Salt to Taste

I have heard chefs and cooks (what’s the difference anyways?) talk about adding salt to taste to the dish. With a deep interest in cooking, this term has always confused me. What does it mean “to taste” and how do I know it?

         When cooking any dish, I always worried about getting the salt levels right. What if I forgot to add salt or add too much? Trying to understand the line between just right and too much salt, I realized that this is not a thin line that you have to balance on. It is a pretty thick one and the width changes from one dish to the other and one ingredient to the other. I will explain myself.

         About 16 years back I was on a salt less diet for 5 weeks. You would think that this would be tough but its not if you eat the right things. I found that eggs don’t really need salt and over the years I have developed a taste for my eggs (sunny side up, scrambled or omlette) to have less or no salt at all. I think it brings out the flavor much better. All your leafy greens like spinach (palak), fenugreek (methi), amaranth leaves (chawali greens) have their own salty flavor and don’t need added salt unless you are adding other ingredient like potato, daal or chickpea flour (besan).

         Any preparation which uses curd/yogurt/dahi as a base needs very little salt and can be too salty very easily. So spare the salt for raitas and curd based gravies. The same goes when you are using any cheese in the preparation, go light on the salt.

         There are also ways about when is the right time to add salt to a prepation. Here are a few things I have learnt over the years. When marinating fish always add salt and let it marinate with salt. If you use the fish in a gravy add salt to adjust the flavor towards the end of cooking. When marinating meat (chicken, mutton) add salt to marinade if you are making a dry preparation like kebab or roast. For gravies, add salt once all the main ingredients for the gravy, including meat, are added and then let it cook. Check for salt towards the end of cooking and adjust.

         For veggies that wilt and lose a lot of volume during cooking, like palak and bhendi, add salt towards the end of cooking. For lentils, never add salt while they are cooking. Adding salt during cooking makes their skins tough and they wont cook well. Add salt in the last minute or so and mix. Only exception to this is chickpeas or chole. This is where you add salt while pressure cooking it and then later adjust in the gravy.

Tricky ones are like upma or pohe or any paratha dough. If you don’t add salt just at the right point, then very difficult to adjust it later. How many times have I asked myself to confirm about adding salt and still had to eat final dish without salt, huh!! And then there is the classic case of too many cooks. :) 

         Now to western cooking. When cooking pasta you have to add ample salt to the boiling water. This is the only chance for the pasta itself to salt. Final taste adjustment can be done in the sauce. Cooking potatoes for mashed potato or baking them, add salt right at start. Potatoes need salt. Any baking, specially cookies, cake, cupcakes add just ½ tsp of salt and brings out all the flavours.

         One thing I have to admit, I am guilty of not tasting the dish as it cooks. I can eyeball the salt required but never taste it myself. Thanks to my family members who are always ready to give a “Taste test” while still cooking. It is only now that I have started tasting it myself and hope I improve.

So much for salt and getting it right  Let me know your experiences about salt and we can learn from each other. Until next time, bye.