Using salt

I like salt, and have a pretty high tolerance for it. It takes a lot to get me to say, "That's too salty."

That said, I don't go overboard using it, and I much prefer not having to salt food after it's been plated. We don't even have a filled salt shaker in the house. Pepper, OTOH... :whistle:

One thing I'll add, bread without salt is inedible. I made that mistake once, left out the salt. It was like eating a dish towel. :laugh:
 
karadekoolaid said:
The average daily temperature here is about 25°C - that´s about 77°F, and in the shade. In the sun, that goes up to 35°C or more, and it´s tropical, so the sun is closer to the earth. 5 minutes standing in the sun and you perspire.
There are days ( like yesterday) when I just HAVE to eat something salty. I´d been raking cut grass in the garden all morning, and by lunchtime the temperature was29°C. Peanut butter, sea salt and saltines. An NaCl fix.
Commercial salt here has additives - iodine and fluor. I suppose there must be a reason, but I avoid it like the plague (because it tastes funny) and use sea salt. I also season gradually while cooking rather than dump in a whole load of salt to begin with. It´s easy to increase the amount but very difficult to get rid of it.
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Salt penetrates food, that's it's job and when cooking it's better to start with a minimal amount of salt to get the seasoning process started. Meat for example can and should be salted well before you start cooking. Roasting vegetables for example when tossed with oil and seasoned with some salt penetrates the vegetables and won't taste as salty as salting just before eating. Salting at the end will be more obviously salty while using less because it's just sitting on the vegetable as opposed to in the vegetable. Some things require surface salt like potato chips. This whole salting business is part of the learning curve that will elevate a decent cook to a great one. Saying that it is trial and error but when you figure it out you'll understand that food should not taste salty at all but instead salt has heightened the flavor of sweet and sour and balanced better the bitterness found in some ingredients. When using this whole process you'll end up using a lot less salt while giving a better and more flavorful end result. Salt is a superflavorer lol.
 
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garlichead said:
Salt penetrates food, that's it's job and when cooking it's better to start with a minimal amount of salt to get the seasoning process started. Meat for example can and should be salted well before you start cooking. Roasting vegetables for example when tossed with oil and seasoned with some salt penetrates the vegetables and won't taste as salty as salting just before eating. Salting at the end will be more obviously salty while using less because it's just sitting on the vegetable as opposed to in the vegetable. Some things require surface salt like potato chips. This whole salting business is part of the learning curve that will elevate a decent cook to a great one. Saying that it is trial and error but when you figure it out you'll understand that food should not taste salty at all but instead salt has heightened the flavor of sweet and sour and balanced better the bitterness found in some ingredients. When using this whole process you'll end up using a lot less salt while giving a better and more flavorful end result. Salt is a superflavorer lol.
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I've never been heavy handed with the salt. But, having to ration my daily salt intake (or pay for it later), has made me more aware of salt contents. As already said, processed foods are loaded with it.

I also salt my steaks, chicken and other meats up front... carefully. For things like stews, soups and chili, I wait until near the end of the cook to salt.It is my experience that too much salt too early in those cooks can leave you wishing you had been more careful when you get to the end of the cook. I also take into account the amount of salt in cured meats, like bacon or ham, if they are going into my cooking. When I make bean and ham soup, for example, I never add salt until the end of the cook -- and may not need to add any at all, depending on the saltiness of the ham.

I like potato chips, and have found the number of low salt and no salt chips on the store shelves are growing. Same with crackers. Having to ration my salt intake, I'm not going to waste my daily allowance on junk food. As I type, I am snaking on some "lightly salted" potato chips that have 66mg of sodium per 22 chip serving. After almost two years on this limited sodium diet regular full-salt chips taste way too salty to me.

BTW, what Kettle brand unsalted potato chips give up in salt, they make up for in depth of potato flavor. Whip up a little dip for them, and I don't miss the salt at all.

Everything is a tradeoff with my restrictions. Less salt in my snacks means I can go with a little more salt on my ribeye steak.

CD
 
caseydog said:
I've never been heavy handed with the salt. But, having to ration my daily salt intake (or pay for it later), has made me more aware of salt contents. As already said, processed foods are loaded with it.

I also salt my steaks, chicken and other meats up front... carefully. For things like stews, soups and chili, I wait until near the end of the cook to salt.It is my experience that too much salt too early in those cooks can leave you wishing you had been more careful when you get to the end of the cook. I also take into account the amount of salt in cured meats, like bacon or ham, if they are going into my cooking. When I make bean and ham soup, for example, I never add salt until the end of the cook -- and may not need to add any at all, depending on the saltiness of the ham.

I like potato chips, and have found the number of low salt and no salt chips on the store shelves are growing. Same with crackers. Having to ration my salt intake, I'm not going to waste my daily allowance on junk food. As I type, I am snaking on some "lightly salted" potato chips that have 66mg of sodium per 22 chip serving. After almost two years on this limited sodium diet regular full-salt chips taste way too salty to me.

BTW, what Kettle brand unsalted potato chips give up in salt, they make up for in depth of potato flavor. Whip up a little dip for them, and I don't miss the salt at all.

