Salt is one of those things that works even on raw stuff, go wild
Pro tip: if you want your food to taste saltier but you’ve already salted it, throw a bit of lemon juice in there. Oftentimes when your mouth tells you it’s not salty enough, what it actually needs is a bit of acid
Same thing if the food tastes too greasy or fatty. Lemon juice isn’t a bad go-to for whenever you go “this dish is missing something, but what?”
Srsly?
This reminds me of a roommate my sister had, who asked her what went into a grilled cheese sandwich. She said just two pieces of bread with a slice of cheese between them. She went into the kitchen a few minutes later to find the roommate staring at the uncooked sandwich on a plate. “Something wrong?” she asked. Roommate answered, “Is this supposed to melt the cheese?”
me
Sounds like she’s qualified to be Trump’s next director of the FDA.
It won’t be quite the same as having salted the pasta and the sauce, while cooking it, but “salvageable”, absolutely.
How is it different from salting after?
When it comes to something like meat, the biggest thing is that the salt can penetrate into the meat itself, rather than just sit on the surface. Same goes for things like potatoes or pasta.
Other than that, I couldn’t really tell you, on a technical level, but you can be sure it boils down to “chemical reactions.”
If you’re curious or skeptical, you can experiment pretty easily. Make a batch of tomato sauce, and seprate it into two portions. Salt one before simmering it for a few hours, and the other one after. Most people will be able to taste the difference.
Salt does not penetrate as much and just does not add as much flavour
It matters more in solids.
If you add some salt to sauces, you can just give it a few stirs to incorporate it.
Salt often tastes different when added during cooking vs after
Yes, but if you stir it into a warm sauce it will mostly dissolve and it will still substantially improve it compared to no salt at all.
If you forget to salt the pasta water, there’s no way of making it taste as if you had. And even if the salt dissolves well in the sauce, it won’t permeate whatever chunky things there might be in the sauce as if you’d salted a lit bit every step of the way. But yeah, it’ll be ok, even if it won’t be as good as it would have been. (I know you didn’t say it would be the same, just wanted to add).
I never salt my pasta water, and don’t miss it. It’s uncessary salt when the pasta and sauce have plenty anyway
Salt in pasta water does not affect taste
It absolutely does. It will salt the noodles themselves, but you need a very healthy amount, not just a few pinches.
You can use less salt if you use less water. I only add enough salt so that the water tastes as salty as broth.
Also pasta cooks just fine in a shallow pan of boiling water, you only need enough water to cover the top of the amount of pasta your cooking. Remember to stir it a few times though, or it clumps up.
(This is the best way to cook pasta if you are poor and live in a damp/poorly ventelated building. Boiling litres of water per serving is inefficient and expensive, and it makes your kitchen mouldy.)
This is the best way of getting sauces to stick as well. The concentrated pasta water left over at the end is great for making mac and cheese for example. Much better than a few teaspoons of pasta water from a large pot as is usually recommended.
Well well, I am about to make mac and cheese for Thanksgiving.
That still sounds like a healthy serving of salt, definitely more than a few pinches.
Nah, only one usually. And not a big one at that.
Yup. I grab my salt can and do about two sprinkle passes and it seems to turn out pretty good. It’s probably around a teaspoon (maybe more) per bag of pasta.
Oh, and use a bit of that pasta water in the sauce, that helps.
You just aren’t putting enough salt in? Literally made pasta two days ago and upon eating my first thought was “damn I almost oversalted the pasta water” because the noodles were in fact, salty
Source? This seems almost impossible
If you put a tiny sprinkling of salt in it instead of making it “salty like the sea,” you won’t notice.
Breaking news! If you under-season your food, you won’t taste the seasoning!
Don’t tell my Italian gf that, she’d hold it against you for eternity.
And she’d be right.
Yeah you put salt in pasta water to change the properties of the water so it boils differently, not to flavor the pasta lmao
You don’t want to change the flavor of your pasta by over salting the water, that’s just gross.
Not really. Salt in the water is mostly for flavor, the raise in boiling point is so miniscule by the amount added it’s practically ignorable.
Adding oil breaks surface tension so that it’s less likely to foam over.
Yup. Don’t oversalt, but certainly add a healthy amount to the water. Some of that salt gets absorbed into the pasta, which gives it a richer flavor.
I personally bring the water to a boil, add pasta, and then add salt (to keep temps as high as possible), but I highly doubt the order here matters at all.
Yeah the only rule I know is don’t add the salt to a cold pan with cold water as heating it up may cause it to damage the bottom of your pan. But adding salt at any point while the water is hot and you aren’t done cooking the pasta is pretty safe.
Sauce is a different matter.
