Salt to taste. Such a simple and innocent instruction. We've all read those words a million times over the years without thinking anything of it. Ever wonder what it really means?
As an ingredient in dishes, salt plays two very important roles. First, it reduces bitter flavors. Second, because it reduces bitterness, adding salt allows the aromas and tastes of the other ingredients in your dish to shine through.
If you have a dish that tastes flat or bitter, a little salt might be the only fix you need. Before adding more spices or seasonings, try just adding a teaspoon or a healthy three-fingered pinch of salt. Taste again and see if the flavors have improved. Add a little more. Taste again.
Try to ignore the instinct to taste for saltiness — you don't actually want the dish to taste salty — and ask yourself how all the other flavors are coming through. "Does this soup still taste muddy or are the flavors bright? Can I taste the sweetness from the squash? Do the parsnips still taste bitter?"
Here's a fun experiment to try: next time you're making a salad with bitter greens like dandelion or radicchio, try making one vinaigrette with no salt and a second vinaigrette with salt. You'll notice that leaves with the salt-less vinaigrette taste much more bitter than leaves dressed with the salted vinaigrette.
It's ironic, isn't it? When we're told to "salt to taste," we're not actually looking for salty flavor. All we're trying to do is get rid of bitterness and make the rest of the flavors pop.
Any other tips for salting a dish?
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Huh. That's cool to know. I can't believe no one ever explains that!
Interesting point - thanks for looking into that! On a related note, as someone who craves things very salty (often more salty than most people would want them), I always under-salt my food when I'm cooking for others and let guests add salt according to their own tastes.
Leah
The Jew & The Carrot
http://www.jcarrot.org
One of the best lessons about cooking is that kosher salt (as opposed to iodized salt) tends to make flavors stand out as opposed to making things taste "salty."
Let me add that particularly with long-cooked dishes like stews, soups, and beans, if they taste flat but have been salted, try adding a very little bit of acid: wine vinegar, lemon juice, or, when in doubt, rice wine vinegar. You should not taste the acid in itself but a little will brighten and freshen the other flavors.
Measurements can be misleading when it comes to salt. A teaspoon of fine table salt will be saltier than a teaspoon of rock salt, which will be saltier than the same measure of Maldon salt flakes. It depends on the density.
My dad would add a pinch of salt to bitter coffee to make it taste better. Try this experiment...tonic water is bitter. Taste the tonic water plain and then add a few grains of salt to it and taste again. It will taste sweeter. It was always the perfect demo I used in my cooking classes to explain how salt can alter taste and flavors.
I just figured this out the other day! Added too much salt to my quick but slightly bitter beer bread.
I am a new cook so I really appreciate posts such as this and the comments that follow from more knowledgeable cooks
It's also important to salt throughout the cooking process to allow flavors to develop properly. Salt has a tenderizing effect on meat and also coaxes moisture out of ingredients which is helpful when sweating vegetables. Yes, you need to be careful that you don't overdo it too soon, but it's preferable to adding all the salt at the end, which often results in the salt sitting on top of the dish where it hits the tongue first and results in the salty taste that most people don't like.
That said, Leah's tactic of undersalting food and allowing guests to add their own can be a good approach when someone has a salt-restricted diet. Medical reasons always trump taste reasons.
So happy to read this post! I dread seeing "salt to taste" on a recipe - where do I start???? 1/4 tsp? 2 TBS? Agghhhh. Plus, like @Thrizyl, I'm a new cook and I don't fully trust my own taste buds yet. Thanks for super informative post.
I never knew that about salt!
I second the comment to undersalt and allow guests to add salt if they want to. Many times I've given up eating something because its too salty (and I do like salty food, just not as much as some people) - personal taste is all over the place, but its the one thing you can't get out of a dish once its in.
i was a professional cook for many years. Seasoning/salting is one of the hardest things to learn because the notion is so ambiguous. being good at seasoning is analagous to having good style. part learned. part innate. some people are lucky, they have a good eye for clothing, design, etc. they literally have good taste.
the good news is these things can be learned as well.
Maybe my biggest recipe pet peeve is a recipe saying to salt to taste when the thing I'm salting contains something like raw poultry. I get that different types of salt will have different levels of saltiness by volume, and that different people have different salt preferences, but a suggested amount to go by would be helpful.
My grandmother add salt to mangoes. It reduces the bitterness and sourness, but it can only go so far. I hate when she add like half cup of salt to hopelessly sour mangoes... disgustingx2.
When teaching a cooking class, I tell students to add salt by tasting a bite of whatever they're making (soup, say) and then tasting a bite again with 3-5 grains of salt. If the second bite is better than the first, they should add salt to the whole pot and then do the experiment again. I tell them to keep doing it until the second bite isn't better than the first.
Sometimes it takes several "rounds" of seasoning and tasting, but as they get more facile with how much salt makes how much of a difference, it will go more quickly.
I think that a LOT of home-cooked meals are undersalted because, understandably, no one wants to go through the trouble of making a dish and then ruin it with too much salt. Testing more salt just one bite at a time helps avoid that worry.
Good idea @jillshough...which explains why you're a cooking teacher! I'll have to try that the next time I make a batch of soup.
YES. This is the worst. Just tell me how much to add!
In Panama we add salt, pepper and white vinegar to green mangoes. It's tangy and refreshing
I very rarely use salt in my cooking, I just can't stand the flavour. I use heaps of black pepper, lemon juice or vinegar to brighten up flat dishes. I was taken off salt nearly 40 years ago and banished the salt shaker from the table and the stove back (where I used to store my salt pig)
One of the few places I use salt is in my bread baking and then just the amount that is held between the pads of my fore finger and thumb, and that is used in with the flour.
So often I have had to go hungry at resturants and when dining out at others homes because the food is just too salty for my tastes.
My salt to taste is highly different to say Anne Burrells "salt to taste" in fact I chringe when I see her throw handfulls of salt into dishes, often multiple times. No wonder High Blood Pressure etc is so rampant whyen we have chefs who have effectivly lost their taste buds through the over use of salt.
I believe we have become over conditioned to the effect salt has, likewise sugar (but that is another story again)