Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Some of them seem insane to me, for sure. Properly salted is one thing, but oversalted is just unpleasant.

When it comes to salting something like the exterior of a large chunk of meat, a little salt can look like a lot more than it is. And a good bit of that ends up left behind in the pan, or adhered to the fatty part of the meat that most people aren't going to eat. So that's not too frightening to me. That much salt on a burger or little piece of chicken is another thing.

Generously salting pasta or veggie water does make a difference, and most of that goes down the drain, so it's not like you're eating all of what goes in there.

But yeah, I've seen a few where I cringe. Too much salt, and I can feel it burning my tongue. I can imagine some of those dishes where I'd have that reaction.

On the other hand, I think a lot of that seasoning is just for show. Artsy camera angles of flying salt, or the pretty sparkly crystals on top of the dish. I use my own judgement when it comes to things like salt and pepper.

I think alot of it is for show too. After all, they're grabbing it out of little ramekin/dishes (who does that?) and sprinkling it on in a decorative way, instead of pouring it out of the box/can into their palm to measure like normal people do.

I actually started storing my salt that way after seeing it on FN. I keep it right next to my bottle of olive oil and garlic holder thingy in a sugar dish that matches my plates.

@Pumpkin & Pesto, I'm eating my words. I still think its a little weird since I've never seen anyone cook like this in the flesh. I do think it could be quite handy, except that I'm a pretty messy cook and the dish would be infiltrated with wierd crumbs and bits of food within a day or two.

Kosher salt is not as fine as the salt shaker variety. It also has a different taste. It also might look like a larger quantity on tv, when it is flying through the air. I keep mine in a small bowl next to the pepper and oil and such. It is just easier to add and control. If you do not use kosher salt...or sea salt, give it a try. You will notice a difference.

The only way to know if the food is over salted would be to taste it. As someone else pointed out different salts = different results.

you know you've really oversalted something when you tongue starts to swell!!!!

There is never too much salt.

Besides the amount of salt (which I always mentally adjust to my taste, anyway) what irks me are the ones who take the salt, sprinkle it on whatever and just throw the rest on the floor or over the shoulder or at the camera or whatever.

Sorry, but I don't have brigades of cleanup people, and neither do most people who watch these shows. If a chef/cook is pretending to be in a home kitchen, all alone, it's just stupid to be throwing salt all over the place.

@Embackus ~ Normal? Normal is a cycle on the washing machine.

Yah I use a small kitten shaped soy sauce dish to hold a small amount of salt on the counter. I usually go through it fast enough to keep crumbs out. Also I find it is easier to evenly salt things by grabbing a pinch of salt between the fingertips and rubbing the fingers together as I pass my hand over food.

I figure I waste less salt this way too :p

I read yesterday that the amount of salt in a teaspoon of salt is a bit more than the daily allowance for an adult. It is a giant wake up call for me, because I am salt user - I HATE going to restaurants that don't have a salt cellar on the table. I have been to numerous places for dinner in my life and honestly, if I was wearing a blindfold, I would not know what I was eating - there is an abhorrence of using salt in many homes, people shy away from it for both cooking and using at the table. To me, just a sprinkle would liven up many a meal and I think most good chefs agree. That being said, I am very aware that I do have to cut my salt intake, but seriously, I can't think of anything more unpleasant - well, except for dying of a stroke or heart attack, I guess!

@Chelley, Harsh! I use kosher too, but I keep it in the box, for the aforementioned cleanliness reasons. Sorry to generalize or offend anyone with my use of the word normal, this is just based on the observation of every person I ever cooked with, both in home and professional kitchens. If the pig/dish salt thing works for you, great. I just think its another unneccesary dish on the counter, when you could just keep the box near the stove and pour out what you need. I realize this is a complete tangent from the original thread, but I had to defend myself.

Just out of interest, I would love to know how many SE members use a teaspoon of salt in the water to cook their vegetables, or sprinkle meat with salt before roasting or grilling? If you are in the habit of doing this, do you sprinkle salt at the table, after tasting or is the food salty enough from the addition at cooking time. Are there many people who do not use salt at all in cooking?

