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escargot

Original Poster:

17,123 posts

245 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
Salt.

Or dessicated semen of satan as you eloquently refer to it.

I have a question for you; do you use it at all when you're cooking? If not, do you adjust your cooking in any way to make up for the lack of seasoning?

The reason for asking is that I use salt in most things and I'd be at a loss without it. Just wondering how you get on.

Edited by escargot on Monday 30th November 11:57

Plotloss

67,280 posts

298 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
I add it to water when boiling to make it boil faster but that is it.

I've not had salt in my diet (as far as is possible) since the age of 13 so food doesn't taste bland to me without it. I resist completely the notion that salt is a required additive to cooking to bring out flavour, if you've not had it, you don't miss it.

Some things taste positively strange, digestive biscuits for example are rammed with salt and you can taste it over the top of the sweetness.

Soovy

35,829 posts

299 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all


You don't need it. I use a tiny bit in water for boiling veg, and some on chips.

That's it.



You will taste your food after a while.

Fidgits

17,202 posts

257 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
i never use any salt in any of my cooking, and never have to compensate - if anything, the flavours are better without it.

okgo

41,959 posts

226 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
So you three are right and the best chefs in the world are all wrong with regards to using salt when seasoning food?

escargot

Original Poster:

17,123 posts

245 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
So what do you do in a restaurant?

sleep envy

62,260 posts

277 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
escargot said:
So what do you do in a restaurant?
he orders the happy meal

Don

28,378 posts

312 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
I never put salt in anything.

This is because I like saltiness so much that if I seasoned the food to how I like it no-one else could eat it.

I just add salt to my tastes at the table.

There is no chemical difference between salt added during cooking and salt added from a salt cellar...


Don

28,378 posts

312 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
Here's a question!

Would you ever consider adding MSG to your cooking?

I've been considering getting a packet.

Plotloss

67,280 posts

298 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
okgo said:
So you three are right and the best chefs in the world are all wrong with regards to using salt when seasoning food?
Salt has a flavour of its own, which one becomes used to.

Chefs are indoctrinated into seasoning food, which itself is a holdover from using salt as a preservative.

To say a dish prepared with salt is 'better' than the same dish without salt is a nonsense. It is down to what one's palette has become accustomed to.

Plotloss

67,280 posts

298 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
escargot said:
So what do you do in a restaurant?
I put up with it, to a point.

If something has been over seasoned to the point of being intrusive I would have no compunction whatsoever in speaking to the front of house staff.

okgo

41,959 posts

226 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
Plotloss said:
okgo said:
So you three are right and the best chefs in the world are all wrong with regards to using salt when seasoning food?
Salt has a flavour of its own, which one becomes used to.

Chefs are indoctrinated into seasoning food, which itself is a holdover from using salt as a preservative.

To say a dish prepared with salt is 'better' than the same dish without salt is a nonsense. It is down to what one's palette has become accustomed to.
Thats fair enough, and I would assume because the vast majority are used to it, restraunts are always going to cater to that.

RizzoTheRat

28,651 posts

220 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
Soovy said:
You don't need it. I use a tiny bit in water for boiling veg, and some on chips.
Same here, though I do also put a bit in bread, and it's very nice sprinkled on top of buttered crumpets.

I find a lot of processed foods taste very salty, the worst being Old El Paso Enchilada kits. Restaurants don't tend to use as much, at least it's rare I notices anything as being particularly salty in a restaurant.

Papoo

3,964 posts

226 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
It has its place.

I rarely use it, sometimes in a rub for a pulled pork/ribs etc. Then in boiling water for veg and pasta.

It does have a right to be on my kitchen/bbq table, though. Not that it is required, but just like many flavours compliment one-another, salt can, in moderation, be a wonderful compliment to certain pieces of meat.

Henry Hawthorne

6,520 posts

244 months

Monday 30th November 2009
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I never use salt during cooking. My food tastes fine without it so why add it in?

grumbledoak

32,523 posts

261 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
I put a small amount when making a loaf of bread, and sometimes use it to help grind spices in the mortar. Almost never, otherwise.

As to how I compensate: in part I don't miss the salt, but I also try to use a lot of herbs and spices to add flavour instead.

GregE240

10,857 posts

295 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
Plotloss said:
escargot said:
So what do you do in a restaurant?
I put up with it, to a point.

If something has been over seasoned to the point of being intrusive I would have no compunction whatsoever in speaking to the front of house staff.
Who probably take your plate back out to the kitchen, exclaim "We've got a right c*** on table 5", then they will take it in turns to gob on your food.

I think the biggest issue at stake here is seasoning of food per se. We went out on Saturday and the terrine I had to start with was positively inedible due to the amount of salt it had been festooned with

Plotloss

67,280 posts

298 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
Not everywhere is a pie and mash shop, young Thomas.

It's irritating because it's unnecessary to do it.

In terms of Fast Food, which is salted to buggery anyway, at least KFC don't automatically salt their chips, not that I've eaten in a BK or MacDs for some years - for entirely different reasons.

HRG

72,863 posts

267 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
Bet your crackling is ste...

GregE240

10,857 posts

295 months

Monday 30th November 2009
quotequote all
lol

Actually, I'm not sure BK salt chips any more?