But yeah, if you didn’t salt that yeast dough, you aren’t going to be making it better right before it goes into the oven.
Not all foods get the you can salt me whenever pass.
Once i completely forgot the salt in my bread. It was disgustingly bland; like, I couldn’t believe a teaspoon of salt would have such a massive effect.
But I actually salvaged it by putting salt on every slice of toast I made with that loaf.
It worked out okay!
Yup. Or just extra salted butter.
Or toast it on cast iron in bacon grease.
Btw, carbonara tastes better if you add the bacon and garlic to the pasta and water instead of the sauce after.
What the fuck? Boiled garlic and bacon?
Get the pancetta nice and crispy in the pan, add the garlic in the final minute before finishing. Add your pasta (2 minutes under al dente) fresh out of the water into the hot pan with as much carry over liquid as you can to deglaze, toss like your life depends on it (it does.), cut the heat, then add your mixed yolks, parm and fresh black pepper. Allow the carryover heat to thicken the sauce along with vigourous stirring to get the starches emulsified with the egg and cheese. Add more cracked pepper to your taste. Maybe a pinch of crushed chilis. Add pasta water and stir to reach your desired texture.
Don’t fucking boil your bacon and garlic.
What i meant; fry them first a bit, then cook the spaghetti with so it takes the taste on.
You explained this so much better than my attempt, and with a well balanced amount rage 🤌
Pancetta?! Guanciale. But pancetta’s OK too if it’s all you’ve can get.
I figured Pancetta was the more readily available ingredient. Nonna always used Pancetta anyway.
Def. Just don’t boil it. Hahah
No
I think (hope) they are just describing this wrong, rather than adding bacon to boiling water at the beginning.
The sauce for carbonara is just some of the (salty) pasta water and egg yolk.
Cook the pasta until just before al dente, then mix the yolks and (fried) lardons in the pasta for the final minute or two of cooking. Add parmesan as you like.
Alternatively, instead of overloading on salt: for non-bland food:
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Get local in-season produce. E.G. Fresh tomatoes vs canned or long distance imports is a night and day difference. Also can be cheaper and you also know that the money is staying local, not feeding some rich fuck’s investments.
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Mother. Fucking. GARLIC.
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Optionally, find a good chili oil.
Fwiw good quality canned tomatoes can be miles better than buying “fresh” tomatoes for the 8+ months of the year that they aren’t actually in season (depending where you live in the world). Growers still grow them, but they’re less sweet and less juicy. Canned tomatoes also break down way better for sauces. I agree with your overall point, and almost all of my fruit and veg come from farmers markets, but tomatoes generally don’t for both cost and quality purposes.
Get local in-season produce.
Ehhhhhh, I’m with you on the economic benefits, but when it comes to sodium intake, good quality canned/frozen veggies are just fine, and there’s a lot out there that don’t have any added sodium. On top of that, in a lot of culinary cases canned/frozen is better than fresh - I’d never dream of making pizza sauce out of anything other than good quality canned tomatoes, and frozen peas are usually better than fresh.
Optionally, find a good chili oil.
Most store bought chili oils are loaded with sodium lol.
Great tips, but starting with the word ‘alternatively’ sorta suggests that these will work instead of salt…
Yes, what i meant was instead of (overloading on) salt.
You certainly did say that! totally missed it mb
Sadly, some people have to limit their salt intake and aren’t allowed to any that’s not naturally in there. For them, it would be an alternative. Let us be very thankful we are not them. Especially me, because I can’t have hot chili anything and not much garlic.
Agree with all points. To expand on tomatoes…
local in-season tomatoes > canned tomatoes > all other tomatoes
Local is for sure the best but canned, which are picked ripe and processed soon after, are better than tomatoes that have had to be shipped. Those were picked before they were ripe.
Yup, by default, I double the garlic in any given recipe. And then sometimes add a bit more. I don’t think I’ve ever regretted adding more garlic.
You missed one massively important one: butter. Adding fat tends to bring out the flavor more, and a little salt goes a long way in maximizing that effect.
And especially if you are cooking the vegetables, don’t shy away from vegetables that are a little aged.
That little drizzle of decay adds flavor.
Seriously, the best most flavorful fruits and veggies are always the ones that are 1 day away from going bad.
Agreed with everything you say.
However, adding salt will still make all of your ingredients better.
Mother. Fucking. GARLIC.
Toss in some onion powder too, a bit of seasoning salt and you won’t even miss the salt
a bit of seasoning salt
Uhhhhh
won’t even miss the salt
UHHHHH
fuck, I forgot to put garlick in my lentils, that’s why they were tasting a bit bland
The first recipe I found in a quick search for lentil soup has garlic in it. (And lentils, coriander, cumin, paprika, bay leaves, lemon juice, tomato paste, soup stock, celery, an onion and a carrot.)
