeed completely saturate the pasta with not just a salty taste,but,a nasty salty taste.
I am not one to put much salt on my food. I love salt in it's proper place and only just recently discovered some other types of salts from other parts of the world that I am just smitten with.
I bought them at a Farmer's Market in Miami Beach and because the vendor was overwhelmed with bitchy needy customers at the time,I did not let him take up anymore of his time and write down on the label precisely what they are. They are very very fine in texture,one is a gorgeous pale pink color,and the other is jet black. Each have their own distinctive merits and I have been enjoying playing with them on different foods.
I want to learn more and play around with them. The guy had a slew of them.
I remember first discovering Kosher salt and what a thrill that was.
All my life it was regular ol' Morton's Table salt,"When it rains it pours..."
Although,when curing and smoking meats and fresh fish,my father used to do some kind of magic with salt. I was too young to be truly cognizant of what he was actually doing but,I do recall the taste like it was yestersday.

[palesa]

Who knew that there were different kinds of salt?

I like a fair bit of salt, but have learnt to cook with very little salt and rather add post cooking.

I did not know that about salt and pasta, will try to remember that the next time I make pasta

[mickthecactus]

I've got 3 or 4 varieties including pink saly supposedly from the Himalayas (how did it get there?) but the most recent was from spain which came in a grinder wiith dried herbs. Rather nice actually...

I rather like salty food but it's not good for me......

[auntieannie]

salt is rather nasty business, chemically speaking.
Better to use sea salt than mined salt as they put less chemicals in it to treat it. Not sure where I got that info, but it stuck with me. No real time to look for it now so maybe one of you will?

[Deleted]

Sea salt is a lot less salty, because they retain a lot of the "impurities" and there is therefore less sodium chloride. At least that's how they do it in France where the coarse sea salt is mostly grey, while the mined salt is white and "pure."

When my grandmother would come to the United States, she got tricked numerous times with the extremely salty Morton's but she didn't manage to ruin any dish as far as I can recall (unlike me).

[tod2]

I do not profess any great knowledge when it comes to sea salt versus mined salt but do have a friend who imports his salt. He tells me that "Himalaya Salt" is just a sales gimmick and the salt is between 40-50% sodium chloride. Salt mined from Poland and China with a sodium level of only 2.8 sodium chloride.
A name to look out for on a salt package is Hong ba-oishi salt. This is probably only available at Chinese supermarkets. Salt from Poland registers about 12-22% sodium chloride.
He has taken the salt to a lab for analysis on a Gas Chromatograph which gave the result.

OK, so we can get really low sodium salt but why then did SKY News announce only a few weeks ago , that salt has now been discovered not to be bad for you!! Eamonn Holmes agreed wholeheartedly with this finding saying his mother has been coating all her food in salt all her life and is healthy and hearty!

[fumobici]

Aug 4, 2011 13:39:45 GMT kerouac2 said:

S
Recently a cooking show said that you should never salt the water in which you are cooking pasta. The pasta becomes imbibed with salt, most of which you cannot taste even though it is there. If you salt the pasta after it is cooked, you use 75% less salt while obtaining the same taste that you wanted.

I always remember this tip right after I have thrown a handful of coarse salt into the pot of water.

I'd disagree. The pasta water should be salted to approximately the salinity of sea water. It seasons the pasta right through that way. It's wasteful of salt, sure, as 95% of the salt ends up being drained off but salt is cheap. At least for traditional Italian-type pasta cookery. Never add oil to the cooking water.

[fumobici]

Salt should be nearly 100% NaCl. That's the definition of salt.

[bixaorellana]

Hmmm ~~ interesting. I really like my pasta to not have to be salted at all when it's served, & the OP made me think that the (saline ;D) solution was at hand. But now, reading what Fumobici has to say, I'm on the fence again. That said, I don't agree about not putting oil in the cooking water. It's deeply satisfying on a family tradition level, somewhat in the way that shaking Polaroid photos back & forth to develop them is for some people.

Years ago I was struck by how much better salt was in Mexico than in the US, mainly because the taste was purely & clearly salt, whereas the US salt was oddly bitter because of additives. Now, all commercial Mexican salt has lost its purity to additives as well.

Also years ago, I had hair analysis done & the report said I need not worry about excessive salt, so I don't. My racehorse ankles are testament to my lack of water retention.

[cheerypeabrain]

I use too much salt....I know I do. I didn't know about not adding salt to the water when cooking pasta either!

I tend to not use salt in the water when cooking veg, altho if I'm making creamy mashed potatoes I add it when I add the butter and pepper. I do tend to add salt towards the end of the cooking time when making stews, casseroles etc...but as I say...I'm a salt monster.

If I use salt when my niece is here she screams 'WHITE DEATH WHITE DEATH' and takes it off me....

[joanne28]

I do feel that salt has been demonized. Absolutely many of us ingest too much salt but sodium is necessary for good health.

I personally add a little salt to the water when cooking pasta, potatoes and rice. A little salt enhances other flavours also. But I don't add salt to tuna salad or egg salad, as I use mayo and mustard and they have salt in them. I normally cut the salt in a recipe in half when first cooking it and if that's fine, I stay with it.

But the most important thing, I think, is to use processed foods as little as possible. Cold cuts are a treat, more so in the summer when it's hot. I try to lean more towards other spices and herbs for the flavours.

[Deleted]

Learning to make steamed rice at least taught me never to add salt to the water for that. You'd think that I would have automtically understood that it was therefore not necessary for boiling potatoes or pasta.

