Did you know?
Salt is known as a timeless ingredient that dates as far back as 6050 BC, as it has been an integral part of our history of trade and civilization.
It is one of the most popular seasons that most people are familiar with and is often used in different recipes including both sweet & savory dishes because; you guessed it; it’s THAT essential. It is one of those seasonings that are used globally by different people & for different reasons, even ones that have nothing to do with food or the kitchen.
Is it best to season at the beginning of the cooking process or just at the end? How much salt is enough salt? These are all valid questions that many people, especially novices in cooking, find themselves asking. I know I heard many new varsity students who started living by themselves and cooking for themselves asking these questions so just in case you’re one of those people then I am here and happy to help.
Salting is mentioned in many recipes because it helps bring out flavour. Adding salt at different stages of the cooking process helps imbue some more flavour consistently so that your dish is seasoned throughout its bites. As you’ve seen, you don’t just salt the sauce you’re going to cook your pasta in, for example, rather it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as well to salt your pasta water as well as your sauce because salting at different stages matters (both the pasta boiling stage and the sauce stage).
It is therefore not enough to simply add salt at the end of cooking because that doesn’t give your meal enough time to be infused with the salt throughout. Take cooking roasted potatoes or even roasted meat, for example, it would be ridiculous to only add salt at the end of rotating because while the outside of the foods might be well seasoned, the insides might be bland and insipid. This means that the meal as a whole won't be flavoured enough; think about it, when you rate the flavour of a meal, do you only judge the outside and say: ”it was really good because the outside was seasoned”, would that be a fair judgment or would you need to acknowledge the bland and dry inside too?
So how many times should I salt my food? A safe answer to that is, just as you season vegetables, rice or meat with salt (and pepper) in the beginning and then adjust the seasoning a second time in the end, then in that same way, at least salt twice, the beginning and the end to finish with some salt to taste; and on some cases, you might even find that instead of reaching for all those other seasonings, salt was actually all you needed. If you salt your food this way, you might just start to appreciate salt a little more and give it a little more credit because it really can and does do wonders.
So next time you're making pasta and you find yourself wondering if you should salt your pasta water, if you read this post you should know that, the answer is obviously yes just ensure to salt your water to be as salty as the sea.
