Hot answers tagged

80 votes

Are there any advantages to freshly ground salt?

Not really in terms of flavor, no. Salt doesn't have a substantial number of volatile compounds that are released by grinding, in contrast to something like whole peppercorn, which releases a range of ...
logophobe's user avatar
  • 14.9k
68 votes
Accepted

What are the tradeoffs between soy sauce and salt to pick when to use which between the 2?

Soy sauce is not just salty, it has a strong taste of its own. So, to answer your question: you would use soy sauce when you want the taste of soy sauce, and salt when you don't and just want ...
Najkin's user avatar
  • 653
58 votes
Accepted

How can I be more frugal with salt when cooking (dried) pasta?

It's perfectly possible to cook pasta with no salt at all, so you may be able to wean yourself onto a lower salt level, reducing it gradually. I don't know what, if anything, you're eating with your ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 43.7k
55 votes

What type of salt for sourdough bread baking?

This may come across as a little cynical ;) Don't believe the hype. Salt is salt. The difference between Himalayan, iodised & kosher is so small you'll never taste it. They're all 98%+ sodium ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 29.7k
45 votes
Accepted

Is there any advantage to combining spices before applying them to meat?

If you premix to make a rub, it's easier to apply spices evenly. Otherwise, you must individually apply a small amount (for example, 1/4 tsp) of several spices evenly. With a rub, you make the spice ...
mattm's user avatar
  • 2,474
42 votes
Accepted

How much salt in "liberally season"?

You're not alone in being confused. Here's a few "weasel phrases" that recipe authors use: "Liberally season" "Season to taste" "Season as required" "Add enough" "A bunch of" "A generous quantity" ...
FuzzyChef's user avatar
  • 61.3k
39 votes
Accepted

What can be done with accidentaly oversalted beef?

Oversalting is best dealt with by serious dilution. I'd make a large, not very meaty dish from it, with lots of vegetables, cooked for a while. Fry onions and other veg, add liquid, and stir in the ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 43.7k
37 votes
Accepted

How to dissolve salt into mashed potatoes

Until the salt is dissolved, you will always have the problem of separate grains. It seems that your potatoes are not moist enough for it to happen on its own. And salt won't dissolve in fat. My ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 136k
37 votes

What type of salt for sourdough bread baking?

Any salt will do. The trick is figuring how much salt. If a formula is based on a specific salt, and you switch, you need to adjust. For example this author did a comparison. She weighed 1 level ...
moscafj's user avatar
  • 73.8k
34 votes

What can be done with accidentaly oversalted beef?

Make a soup out of it! Dice the meat up, sweat some aromatics (onion, celery, etc.) in a pot, put in 1-2 liters of water, add the meat and let it come to a boil. Then, bring the heat down to a ...
SgtStens's user avatar
  • 831
33 votes

What are the tradeoffs between soy sauce and salt to pick when to use which between the 2?

Perhaps the most significant reason to use soy sauce is that it adds umami, a flavor that is different from saltiness. In addition to the umami, additional flavors soy sauce brings are expected in ...
moscafj's user avatar
  • 73.8k
32 votes
Accepted

Why does salt enhance the flavor of food?

Our brains are wired to consider food more palatable if the dedicated taste receptors (one of the six basic tastes) for salt are triggered. And in a non-urban world, salt/sodium is a valuable nutrient;...
rackandboneman's user avatar
30 votes
Accepted

What does "Massage with salt" mean in a recipe?

I'd argue that 'massage' is the right word in this case. I've this technique a lot in japanese cooking -- you cut up the vegetables, sprinkling with salt as you go (so there's layers of salt in ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 80k
28 votes

Alternative to salt when using Mortar and Pestle

2 solutions: I have an unpolished granite pestle and mortar: they're much cheaper than the polished granite ones and are much more abrasive then a wooden or ceramic one. I also don't use any salt, (...
Fabby's user avatar
  • 5,827
27 votes

Is it true that all salt is sea salt?

In a very real sense, yes, that is a true statement. Virtually all sodium chloride on earth was formed in the ocean. It’s a bit of a misnomer to consider “ocean” to be synonymous with “sea”; ...
Jolenealaska's user avatar
  • 58.5k
26 votes
Accepted

Can I substitute salts 1:1 by weight?