I always use a bit of salt to cook the family meal, but I am wondering if I should cook without salt and then season before consumption (or let people season their own food at the table?) Sorry to belabour this, but I would seriously like your input. Thanks.

I don't boil veggies but I do salt the water when I steam veggies.

I throw literally a palmful of salt into my macaroni water.

@bessfour .... and butter.

The last few times I have eaten a tasting menu in one of the noted restaurants in the DC area -- VOLT and Minibar -- I have been repulsed by the amount of salt that some of the items contained. I saw Jose Andre from Minibar and one of the up and comers in the chef world on a PBS show reccently cooking paella and he said to salt it "until it is just oversalted" to which I yelled at the television WHY? Are they in cahoots with heart surgeons? Do customers tell them to throw more salt in? Do they find that their bar revenues go up when the customers are oversalted? It's an unhealthy trend and I was shocked to see Chef Andre acknowledge and even promote it.

@bareneed, I use salt when I cook. I also have a salt shaker at the table, if anyone wants more, but it's hardly ever used. I find that if you salt properly during cooking the food tastes like itself, but heightened. If you dump salt on at the table, it just tastes salty.

I've known a few people who refuse to use salt when cooking, and no amount of salt at the table can make that food taste right.

i can imagine using a sugar container for salt. i don't. but i could see it being ok. i pour it into my hands or our measuring spoons. i have mortons (the one with the dancing umbrella girl), and 2 different kosher salts (curiosity got the better of me - they are the same weight, but massively different sized boxes, yet somehow the one with smaller crystals has the larger box).

of course, most of the time on those cooking competition shows they are told they didnt use enough salt... its reached the point that i think particular chefs have been pickled and cant handle a meal sans salt, even if it should not have any.

Knowing how to correctly season food makes the difference between a good cook and a great cook. I have noticed my DIL's are very timid when adding salt, while I am more assertive. They say my food always tastes so good. It is great the TV chefs to show how to season food in layers as the dish is assembled, and then taste as you go. Seasoning foods correctly also requires the knowledge of when to hold back. When you cook regular white rice, salt is required. When you make risotto, you have to be cautious with the salt and consider the butter and broth you are using and the cheese you add at the end all contain salt, so you need to hold back the salt with a dish like this. If the chef fixing risotto is using homemade broth, which could be less salty than canned broth, then extra salt may be required for the risotto. It is important to know the salt content in the ingredients you are using. When I make bean with ham soup, the ham usually adds enough salt. Here is an explanation on the superstition of throwing salt over your left shoulder.
http://ask.yahoo.com/20031006.html

I use kosher salt on everything, to me it is not that salty as reg. table salt. I do not tend to over salt before, during or after ( I mean I put a little in before during if needed) but I leave the person to complete the "whatever" to their own taste.

I agree on the kosher salt comments - it's a completely different product.

One of my favorite snacks is a toasted piece of brad (ezekial) with sliced avocado, a heavy drizzle of lime juice, and then a light sprinkle of kosher salt. But I would NEVER do this with table salt - gross gross gross.

The only thing I used table salt for is baking and soups. Pastas, fishes, meats, casseroles, eggs... I always use kosher.

I actually don't really use that much salt BUT the things that I insist upon salting are:

1. Baked potatoes
2. Popcorn
3. Eggs
4. Pasta water

I think oversalting is "safer" than undersalting for a chef, because a dish can be slightly too salty but still tasty to most. On the other hand, if a dish is not salty enough for some people who are used to eating salty foods, it tastes bland to them.

I use salt pretty generously at home, but still think restaurant dishes are often too salty.

Because the chefs don't have to eat what they cook, they can use as much salt and fat as they want to make their food taste "better" for most people.

I keep my kosher salt in a small canister and leave it open when I'm cooking.

