Salt

lookitsjonno · 5 Feb 2012 at 09:51

When cooking I usually use salt at a minimum, a few grinds of the salt mill. But i see TV chefs chucking it in by the teaspoon.

How much salt do you use? Does it make a difference?

The_Baron · 5 Feb 2012 at 09:54

Rarely add it to food and hate it when chefs over salt things. One can get used to lack of salt very quickly and be healthier as a result

Rizo-UK · 5 Feb 2012 at 10:20

Salt does help enhance flavours a lot but I hate too much. I tend so salt as I go along with cooking like stews and casseroles.

I also hate boiled spuds without salted water :/

oli collett · 5 Feb 2012 at 10:21

Yes, you can get used to no salt in food, but your food is not going to taste anywhere near as good.

Salt doesn't just bring out the flavours in individual ingredients, it also interacts with other compounds to change texture and other things which affect the end result of the dish. Nearly all home cooks underseason their food and it's probably the biggest difference between home cooking and restaurant cooking.

One example is pea soup - underseasoned pea soup is nowhere near as sweet and fresh tasting as a correctly seasoned one. Another is pasta - pasta cooked in unsalted or under-salted water will not have as nice a texture as that which has been cooked in a 10g/1litre solution.

As for the "health" aspect, yes, you will have a benefit for reducing blood pressure if you have particular problems, but I don't think home cooked food is the issue here for people.

The_Baron · 5 Feb 2012 at 10:25

Restaurants love over salting things though. I sent back some stew recently for exactly this reason. Agree that in moderation it can add to the flavour

Glaucus · 5 Feb 2012 at 10:48

The_Baron said:
Rarely add it to food and hate it when chefs over salt things. One can get used to lack of salt very quickly and be healthier as a result

Healthier, no you aren't. Unless you eat a load of junk/processed food.
If you make everything yourself you need extra salt. Salt is extremely important. The problem comes when like every ingredient you consume far to much, to do that you need to eat lots of processed crap.

It makes a huge difference to taste.

Governents try to make simple catch all rules, those rules are useless and almost exclusively based on stat "science" which means nothing. All it points to is something which may need more research.

smit101 · 5 Feb 2012 at 10:55

Glaucus said:
Healthier, no you aren't. Unless you eat a load of junk/processed food.
If you make everything yourself you need extra salt. Salt is extremely important. The problem comes when like every ingredient you consume far to much, to do that you need to eat lots of processed crap.

It makes a huge difference to taste.

Totally agree, I also think the type of salt used can make a huge difference to taste, personally I like the naturally harvested/non processed sea salts, the best ones usually have a greyish colour and retain some moisture.

Haze · 5 Feb 2012 at 11:32

i dont salt anything if i can help it

oli collett · 5 Feb 2012 at 11:43

smit101 said:
Totally agree, I also think the type of salt used can make a huge difference to taste, personally I like the naturally harvested/non processed sea salts, the best ones usually have a greyish colour and retain some moisture.

I've not found a single piece of evidence to suggest that using a different type of salt will have any effect on the actual dish - I did read of a study (can't remember where) where they flavoured several stocks with different salts and performed various A/B/X tests and none of the testers performed better than chance... apart from Jefferey Steingarten.

Jolteh · 5 Feb 2012 at 11:45

If I'm cooking for others I'll err on the side of caution and probably slightly underseason food, then leave a couple of grinders on the table for people to fine tune it themselves.

Underseasoning is excusable I think, overseasoning food can ruin it (something I've learnt at a cost on a few occasions).

I should say too, that also salt is important for the body you need it in very small quantities that are easily satisfied without adding extra during cooking. If you're adding salt to food then it is 100% for taste. Salt is indicated in the high prevalence of hypertension in developed countries and consequently also in heart disease being the leading cause of death.

