Cook's Talk: A Three-Fingered Pinch of Salt

We've seen this phrase "a three-fingered pinch" popping up in a lot of recipes recently, and we think it's a great way to describe a rather indeterminate amount of seasoning. We're being told to add more than a spare pinch, but not so much that we need to break out the measuring spoons. It's perfect!

To be honest, the amount of salt you get from a meager pinch between your thumb and first finger isn't really enough to do much in terms of flavoring in most dishes. It's fine if we're talking about cayenne pepper, but not really for salt!

The healthier "three-fingered pinch" is a better way to incrementally amp up the seasoning without either a) taking forever or b) accidentally over-salting the dish. It's also close to how restaurant chefs and trained cooks think about salting their dishes.

The first time you sprinkle a healthy three-fingered pinch of salt into a dish, it can feel like you're really adding a lot! To put things in perspective, the actual amount is only somewhere between 1/4 teaspoon and 1/8 teaspoon depending on the size of your hands and your general enthusiasm.

Do you have any other tricks for adding just the right amount of salt to a dish?

Related: Good Tool: Measuring Scoops

(Image: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)

Comments (4)

The only trick I know is to taste and taste again. The tasting is the fun part. Oh, and also remember that if you're going to reduce a sauce, go VERY easy on the salt until it's mostly reduced or you're going to oversalt.

posted by Tiamat_the_Red on July 16th 2009 at 2:26pm
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I can't stand to actually put my fingers in the salt. It gets all up under my nails and is just uncomfortable. So I either measure or just eyeball it.

posted by Kakugori on July 16th 2009 at 5:36pm
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I find that I need to explain my "recipes" to my family (Mom, sisters, etc.) that I'm not using fine/iodized salt in a recipe, but rather kosher salt. When I say "a pinch or so", they always end up with an oversalted dish. Frankly, they can't understand how I cook with no formal recipes, so maybe that's really the problem!

posted by keltrue on July 17th 2009 at 9:02am
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I only use my hands and I salt by feel and taste. But this does have a drawback in that I get used to may particular salt (kosher salt) and when I cook in someone else's kitchen it's easy to over-salt as kosher salt by "feel" is quite different from table salt by "feel."

posted by DCarl1 on July 18th 2009 at 1:40am
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