My turn: What food items will you salt?

[CdnCarrie]

I understand some people avoid sodium for medical reasons and perhaps they become accustomed to the taste of food without salt, but it is unbelievable how much better everything tastes with a little salt. I salt and season during cooking. I cringe when guests add salt at the table and interestingly, practically everyone who does this does it without tasting the food first.

I expect restaurant food to be salted and seasoned properly and it almost always is. When we're invited to eat at someone's home cooking I don't add salt because I feel self-conscious doing so but there are many times when I want to.

I know when we make mashed potatoes I want salt on it. I don't wait to taste them first. I've had mashed potatoes all my life and know what they taste like!
Same with turkey! I like salt on my turkey.
Cringe if you like but I don't need to taste it first.

 

[stsomewhere]

We salt everything. My daughter and husband has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). It requires them to consume extra salt.

 

[Moliphino]

If I salt food someone else prepared they should not be offended. It's a matter of preference and I just happen to like things saltier than most people do. If I'm cooking for others I tend to go lighter on the salt, since I can always add more myself, but not everyone likes salt as much as I do.

 

[Searc]

So when our kids where young, I made their food for them from the beginning and did not salt it. Even after they were through with the pureed food and eating what we did, I did not want them to have that much salt and so I would not salt the food before cooking and hubby and I would salt it after. As they got older, I started adding salt and other seasonings like jerk to our food. It does make a huge difference in the taste but I did not want my kids to be one of those that got used to over salty foods and only want to eat that. This also helped us realize that we were consuming way too much salt and that most restaurants put a ton of salt in their foods, more then is necessary. Anyone that salts food at a restaurant should cut salt out of their diet for a while and then go back to those places. All you taste is the salt.

I'm not talking about over salting, which is just as bad as using no salt.

 

[BLAZEY]

I have low blood pressure and have medication the depletes salt from my body for another condition, I put salt on anything savory. I salt when I cook, but will taste food on my plate first before adding salt to my taste.

 

[Lilsia]

I'm not talking about over salting, which is just as bad as using no salt.

Yep, I get ya. I do think that most restaurants over salt. My grandmother has very high blood pressure. She is on 3 different medicines for it. It is very hard for her to find anything that does not have an extreme amount of salt in it. I think that most of us are used to eating much more salt then we realize. Going mostly salt free for a while really opens your eyes(or your taste buds) to it. I agree that most foods need salt.

 

[luvsJack]

If you watch any chef cook, they use salt in the kitchen. Usually Sea salt or Kosher salt but salt. If someone cooks with these and uses the same amounts as table salt they are going to have a very salty dish. They are still salt but need to use much less.

The number one complaint from a chef tasting someone else’s food is “it needs salt”. (This from my unofficial studies done while being sick and watching way too much TV ).

Too much salt in restaurants, from my experience, had depended on the restaurant. Ones with good cooks/chefs tend to not need salt at the table but not be overly salted either.

If you are not used to eating any salt, any food cooked with salt is going to taste overly salted. Just like the person who cuts out all sugar is going to think certain things are way too sweet.

When I think about the things I cook—peas, potatoes, different meats, fresh vegetables, etc—I can’t really imagine eating any of it with no salt used in cooking. Way too bland.

 

[ZZBane]

I don't salt much, but I do tajin like crazy. LOL. Tajin goes on or in pretty much everything, liberally. On fresh cut fruit, veggies (cooked or raw), popcorn, soups (particularly vegetable or chicken), etc. Once you've gone Tajin, plain old salt ain't gonna cut it.

I love Tajin! Most especially with mango margaritas. When I go to Cancun, that’s what I live off of. Now I’m craving one

 

[Searc]

If you watch any chef cook, they use salt in the kitchen. Usually Sea salt or Kosher salt but salt. If someone cooks with these and uses the same amounts as table salt they are going to have a very salty dish. They are still salt but need to use much less.

The number one complaint from a chef tasting someone else’s food is “it needs salt”. (This from my unofficial studies done while being sick and watching way too much TV ).

Too much salt in restaurants, from my experience, had depended on the restaurant. Ones with good cooks/chefs tend to not need salt at the table but not be overly salted either.

If you are not used to eating any salt, any food cooked with salt is going to taste overly salted. Just like the person who cuts out all sugar is going to think certain things are way too sweet.

When I think about the things I cook—peas, potatoes, different meats, fresh vegetables, etc—I can’t really imagine eating any of it with no salt used in cooking. Way too bland.

My salt pot lives in my cupboard, full of kosher salt, never table salt. Blech. When I salt things, I literally use a pinch of salt, unless I am following a baking recipe. Even when it says to liberally salt a piece of meat, I usually only use like a teaspoon of salt.

It looks like this, but has SALT carved on the top of the lid, in case I forget what is inside.

 

[ashley0139]

I'm not a stellar cook, but I can't imagine not using salt as I cook. That's like, cooking 101. Salt your food as you cook.

And I would never add salt to food at the table before tasting it.

 

[DLgal]

If you watch any chef cook, they use salt in the kitchen. Usually Sea salt or Kosher salt but salt. If someone cooks with these and uses the same amounts as table salt they are going to have a very salty dish. They are still salt but need to use much less.