Glaucus · 5 Feb 2012 at 11:58

Jolteh said:
I should say too, that also salt is important for the body you need it in very small quantities that are easily satisfied without adding extra during cooking. If you're adding salt to food then it is 100% for taste. .

that just isn't the case, well it depends on many factors. it's why in hot countries go to salt licks.
Nutrition is a hugely complicated area and simple one rule fits all, does not work. You need between 1/4-1teaspoon of salt a day. Which depending on diet can be hard to reach. Veg does not have much salt in at all. Again it comes down to diet. If your cooking fresh then you may well have to add more in.

King Damager · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:27

None.

I might use a minor amount in scrambled egg or the such like. But yeah, generally speaking none. I've already calculated my Salt intake, and it's close to about 6.5g just from standard intake. I don't need any more thanks.

kd

smit101 · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:35

oli collett said:
I've not found a single piece of evidence to suggest that using a different type of salt will have any effect on the actual dish - I did read of a study (can't remember where) where they flavoured several stocks with different salts and performed various A/B/X tests and none of the testers performed better than chance... apart from Jefferey Steingarten.

I rarely add salt before/during cooking, I add it to my own taste once food is prepared, I find the grey salt more palatable than standard table salt.

Van Hellseek · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:37

Worked in Kitchens for years, and all I'm gonna say is a chefs 'pinch of salt' is a very different measure than what you'd probably use at home.

j.col · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:38

I always add salt during cooking, it does make a huge difference to the taste.
But i never add salt after cooking, unless its chips.

Jolteh · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:48

Glaucus said:
that just isn't the case, well it depends on many factors. it's why in hot countries go to salt licks.
Nutrition is a hugely complicated area and simple one rule fits all, does not work. You need between 1/4-1teaspoon of salt a day. Which depending on diet can be hard to reach. Veg does not have much salt in at all. Again it comes down to diet. If your cooking fresh then you may well have to add more in.

Again, this is false I'm afraid. You get more than enough salt occurring naturally in foods without needing to add it during cooking. If you're adding salt under the assumption that you are somehow providing your body with essentially minerals then I'm afraid you are disillusioned.*

*This is, of course, without moving the contextual goalposts and talking about circumstances in hot countries, or the planet Zod (home of the infamous salt-draining alien-monsters) or other situations equally irrelevant for the purposes of this discussion.

oli collett · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:53

smit101 said:
I rarely add salt before/during cooking, I add it to my own taste once food is prepared, I find the grey salt more palatable than standard table salt.

One thing that will certainly make a difference in that kind of case is texture - I quite like salt crystals/flakes sprinkled on top of some foods to give a burst of flavour

Glaucus · 5 Feb 2012 at 12:59

3oz of fishes/meat most in the 30-60mg
100g apple 1, with pretty much all fruit being around 1 with a few upto 7
100g pearled barley 3
1/2cup of vegetables are in the 1-20 range
1cup flour 1
1cup rice 4
1cup Spaghetti 7
1 Egg 47
You need between 500-2400mg a day.

So no, if you don't eat processed food you need to supplement it. Or include high salt foods, like shellfish.

Jolteh · 5 Feb 2012 at 13:34

Wow, we're here again are we?

I'm beginning to think you've got a peculiar fetish for getting into keyboard battles on a subject you don't know much about, and then just repeatedly hitting up Google to find obscure bits of info that you think back you up.

Without getting into dry theorycrafting about how much salt a person needs measures up against a normal diet (by the way, the 500-2400mg a day figure you mention comes from the same "stat science" place that produces the government catch all rules you discredited earlier in this thread), I'll just say that I've never seen any mention of dietary hyponatremia in the hundreds of patient medical records I've seen, or heard of a hospital admission that was caused by it.

Conversely, coronary heart disease with associated hypertension (strongly linked with a diet high in salt) is by far the leading cause of death in the developed world. You do the maths on that one (or Google it, I don't mind).

Glaucus · 5 Feb 2012 at 13:38

I haven't said otherwise.
And what figures do you want me to use? There isn't any others to base it on.

If you eat totally fresh, the chancres are you will need to supplement.
If you don't eat totally fresh then your salt intake will almost certainly be excessive.