I have a health issue that makes limiting salt necessary. My cardiologist told me that he wasn't concerned about the salt I used in cooking or at the table, but to eliminate processed foods (this, by the way, is not a popular recommendation). I salt, and sometimes pretty liberally, in cooking and at the table if it seems necessary (I do taste first). I never have problems unless I eat processed foods.

I'm aware of a lot of "experts" who advise using minimal or no salt during cooking and "to taste" at the table -- assuming that less will be used that way. The problem is that salt added at the table doesn't really flavor the dish -- it's just the first thing you taste when eating.

I found this linked to in Ruhlman's blog:
salt

When you use as much salt as Bender Bending Rodriguez, you are using too much.

Eat a lot of salt will just make you thirsty and you'll drink more. Which actually plumps you up...rather than making you a raisin.

To add confusion to the 'table vs. kosher' debate--my mother who lives in a thirdw orld country, has a hard time finding anything other than iodized salt. Since she loves pulling recipes off of sites like food network etc, where any salt in a recipe is almost always kosher or some other fancy variant, she always has to start at half the volume measurement required, and then work up by taste. Iodized salt is just too salty in comparison and she's ruined a lot of recipes by substituting iodized equally for kosher.

For me, I rarely cook with exact measurements and find I like the look and flavour of kosher or other sea salts, but don't necessarily like to finish a dish (like eggs or grilled asparagus) with big salty chunks. Instead of a salt pig, I keep a few tablespoons of coarse kosher salt in a mortar and pestle. I grind my salt to teh texture I like. It is a stress reliever to take your frustrations out on salt, and there are some times when a powdery fluff of salt that is quickly absorbed into the dish is kind of lovely as well.

If it's a roast I'm seasoning, however, give me coarse crystals to rub into that meat!

How is one salt saltier than another? Sodium chloride is sodium chloride. Claiming than one form of salt is less salty than the other is ludicrous. Gram per gram table salt, kosher salt and sea salt are equally salty. Granted, unrefined sea salt is not 100% sodium chloride, but the stuff that most people buy that's labelled sea salt is refined and iodized and no different from other tables salt.

I don't know where you are, but over here in Montreal the two most popular brands or sea salt are Kalas and La Baleine. Both of which are refined and iodized. Fleur de sel and coarse sea salt are mostly sold in gourmet shops and I can count on one hand the people I know who use them on a daily basis whilst the two aforementioned brands are in practically everyone's pantry.

I'm living in New Jersey and I have never heard of Kalas, but I have used La Baleine coarse sea salt in the red tube; the fine version of this salt is in the blue tube. La Baleine is a naturally evaporated sea salt from France. Neither of the types (fine or coarse) are refined or iodized so check your label again. It actually says in big letters on the tube, "This salt does not supply iodide, a necessary nutrient." And just because the blue tube contains smaller, finer salt crystals does not mean it is refined; it was simply ground by a machine. Refined means treated, fillers added, or altered in some way aside from being simply ground up.

I think the majority of Americans are probably using iodized table salt. What should be in everyones cupboard, however, is Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. I'm not surprised most people don't have Fleur de sel or Maldon in their cupboards; it is expensive stuff. I use it because I'm a chef.

On another note, Food Network Cooks, for the majority, are cooking for your entertainment. They "dumbify" the recipes for the novice home cook. Trust me, if they actually cooked like they have been trained to cook, as a Chef, most people would not be able to keep up nor understand why they were using certain techniques. I used to watch FN all the time, and then I became a chef and my view of the programming has completely changed. Top chef and Iron chef are among the better, slightly more realistic culinary shows in TV. Rachel Ray is another story; I wouldn't listen to that woman.

For most of you who think TV chefs use too much salt, they actually don't. That is the amount of salt necessary to accentuate the natural flavors of that food and the reason why your home cooked food is not as good as food at a restaurant. They're not using fine ground salt either; that stuff is too salty on solid foods and is usually meant for baking use and/or seasoning liquids, where it can be easily dissolved.