I know that all of us need salt, but all of us who also have to take pills for things like high blood pressure sometimes feel that salt is one of the reasons that this happened.

[auntieannie]

The recommended daily salt intake for adults is no more than 6g. Most of it can be found naturally in our food. Yes, the surplus is flushed through our kidneys, but much too much salt on an everyday basis will cause damage in one's body.

Who said that salt wasn't "bad"? Obviously we need some to function. But we don't need more than 6g/day as adults... less for children. Babies under a year old need less than 1g of salt/day as their kidneys cannot cope with more.
The daily recommended maximum amount of salt children should eat depends on age:

1 to 3 years: 2g salt a day (0.8g sodium)
4 to 6 years: 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
7 to 10 years: 5g salt a day (2g sodium)
11 years and over: 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium)

this taken from the NHS website.

[hwinpp]

I use salt generously...

Thanks to Fumo I will not be adding oil to my spaghetti water in the future. I always have thought it's a waste of good oil.

[tod2]

Aug 4, 2011 19:39:37 GMT cheerypeabrain said:

If I use salt when my niece is here she screams 'WHITE DEATH WHITE DEATH' and takes it off me....

HaHa! Your neice reminds me of a friend's daughter who brings her own purified/filtered water with her when she visits her father - then washes out the kettle before pouring in 'her' water to make coffee......then lights up a fag !
Oh dear , Oh dear, what ever the heck next -

[Deleted]

The #2 hamburger chain in France -- Quick -- no longer salts its fries and will only give you salt if you ask for it. More places should do that sort of thing. We are such creatures of habit that we need help breaking some of the habits.

[auntieannie]

My brother in law used to salt everything - a lot. He had gotten into the habit of salting my mom's food before tasting it as he thought it was not salty enough. Until there was a little "accident" in the kitchen when the salt dispensing thingie kind of conveniently fell in the dish just before serving.... my mom said nothing since the food was just salted perfectly. ahem... after that little incident, my brother-in-law always tasted the food before deciding if it needed more seasoning. oops!

[bixaorellana]

I read about a CEO who took prospective executives for his company out to eat before hiring them. If the candidate salted his food before tasting it, the CEO mentally crossed him off the short list.

[joanne28]

I completely understand crossing someone off a list if they salt their food without tasting it first. I deliberately try to undersalt when cooking, relying on pepper, garlic etc. I have no problem with someone adding salt (or anything else, for that matter) once they've tasted it but think it is a bit of an insult if they season without tasting.

[Deleted]

My stepfather was a pet peeve of my mother, as much as she loved him. Salt was not the problem though -- he would bury his food in pepper without tasting it first.

In the last year before he died, he wanted neither salt nor pepper. And when Alzheimer's set in for my mother, she didn't want salt either.

Something to worry about if we start not appreciating salt anymore? I have been avoiding excess salt for years, but generally if I add a little salt, things taste better.

[Deleted]

I have been watching a cooking show where two famous chefs supervise amateurs who love to cook. They have 45 minutes to make a dish under the chefs' instructions, but the chefs are forbidden from touching anything.

Anyway, something tasting "too salty" has been a regular problem and the chefs always have the same emergency solution for this situation: "Add sugar."

I had never heard of that before, and have not yet ever tried it myself. Clearly, it cannot be good for you since two wrongs do not make a right, but if it renders a dish edible rather than something to flush down the toilet, maybe I should give it a try.

Has anybody else here ever done that? (adding sugar when something is too salty)

[questa]

If you have a casserole /stew / mornay or soup type meal that is too salty, one trick is to peel a fairly large potato, cut into slices and cook them in the casserole until soft. It will have absorbed much of the salt and they can be used another time cut for fried potatoes or mash etc.

[Don Cuevas]

In reply to: "Has anybody else here ever done that? (adding sugar when something is too salty);

Oui.

[Deleted]

Feb 4, 2014 11:41:28 GMT questa said:

If you have a casserole /stew / mornay or soup type meal that is too salty, one trick is to peel a fairly large potato, cut into slices and cook them in the casserole until soft. It will have absorbed much of the salt and they can be used another time cut for fried potatoes or mash etc.

Sounds fine when you have plenty of time, but if the meal is going to go on the table within 2 minutes, I guess sugar is the way to go. Then again, I have never invited impatient people to dinner at my place and most of them are always willing to have an extra round of apéritifs. After awhile, nobody cares about the food anyway.

[Deleted]

DOUBLE WHITE DEATH !!!!!

I've never tried it so cannot comment on it's efficacy.

It's the iodized salt that is the real enemy. (As in Morton's).

Sodium is quite healthy and is important for people with thyroid issues.

[tod2]

Well they say - yes 'they', that sugar is the new salt and is as incredibly unhealthy,
I know that scientifically every time you eat sugar your brain cells experience 'excitotoxins' which eventually over time kill off the cells and more than one at a time. Salt does other bad things but I always think of the old saying "Everything in moderation" which seems to go along way to maintaining health.

I read back to some posts in 2011 - Kerouac said he was told never to add salt to pasta whilst cooking. I saw a chef do the exact opposite; "Always make your pasta water as salty as the sea"..... I do add salt to the water before putting in the pasta but never as salty as that!

As for adding suar to salty food.....No, the only answer is potato like Questa said. Sugar for fiery hot food calms it down a titch but better to add less and give them the salt shaker or a chillie

[Deleted]

Damn, damn, damn! Another dinner with too much salt. Will I never learn?

[Don Cuevas]

Only yesterday I over salted some kale. But I corrected it by opening a can of cubes tomatoes and tossing it in, then a little sugar.