How much do you salt the food you cook?

How much salt do you use in cooking?

  • Little to none

  • What recipie call

  • I use my taste at each stage to decide

  • I go overboard


Results are only viewable after voting.

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
When you get a meal at a restaurant do you find you want to add a little salt? How about when you cook at home? I find that salt really brings out so much incredible flavor in food that it's pretty much essential in tasting good.

Newish research shows that sodium enhances ALL taste and flavor in taste buds. As a foodie there is no such thing as too much salt unless it tastes "too salty". The layering of flavors and salting at each stage really makes a dish "taste right" and no other salt is needed after plating.

So the question remains - do you like the salt, I love the salt. Most all foods are enhanced by it in a very huge way.
 

Terzo

Platinum Member
Dec 13, 2005
2,589
27
91
Pretty much what recipes ask for. Otherwise, I usually don't use salt. Garlic is more of a mainstay for me.
 

preCRT

Platinum Member
Apr 12, 2000
2,340
123
106
Almost all restaurants add too much salt. At home I hardly use salt, just a tiny pinch of sea salt on a steak.

Having a dad with congestive heart failure on a severely sodium restricted diet opens your eyes to the sodium levels in all prepared foods. As a country, we salt the crap out of everything.

Once you give up the salt shaker, two things happen:
you'll learn to use other spices
you'll discover the real taste of the food, not just the salt.
 

Terabyte

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 1999
3,875
0
71
Almost all restaurants add too much salt. At home I hardly use salt, just a tiny pinch of sea salt on a steak.

Having a dad with congestive heart failure on a severely sodium restricted diet opens your eyes to the sodium levels in all prepared foods. As a country, we salt the crap out of everything.

Once you give up the salt shaker, two things happen:
you'll learn to use other spices
you'll discover the real taste of the food, not just the salt.

Yep, restaurants use way too much salt on their food. Probably because they know salt is a cheap way to make food taste good and how we like salty food.
 

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
Almost all restaurants add too much salt.

Cheap flavour enhancer. I rarely if ever add salt to food at a restaurant.

At home, I usually cook without salt and then add it to taste later. Or just use what the recipe calls for.
 

preCRT

Platinum Member
Apr 12, 2000
2,340
123
106
One more note: if you find you crave salt, and truly salt the hell out of everything, go get your thyroid checked. Chances are you are suffering from an iodine deficiency or have an enlarged thyroid.
 
Last edited:

Terabyte

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 1999
3,875
0
71
It's natural for us to crave salt because our bodies need it for various bodily functions, but some folks take it to another level.

Chips are my drug. I love the saltiness, crunchiness, and etc. I'll eat a whole bag of them if you leave them with me, which is why I don't buy chips much.
 
Last edited:

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
It's natural for us to crave salt because our bodies need it for various bodily functions, but some folks take it to another level.

Chips are my drug. I love the salty, crunchiness, and etc. I'll eat a whole bag of them if leave them with me, which is why I don't buy chips much.

Same. I don't keep chips in the house. But when I'm cooking I'll taste at each stage to see if it "needs salt".
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,403
30,487
146
salt is great. I tend to salt at various stages.

not all the time though. sometimes I go in with a plan, sometimes I just don't give a fuck how it comes out in the end, heh.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,558
8,835
126
I have a wide tolerance for salt, but I seldom add it too stuff I prepare. If it comes salty, great! If it isn't salty, that's fine too.
 

dfuze

Lifer
Feb 15, 2006
11,953
0
71
I used to use a lot of salt and on everything, but for the last few years I've used it sparingly as it hides the taste
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
Almost never. Most restaurants add too much salt, plus most pre-packaged meals come with too much salt too.
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
When you get a meal at a restaurant do you find you want to add a little salt? How about when you cook at home? I find that salt really brings out so much incredible flavor in food that it's pretty much essential in tasting good.

Newish research shows that sodium enhances ALL taste and flavor in taste buds. As a foodie there is no such thing as too much salt unless it tastes "too salty". The layering of flavors and salting at each stage really makes a dish "taste right" and no other salt is needed after plating.

So the question remains - do you like the salt, I love the salt. Most all foods are enhanced by it in a very huge way.

This is entirely true. I have a few fine french cookbooks and make things out of them on occasion. If you start with a sauce or soup that is completely unsalted, it tastes... raw. Add a little salt and it still tastes raw. Add a little more and something changes a little bit. Add a little more and the flavours explode and everything is enhanced but you don't taste any saltiness. Keep going and the flavours become muted behind excessive saltiness.

It's a fine balance, but you have to do it slowly and carefully to do it right. Most days I just don't have the patience however.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
46,683
10,132
146
When you get a meal at a restaurant do you find you want to add a little salt? How about when you cook at home? I find that salt really brings out so much incredible flavor in food that it's pretty much essential in tasting good.

Newish research shows that sodium enhances ALL taste and flavor in taste buds. As a foodie there is no such thing as too much salt unless it tastes "too salty". The layering of flavors and salting at each stage really makes a dish "taste right" and no other salt is needed after plating.

So the question remains - do you like the salt, I love the salt. Most all foods are enhanced by it in a very huge way.

To me, that's a simplistic description of adding salt. I believe salt breaks down cellular barriers between ingredients, which you experience as "scientifically proven to enhance flavors" but which only accelerates the natural process of flavor intermingling that is exactly why, salt or no salt, that spaghetti sauce or chilli you make tastes better the next day.

Salt is a heart unfriendly, cheap ass processed food enhancer, and one of the scourges of our modern American fast and processed food culture.

As a society, we ALL pay for the negative consequences of the laziness and ignorance of those who still predominantly belly up to the fast/processed food trough.

Eff that.

Me? I use a little salt in any boiling water simply because it lowers the boiling point, and tiny bit in many things I prepare, but often enough NONE.

Those who must can always add salt later.

Oh, and I almost never follow somebody else's recipe, and never blindly, so "what the recipe calls for" doesn't apply to me.
 
Dec 10, 2005
26,616
10,349
136
Me? I use a little salt in any boiling water simply because it lowers the boiling point

That's categorically false. It raises the boiling point, but not significantly (you'd have to add a lot of salt to raise it even 1°C).
 

punjabiplaya

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2006
3,495
1
71
after my dad's heart attack, we cut out almost all of our salt. The food tastes so much better. You taste the spices, herbs, meat, veggies, etc... instead of just salt. A little salt is needed for the tastebuds, but more than a tiny pinch and it's too much for me now.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
46,683
10,132
146
That's categorically false. It raises the boiling point, but not significantly (you'd have to add a lot of salt to raise it even 1°C).

Lol, busted. ALL these years I've been slave to an old wive's tale, taught to me to by an old wife, my Mom!

Next you'll be telling me that good girls never put out. My Mom told me that one, too! :awe:
 

TecHNooB

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2005
7,458
1
76
Lol, busted. ALL these years I've been slave to an old wive's tale, taught to me to by an old wife, my Mom!

Next you'll be telling me that good girls never put out. My Mom told me that one, too! :awe:

Your mom told you that good girls put out?