Respect the salt
In my opinion, insufficient use of salt is perhaps the single greatest mistake by home cooks.1
Yes, this is a quote from Christopher Kimball, The Man With Whom I Rarely Disagree. When I first read it, I was so utterly glad that he wrote it, because it gave validity to a thought I have had many times.
Salt is a curious thing. Like many things on this earth, it has a good purpose, and even provides necessary nutrients to our bodies; but it can be abused, and become a boisterous, drunken party-ruiner, drawing all attention to itself and pretty much sabotaging the fun of all other parties involved. It is this Overused character that has ruined the reputation of the world’s oldest seasoning. What could have dethroned a mineral that arguably shaped the development of most of the world’s civilizations? Probably a melange of factors, including the late-20th century fear of hypertension and water retention. But since we as a culture seem to enjoy throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, we have decided that salt is something to be avoided, all the while consuming more sugar in a year than most families of a hundred years ago consumed in a lifetime.
But, salt — salt is a friend, one that is ready to be supportive in almost all of our culinary endeavors. It is near magical, how it brightens and enlivens the inherent flavors of everything from a ripe garden tomato to sugar cookies (isn’t it fabulous irony, how salt can make something sweet taste better?). And it really doesn’t take much — just a sprinkle over a sautée pan of onions and garlic; a teaspoon for an entire batch of cookies; a light shower of kosher salt for a whole 3# bird. Different foods react differently to salt, so it’s always best to salt to taste (with the exception of baking, where I usually follow the recipe for the first attempt and adjust for the next one; also difficult for salting meats where you obviously can’t taste it until its done).
Of course, to balance the argument, I should at least address the issue of over-salting. It is easy to do, with nothing more than a heavy hand, and I’ve done it more times than are numerable. I even had the horrible experience of accidentally salting my coffee (back in the days when I drank my coffee sweet) — and let me say, it is a taste that will make your hair stand on end. There are ways to remedy overseasoning — I’ve heard of adding some lemon juice or sugar, but most often it just helps to eat the over-salted food with a bite of something else on your plate. We ate at a Mexican restaurant in Walhalla, South Carolina last week, and I ate what could possibly be the most over-salted meal I’ve ever had. It’s hard to get through and entire plate of hyper-salty food. But we chased it down with a bad margarita and then some delicious ice-cream at a little place on Hwy 11 called Sweet Treats (thanks to Eric and Carly for making us postpone a trip to Lowe’s for that lovely experience), and all was well.
Yes, it’s impossible to remove salt once you’ve gone too far. But for the love of flavor, let’s all agree to gird up our loins, and walk that line of risking apology at the dinner table. We’ll be better cooks for it.
1. Kimball, C. The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook. Little, Brown and Company, 1998. p. xiii.
July 22nd, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Okay, okay, okay
July 25th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
[…] Anyway, while the Grilled Pork with Chimichurri was a bit disappointing (only because it was too salty… I think the tenderloin we used came pre-salted, and topped with a salted marinade, it was over-the-top), the actual sauce itself was fresh, zippy, kicky, and worthy of another vehicle. So we put the leftovers (obviously, the portion that did not come in contact with pork) in the fridge for future experimentation. […]
July 27th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
An addendum:
Tim told me that he thinks I’m off on my evaluation of why home cooks under-salt; that really, home cooks only under-salt when using very fresh ingredients. And that, overall, most Americans tend the opposite direction — especially if meals are prepared with canned and boxed foods (which tend to be very high in sodium). I agree, that a distinction should be made: under-salting seems to be easy to do only when cooking recipes that are from scratch.
August 29th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
[…] You peel the potatoes (3 pounds), and slice them very thin (1/16 or 1/8″). Toss them with some melted butter (about half a stick), and start to arrange them in a pan as it heats. Once you start arranging (I used the most uniform potatoes on the bottom layer, since that’s what you end up seeing), you set the timer for 30 minutes. You salt between layers (I under-seasoned out of fear), and let it cook over med-low heat for a total of 30 minutes. At this point, you press the potatoes into the pan with the bottom of a 9″ cake pan, then pop it in a 450º oven, covered, for about 15 minutes, then uncovered for another 10, or until the potatoes are tender. […]