Salting Split Peas?
When cooking rice, I know to season the water so the flavor and salt penetrate the grains - just like with pasta. But, when cooking lentils or beans adding salt to the cooking water can make them tough (I only cook lentils in salted water if I'm going to use them in a salad, and want them to keep some structure.)
Which is better for split peas in soup, salt in the cooking liquid, or waiting to add salt after the cooking is complete?
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6 Comments:
I add salt after it's soup. I may have a ham hock in there that would affect the salt level. And I always like to adjust the seasoning when everything is done.
tapioca at 7:48PM on 09/20/09
With beans for soup, it's hard to tell beforehand how much salt the hambones or ham hock will add, so I wait until the end. I add black pepper and onions to the pot at the beginning, though.
For baked beans, I cook the beans in plain water until they are completely done, then I add the salt, molasses or brown sugar, etc. The first time I tried a recipe for Boston baked beans, I jumped the gun and added the molasses before the beans were done. They came out the texture of jelly beans, really chewy. I was about 15 at the time--my younger sisters and brother figured that's how the expression "tough beans" started.
With split peas and lentils, I add everything at the beginning--I've never had them toughen up on me the way beans do.
betteirene at 3:00AM on 09/21/09
Wasn't the salt at the beginning thing debunked?
therealchiffonade at 5:46AM on 09/21/09
I too believe that the salt at the beginning theory has now been classified as a kitchen myth. On the other hand, I too reserve the salt until the end for the exact same reasons. If you use any other salted ingredients (smoked meats, etc.) you've lost control of the salt content. I never had a problem making the adjustments toward the end and certainly don't feel I've lost something by waiting. It's one of those things about "better safe than sorry"...
czken at 5:56AM on 09/21/09
Ditto on the salt making beans tough being a myth. If you think about it, any beans cooked with ham should be tough, if it were true, and I've never noticed ham affecting the flavor adversely.
I add salt as I go to split peas (soup), as the aromatics (celery, onion, carrots, bay leaf, little thyme) start to affect the flavor and I need salt in the soup to get a sense of how it's doing.
lemonfair at 6:31AM on 09/21/09
Yes, it's been de-bunked; I think it was Harold McGee. But it just doesn't work that way at my house. Salting really affects my bean- and chickpea-cooking time.
What I do with ham is to simmer the bone or whatever separately and cook the broth down to concentrate it so I won't make the beans too soupy when I use it to salt-and-season-to-taste. If I have any left over, I freeze it for the next session.
lemons at 9:42AM on 09/21/09