Yes. In general diamond crystal kosher salt requires about twice the amount (by volume) as table salt, but measuring by weight is best and works with any salt.
myklbykl's user avatar
  • 4,694
26 votes

Keeping meat dry after salting it

Serious Eats published a great article on how to cook, sear, and season their perfect steak! TL;DR Salt your steak and rest it on a wire-rack for 40+ minutes (ideally in a fridge overnight) before ...
Brian's user avatar
  • 540
20 votes
Accepted

Good salt:water ratio when boiling pasta

More is not necessarily better, but no salt leads to a bland final dish. Some folks are fond of saying "as salty as the sea." This sounds romantic, but probably has no basis. Pasta water, ...
moscafj's user avatar
  • 73.8k
18 votes
Accepted

When should I add the garlic to a roasted leg of lamb?

There's no benefit to putting the garlic in as slices from a flavor point of view, it's the cooking that brings the garlic flavor out. I've found that no matter how you do it the garlic flavor pretty ...
GdD's user avatar
  • 75.4k
17 votes

Are there any advantages to freshly ground salt?

I personally like having a salt grinder for popcorn. When I salt my popcorn, I want the crystals to be totally pulverized with a much more fine grind than is available in the box. Finely ground salt ...
Kaslai's user avatar
  • 271
17 votes

Is there any advantage to combining spices before applying them to meat?

An additional factor is prep time. You can make a large batch of spice mix quickly, spooning tablespoons rather than quarter teaspoons and then it's made ready for many portions. Dry mixes keep as ...
Chris H's user avatar
  • 43.7k
17 votes

How can I be more frugal with salt when cooking (dried) pasta?

If you can't get cheaper salt, or reduce the ratio of salt/water, and you don't want to compromise the finished result, then the only option I see is to use less water. Cooks generally gauge the ...
senschen's user avatar
  • 3,045
17 votes

How much salt in "liberally season"?

"Liberally season with salt" means - "use more salt than you would usually think was enough". Why anyone would advise that depends on factors unknown to us. Here is an SE "Seasoned Advice" post on ...
Russell McMahon's user avatar
16 votes
Accepted

Is it a good idea to add salt to egg whites before beating them?

There is a great deal of contrary advice on adding salt to egg whites. From my research, what I gather is that this mixed advice comes from the fact that it probably depends on how much salt is added....
moscafj's user avatar
  • 73.8k
15 votes

What can be done with accidentaly oversalted beef?

Use raw potato. If the meat is already BBqued put in between layers of raw potato slices. Then reheat it [meat] by boiling it with whole potato, then for a short while put on preheated pan. If you ...
SZCZERZO KŁY's user avatar
15 votes
Accepted

Salt turned peas from creamy to crunchy

Frozen peas don't really need 'cooking' at all. The smaller they are the less they need, too; so anything labelled 'garden peas' or 'petit pois' really all you should do is drop them into boiling ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 29.7k
14 votes

Are there any advantages to freshly ground salt?

Another good reason for having salt grinders is that they are FUN! Perceived quality definitely affects our enjoyment of food and drink, plenty of research has shown this. But another factor in ...
barbecue's user avatar
  • 786
14 votes
Accepted

Can salted capers be un-salted?

Yes. Brined capers also have a lot of salt, so you're not really trying to remove the salt, just dissolve it a bit. The way I've done this is to simply take out about 1/4 of the capers, add a ...
FuzzyChef's user avatar
  • 61.3k
13 votes
Accepted

Sauerkraut/sourkraut - ratio of grams of salt to grams of raw cabbage?

2% (20g per 1000g) would be my default recommendation based on sources local to me, but with care less salt may work if sanitation is extremely good (to minimize introduction of undesirable bacteria ...
Ecnerwal's user avatar
  • 15.7k
13 votes

If salt loses its flavor, how can you season it?

Salt is not a herb or a spice that loses its specific properties over time. It's a mineral and is salty since millions of years. It will still be salty if you're already gone. No need to worry here! ...
eckes's user avatar
  • 1,241

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible