Eamon Burke
Banned
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- Mar 5, 2011
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I heard something about under-salting food in another thread, and figured I'd not hijack it.
I have a guy I work with who isn't a cook by trade, but is one of our short order cooks right now. If he tastes your soup and says it's fine, you can bet your paycheck it tastes like the Atlantic ocean. Meanwhile, I have learned that when I feel a dish tastes exactly right, I toss in enough salt to ruin it(in my estimation), and everyone is happy. My wife puts extra salt on all the food I cook.
There are times when people are not using enough salt to create the desired effect--like when a sauce has all the flavor components it needs, but just tastes like it's missing "something", or not having enough salt to pull moisture out when that kind of thing is needed. But everyone is going to want different amounts of salt, and it's not just preferential, or experiential.
There are folks who are "supertasters", with an abnormally high number of taste buds, which can lead to(among other things), a love of salty food. The problem is, most of us aren't supertasters, and since "tasting good" is subjective, this can lead to flavors being lost under a bed of salt.
Also, when I was a young athlete, we worked out 6 days a week in South Texas heat, where hydration and sodium levels were a safety issue. Our go-to test was to taste our own forehead sweat--it should taste lightly salty, but if it tastes like water, you need salt, and if it tastes like rock salt, you need more water and lay off the salt. Nobody can do this for you--people's sweat varies from day to day, and the sweat of other people tastes very different to different people.
A few years later, I noticed when working outside that if I am dehydrated and parched, the taste of Gatorade is like Nectar of the Gods--perfectly salty and sweet and I wanna chug it until my stomach hurts. If I am not, the flavor of Gatorade(all flavors) is dead, flat, watery, boring, even a touch bitter on the finish.
My point is, there is a reason why salt on the table has persisted through the centuries. I say put great quality finishing salt out, and don't sweat it if people want to load it down. And for pro cooks, it would be wise to remember that while seasoning perfectly is an invaluable job skill, it's a lot harder for customers to take the salt out than put more in.
I have a guy I work with who isn't a cook by trade, but is one of our short order cooks right now. If he tastes your soup and says it's fine, you can bet your paycheck it tastes like the Atlantic ocean. Meanwhile, I have learned that when I feel a dish tastes exactly right, I toss in enough salt to ruin it(in my estimation), and everyone is happy. My wife puts extra salt on all the food I cook.
There are times when people are not using enough salt to create the desired effect--like when a sauce has all the flavor components it needs, but just tastes like it's missing "something", or not having enough salt to pull moisture out when that kind of thing is needed. But everyone is going to want different amounts of salt, and it's not just preferential, or experiential.
There are folks who are "supertasters", with an abnormally high number of taste buds, which can lead to(among other things), a love of salty food. The problem is, most of us aren't supertasters, and since "tasting good" is subjective, this can lead to flavors being lost under a bed of salt.
Also, when I was a young athlete, we worked out 6 days a week in South Texas heat, where hydration and sodium levels were a safety issue. Our go-to test was to taste our own forehead sweat--it should taste lightly salty, but if it tastes like water, you need salt, and if it tastes like rock salt, you need more water and lay off the salt. Nobody can do this for you--people's sweat varies from day to day, and the sweat of other people tastes very different to different people.
A few years later, I noticed when working outside that if I am dehydrated and parched, the taste of Gatorade is like Nectar of the Gods--perfectly salty and sweet and I wanna chug it until my stomach hurts. If I am not, the flavor of Gatorade(all flavors) is dead, flat, watery, boring, even a touch bitter on the finish.
My point is, there is a reason why salt on the table has persisted through the centuries. I say put great quality finishing salt out, and don't sweat it if people want to load it down. And for pro cooks, it would be wise to remember that while seasoning perfectly is an invaluable job skill, it's a lot harder for customers to take the salt out than put more in.