You actually have this backwards. Table salt has smaller grains and is manufactured so that it "flows easily", so it is tightly packed together. Kosher salt and sea salt are "fluffier", due to larger grains in kosher salt and because sea salt tends to clump together, or sort of pile up on itself like snow. Therefore, you have to usually DOUBLE the measurement of salt when NOT using table salt. Most recipes use table salt as the standard so you have to double the amount when using kosher or sea salt.

So, 1 tsp table salt= 2 tsp kosher or sea salt.

This is why you will see chefs literally grabbing handfuls of kosher salt when cooking rather than tiny pinches of table salt.

 

[DLgal]

If you use the right amount, what difference does it make? All salt is the same basic elements. The differences are the grain size, and the amount of other minerals and impurities. Here is a good breakdown. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/different-types-of-salt#sea-salt

Table salt is very harsh on the tongue. Sea salt has a milder, more natural flavor. Kosher salt as well. Chefs prefer to use kosher salt, predominantly, followed by sea salt. Other salts like smoked salts, Fleur de Sel, Himalayan pink salt, and various volcanic salts are great on finished foods because they provide unique flavors and help enhance the foods they are paired with. They can also add texture by way of crunchiness. This is great for salads and veggies.

When cooking meat, like steak, kosher salt is best because it pulls juice out of the raw meat. The wide, flat crystals cover more surface area and then dissolve quickly once the juice is drawn out....this salty liquid then gets pulled back INTO the meat, seasoning it (by way of osmosis). Table salt will just sit on the surface of the meat and not accomplish this feat as well. Kosher salt does this quickly.

 

[Lilsia]

Table salt is very harsh on the tongue. Sea salt has a milder, more natural flavor. Kosher salt as well. Chefs prefer to use kosher salt, predominantly, followed by sea salt. Other salts like smoked salts, Fleur de Sel, Himalayan pink salt, and various volcanic salts are great on finished foods because they provide unique flavors and help enhance the foods they are paired with. They can also add texture by way of crunchiness. This is great for salads and veggies.

When cooking meat, like steak, kosher salt is best because it pulls juice out of the raw meat. The wide, flat crystals cover more surface area and then dissolve quickly once the juice is drawn out....this salty liquid then gets pulled back INTO the meat, seasoning it (by way of osmosis). Table salt will just sit on the surface of the meat and not accomplish this feat as well. Kosher salt does this quickly.

Yep, table salt is a larger grain. But there are many people who think that the salts are somehow different. All salt is salt. It is the grain size and shape and the different impurities that are in it that make them different. For example, we had a person come into my job and ask if the salt we used in the food was sea salt. They saw on the internet that you should only eat "sea salt". Although all salt has come from the sea originally. We are a cafe with sandwich, salads, soups and do not actually cook anything so any salt is already in the processed food and at that point it does not matter. That person actually thought that the different salts where completely different minerals. Salt can not be made in a lab, just like you can't make gold in a lab. All salt comes from the earth.

 

[ronandannette]

I know when we make mashed potatoes I want salt on it. I don't wait to taste them first. I've had mashed potatoes all my life and know what they taste like!
Same with turkey! I like salt on my turkey.
Cringe if you like but I don't need to taste it first.

Isn't there at least some possibility that the food may already be sufficiently salted? Carved turkey maybe not, but mashed potatoes are "properly" cooked in salted water and tasted and adjusted for seasoning before serving.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Isn't there at least some possibility that the food may already be sufficiently salted? Carved turkey maybe not, but mashed potatoes are "properly" cooked in salted water and tasted and adjusted for seasoning before serving.

Been making mashed potatoes for 35 years. I’ve always put butter and salt/pepper on them even with boiling them in salted water.
I don’t find boiling them in salted water makes them taste salty at all.

 

[Chupaca bruh]

Raw turnips
Eggs
Fried potatoes
Fleischknopflas
But I always taste things before adding salt and I use less salt than in the past.

 

[disneychrista]

Been making mashed potatoes for 35 years. I’ve always put butter and salt/pepper on them even with boiling them in salted water.
I don’t find boiling them in salted water makes them taste salty at all.

Do you add salt & pepper to them when you mash them?

 

[CdnCarrie]

Do you add salt & pepper to them when you mash them?

no. Everyone can add their own ay the table.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We use some salt when we cook, but try not to overdo it

I only salt a few things at the table:
Eggs (I keep hard boiled on hand and for those, it's a must)
A roast beef sandwich
Can't think of anything else but I thought there was one more thing...

If I do use the salt shaker I usually put some in my hand first and then just sprinkle a little on

I do use a lot of freshly cracked pepper

I don't have a problem at all if people want to salt the food we cook; I always keep salt and pepper shakers on the table

I take care of patients who have to severely limit their sodium. It is very hard for them, and they often wind up back in the hospital with fluid retention largely related to sodium and extra fluids. This can happen especially after holiday meals and cookouts when they eat salty foods they're not used to that others bring. If you know someone has serious heart disease, it's a kindness to think of them when cooking for them.

 

[Kitty 34]

Isn't there at least some possibility that the food may already be sufficiently salted? Carved turkey maybe not, but mashed potatoes are "properly" cooked in salted water and tasted and adjusted for seasoning before serving.

In all the years I have cooked potatoes for mashing I never knew to salt the water they're boiling in. I will try that next time.