Everything is a tradeoff with my restrictions. Less salt in my snacks means I can go with a little more salt on my ribeye steak.

CD
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Does your Dr. ever talk about potassium? Yeah, if your eating a mostly whole food diet then the condiments and some snacks and processed meats can be pretty tasty I'd imagine.
 
garlichead said:
Does your Dr. ever talk about potassium? Yeah, if your eating a mostly whole food diet then the condiments and some snacks and processed meats can be pretty tasty I'd imagine.
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Salt substitutes, like potassium chloride are also a no-no for my condition. Potassium found in whole foods are okay.

Salty snacks, like chips/crisps and beef jerky are okay for me to eat in small amounts. I just have to balance that "treat" with the rest of my diet.

CD
 
There was a time when salt was more valuable than precious metals (gold, silver, platinum) and precious gems.
Prior to refrigeration salt was critical to food preservation.
I do not ever use table salt. Sea salt only. I limit processed meats. We make our own sausage. I do buy Tasso. We both love cheese. When I cook - braised meats, stews, soups, gumbo - I use organic chicken broth as a base. I do not add salt until the end of the cooking process. When I make chicken and sausage gumbo I add no salt. The meats are salted, the broth is salted.
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper are my go to seasonings. I do tend to be heavy handed with salt and have to seriously restrain myself.
High blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, many other conditions make salt intake an issue. I can not imagine living without salt. I may have to limit salt but I will not be able to live without it.
 
It took me until quite recently in my cooking journey (within last 5 years) to really 'get' salt and have that lightbulb moment as to how much and when to use it and what it does, though I am still learning. Incidences of over-salting have come down drastically, though I have to be careful as I think my family find things saltier than I do.

Now pepper... that's still a different story. While salt enhances flavours, to me, pepper adds a pepper taste and its heat. Nothing wrong with that, but I don't see it as so critical as salt. At least not yet - the 'ah-ha' moment of 'soooo - that's what it does...!' hasn't hit me yet. What am I doing wrong here? (aside from going off topic lol).
 
ElizabethB said:
I do not ever use table salt. Sea salt only. I limit processed meats. We make our own sausage. I do buy Tasso. We both love cheese. When I cook - braised meats, stews, soups, gumbo - I use organic chicken broth as a base. I do not add salt until the end of the cooking process. When I make chicken and sausage gumbo I add no salt. The meats are salted, the broth is salted.
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We are on the same page with gumbo, especially if you use Tasso in your gumbo, as I do. No other salt is needed. I sometimes even rinse my Tasso (homemade) to tone down the salt.

I have a variety of salts in the pantry, although no iodized table salt (the old blue canister stuff many of us grew up on). I tend to use kosher salt the most, because it is easy to "pinch," and easy to see the grains. I am also most used to it, so I have a good feel for how much to use. Other than baking, I never trust what a recipe calls for as an amount of salt.

CD
 
caseydog said:
It is my observation that chefs use way too much salt. Maybe it is a regional thing. I watch the TV and YouTube chefs and they add salt about five times during a cook. Since I am on a very strict low sodium diet, a meal with 1,500mg of sodium is almost a whole day's allowance for me. If I have too much salt, the consequences are unpleasant. My legs, feet, ankles and belly bloat up like water balloons.

CD
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I totally get it, and oversalting isn't good for most people at all so it could be reduced even in professional kitchens. It seems to me that American chefs salt more than European ones though, when I was in cooking school salting was important but not as excessive as I see on American cooking shows.

I do use a generous amount of salt, but that's because I am your polar opposite due to not having a colon. I lose salt super quickly and have been recommended by the hospital RD to eat double the amount of salt normal people need due to most of it just being flushed away in my body.
 
I use salt probably to excess. Particularly in Indian curries.

We have iodised table salt, rough sea salt, fleur de sel and rough Himalayan pink salt.

I never use Kosher salt because I haven't a clue what it is.
 
Yorky said:
I use salt probably to excess. Particularly in Indian curries.

We have iodised table salt, rough sea salt, fleur de sel and rough Himalayan pink salt.

I never use Kosher salt because I haven't a clue what it is.
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I have all those variets of salt too, plus the kosher salt. Kosher salt is just flakier and a little bigger than table salt, but smaller than the Himalayan salt.
I also have smoked Maldon sea salt. I use the Himalayan salt for salting water for cooking mainly, the iodized salt at least once per day, fleur de sel for garnishing & smoked salt for dishes with a smokey flavor. I use the kosher salt for roasting veg & potatoes.
 
Yorky said:
I never use Kosher salt because I haven't a clue what it is.
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It is just salt with no additives, and it is flaky and coarse. It is almost only for cooking, not a finishing salt. I like it because I can see it when I sprinkle it on things like meat. It has also become a common type of salt in recipes. A teaspoon of sea salt, a teaspoon of table salt, and a teaspoon of kosher salt are not equal. Kosher salt has become kind of a standard. If a recipe calls for a teaspoon of kosher salt, and you use sea salt, you will need to reduce the amount to less than a teaspoon, because of the density of the sea salt. There is more air in a teaspoon of kosher salt.

CD
 
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