I have had this on my topics to talk about since I started writing this blog. Everyone loves having an opinion of salt. Have you noticed? There is an impressive spectrum of opinions. We have those who would consider including a salt lick on their dining room table and those who don't even speak the words sodium chloride in their homes. Plus we have the rest of us in the middle somewhere. (Unless you are on one end of the spectrum - not judging.)
I want to start with a couple of stories about salt. First one is from the time I was little. One of the things I helped make on occasion was boxed mashed potatoes. (Yes, I ate potatoes from a box. I'm not ashamed. Sometimes we were in a hurry. Plus they are a type of potato. I would eat just about anything that had potato as an ingredient. Moving on...) So I made some boxed mashed potatoes and my sister and I tried to prove to each other that we liked salt more. We each had a little bowl of it and kept adding salt. And we added some more. And we would take bites. Even now, my taste buds are revolting. It was borderline salt lick. So gross. That's not what salt is for. Believe me.
Next story comes from years and lots of practice later. I was in culinary school. The first chances I had to make something that the chefs actually ate were mayonnaise and gazpacho. (We cut things a lot at the beginning - potatoes, turnips, zucchini, carrots, celery, etc.) Well, I remember what the chefs said about both of those things. THEY ARE UNDER-SEASONED. It kind of broke my heart a little bit. I thought they were good. That's when a wise chef seasoned my gazpacho and showed me the difference. He was right.
This is how my opinion of salt was formed. First, salt is meant to magnify the flavors of your food. Second, you shouldn't add so much that you just taste salt. In fact, in most dishes, you shouldn't be able to taste it at all. It's easiest to describe salt as a magnifying glass. It is meant to bring out the flavors in your food. It magically suppresses bitter flavors, enhances sweet and savory, and turns up the dial that controls aromas from our food. That all being said, these things are only true when applied to food during the cooking process. If you add salt to a cooked meal at the table, you are just adding an aftertaste of salt.
The best part of the phrase "to taste" in any recipe is that you get to find that line separates where salt transforms the dish to flavorful and where it changes the dish to "salty." It takes practice. Start with a little salt at a time because once you cross that line, it is hard to go back. Once you are familiar with the way salt reacts to certain foods, you will know how much without a second thought.
Here are a couple of tips for salting certain foods:
1. When you are sautéing foods, salt brings out their moisture. That's the purpose. (If it draws out the moisture of food, the flavor of that food is more condensed. See how that works?) If your purpose is to brown the food, don't salt it right away because that steams more than sautés. This is especially important for mushrooms because they are mostly water and will shrivel up and die.
2. There is an exception to that first tip. If you are sautéing meats, you want to salt it before you cook it because it draws out the moisture before it is cooked so it can brown evenly. Salt it and let it sit for a minute. (You can blot it with paper towels before you sauté it. It actually takes away some of the salt so don't be afraid to use some salt.)
3. If you are salting water to boil pasta or potatoes, be generous with your salt. You aren't drinking the water, it is just meant to add flavor to two ingredients that benefit greatly from the use of salt. It should taste like salt water. You won't believe the difference. (Note: If you are using some of the pasta water for your sauce, just remember to not salt your sauce before you add the water and taste it.)
4. People are always trying to get super flavorful food without using a lot of salt. That's great, we shouldn't use a LOT of salt. However, it is important to note that it is important to have some salt for two reasons. 1: Nothing acts the same as salt as a seasoning. 2: The human body is composed mostly of water. Salt helps to balance our water retention. Our bodies are designed to rid themselves of salt to help keep that balance. It's up to us to replenish it. (Don't think it is that important? Ask dairy farmers why they have salt licks available for their cows. Spoiler alert, they could die without it. Worse case scenario, so could we.)
5. If you are deep frying food, it is important to salt immediately after frying so the salt has something to stick to. We've all had under-seasoned fries. Don't do that to people. It's considered cruel and unusual punishment.
6. If you are hesitant to add salt to your food, my advice to you is to check out the nutritional information on your favorite processed snacks. The sodium is probably past that line we already talked about. Since you are going to find that line for the food you make, you already know it is better than the processed food.
I think it is important to note that most restaurants are taught to limit the amount of salt in their food. They have to define their line based on who will be eating their food. That includes young children and older people who don't tolerate salt in the same way. That is why you will find restaurants with salt on the table. You can add a little to help bland flavors, but you don't want to go crazy because you are just adding an aftertaste.
There are so many varieties of salt, it is hard to count. We had a day in culinary school that we tasted different varieties. They all add something special to cooking, but we aren't going to talk about them because I only have 2 kinds on hand. That isn't a very fun experiment. Instead I will tell you the salt that you can use in all your cooking. Kosher. You're welcome.
Do yourself a favor and read more about it (instead of just listening to current diet fads about not using salt ever). You will be surprised at how much you can learn about it. People are publishing scientific finds with salt all the time. I hope I have helped teach you about the importance of learning to use salt correctly. I don't want you to be scared of it. Like everything else in life, it's all about finding balance.
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