If we’re speaking of savoury food, have to say that paprika is another one of those baseline spices that shows up all over the place.
shit, I also forgot about the bay leaves! I did use paprika, though haha
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The water you boiled the pasta in is not the “pasta sauce”.
pasta tea
I raise you pasta coffee
She gonna eat the coffee filter too?
No, that will either be washed and reused or used as toilet paper
Getting a UTI speed run, any %.
Use it while it’s hot. Warm, caffeinated TP
Nah, only use the coffee filter for solids, since that’s what it’s designed for.
Hope she knows they make reusable coffee filters. I bought one about 3 years ago and haven’t needed coffee filters since
Do people actually eat pasta for breakfast?
I do from time to time. Some people like breakfast food so much they eat it all day, I’m that way about dinner foods
Yup. When my SO is out of town, my meals look like this:
- bacon, eggs, and toast
- french toast
- boiled eggs and toast
- Eggs Benedict/Florentine (w/ powdered hollandaise, I’m lazy)
- oatmeal w/ fruit, w/ scrambled eggs on the side
- omelette
Roll a D6 for any given meal.
Ok but there’s also the option to have a lovely pasta for breakfast. Or maybe a nice soup. There’s even garlic bread.
Sometimes
I usually cook without much salt because you can always add more, but you can never remove it. This way everyone can eat each meal to their liking.
You could also cut the food with more unsalted food, to fix the balance. Not uncommon in restaurant kitchens.
That’s a good idea, I’ll save it for occasions when I put too much salt.
But the salt absorbing into the pasta will be a bit different than being part of the sauce. If it’s a common issue that people you’re cooking for want less salt, fine I guess. If not, salt the water when you cook pasta.
Yes, pasta is one exception, I always cook it with more salt and no one has complained. I’m usually the one who wants less salty meals.
Yup. Having a little too much salt on your pasta won’t matter, you can always taste the pasta and adjust the sauce accordingly. I tend to undersalt the sauce, because we add quite a bit of salt w/ grated cheese or something, so I don’t want someone’s preference for extra cheese to ruin the meal.
You can also just add and stir in soy sauce. But add in garlic, some onion powder and chili paste for flavor.
Finding soy sauce was like discovering a cheat code irl. Haven’t found a dish yet that isn’t improved by some combination of soy sauce, chili sauce, and/or lemon juice (usually all three)
Soy sauce and fermented food in general are full of umami flavor.
I’ve never liked soy sauce, until I was introduced to Bragg’s liquid aminos. That shit tastes the way I always thought soy sauce was supposed to taste.
It’s like, all of the flavor and basically none of the salt.
Sorry that this sounds like an ad I’m just actually a fan of the shit.
Just picked up a bottle today. It’s pretty good. It has a sharper taste than the Kikkoman I usually use, without the beer-like fermented flavor. Good recommendation, I’ll probably use Kikkoman in rice and Bragg in everything else
Ooh I’ll have to try that! I’ve always hated soy sauce because its just too salty (I’m very salt-sensitive so I generally cook with no or low salt)
You can get low sodium soy sauce. Also, Kikoman has way too strong of a flavor for me, and I much prefer brands from other countries, which are often a bit lower in salt as well as less intense flavor.
Where’s the MSG?
The tomatoes
That’s in the salt category.
So is crystal meth. Mama TemperamentalAnomaly used to add just pinch to her gravy and it was magic.
Factually dubious, but I’ll buy it.
you need to add salt to the boiling water, but if you are trying to cut your sodium intake don’t do this. also please make pasta sauce from scratch. don’t buy pre mixed, just buy plain “passata” and add your own stuff. its a million times better.
also please make pasta sauce from scratch.
As someone who frequently makes sauce from scratch, a hunk of ground beef or Italian sausage and a jar of Rao’s will absolutely get the job done on a busy weeknight when I can’t be bothered with chopping up a bunch of veggies. Plain passata and your own stuff is not “a million times better”.
It’s literally only better if you have skill and, imo, time. You can’t make a good tomato sauce in like 10min from scratch, fight me
Right, it takes most home cooks ten minutes just to mince the garlic and dice an onion, carrot, and celery for mirepoix
So you want the person who can’t even cook pasta to do his own sauce?
I don’t remember the exact numbers (and am not a doctor) but the vast majority of the average person’s daily sodium intake comes from processed foods, not home cooking.
Yup. Table salt or spice mixes are usually nothing compared to the frozen food that’s 30% of your daily intake per serving.
