I haven't seen the show, but I do not like salt in a lot of my food. I never understood why anyone liked salted caramel - I think that is a big waste of caramel. I do make my own caramel, and it has absolutely no salt in it at all. I also do not like any salt in candy, although I eat very little of that. In addition, I like a lot of vegetables without salt, such as zucchini, squash, potatoes, etc, but for more bitter vegetables like kale, I do add salt.

When I first got a copy of The Joy of Cooking, my first general cookbook, I found that I needed to reduce the salt by half in pretty much all of its recipes, and this was when I was in my early 20s. I find that salt often masks the flavor of foods that I want to taste, and so I often leave it out altogether in many recipes. I never add salt to any ice cream that make, including chocolate, which could possibly benefit from it, but I really prefer chocolate without salt.

I do use a fair amount of salt when cooking meat, but not an excessive (IMO) amount. Salt is also important for bread and for many recipes using flour.

Lars, I agree about the salted caramel, it's just a way to ruin perfectly good caramel.

I do like a little salt, and I think it often adds to the flavor or accentuates the flavor of some foods, but I don't want the flavor to be overwhelmingly salt. I often leave the salt out of baked goods if I'm using salted butter, because just that extra teaspoonful or whatever is enough to ruin it for me.

I don't use canned soups or packages of stuff because it all tastes like a salt lick to me. My Dad, though, loved salt, so I think it's personal taste sometimes, and what you are used to other times.

I'd far prefer to salt at the table, so I can choose my own level of "saltiness".

Annie

I had a really bad throat infection many years ago that fried my taste buds and made EVERYTHING taste very salty for over a year! I completely cut out salt except in baking cause measuring is important in baking.

I can now tolerate a smidgen here and there, but places like Outback (we go once a year for hubby's BD), I ask for no finishing salt! It was actually making me feel a bit ill after!

Hubby and I love the cooking shows, but have to wonder about how much salt these people use! Giada, Rachael Ray etc.. They throw handfuls in the food! Gotta wonder what their blood pressure is like also!

I occasionally use a cream of ________. for a quicky recipe, but somewhere I have a recipe from cooking light that I have to find again after the move that I would love to make again and freeze in portions, if possible.

I think it was 1/4 c uncle tom's quick brown rice totally overcooked, in a quart of chicken or vege stock (I think about 40 minutes) add a cup of milk and stick in the blender. Then I would add cooked asparagus, broccholi or mushrooms/onions. Some to be blended, some to be kept whole in the soup.

I'm not positive this is the recipe, but it's close.

It was something like 1/4 the fat, sodium of a can of soup and pretty near the consistancy. I'll try some this week and report back. Nancy

I don’t use a lot of salt in cooking (pretty well never in baking as like Annie I figure the salt in the butter is enough) but some things I do add a little salt to.

I’ll always remember visiting my Mom and watching her make salad and being horrified when I saw her squeezing heaps of salt from the soft-sided large salt container. “DH won’t eat that. He avoids salt,” I told her. “He won’t notice,” Mom was adamant. (At this point I’m thinking- Does she think he’s an idiot?). Well, he did notice and he didn’t eat the salad.

I would probably use to much salt if left to my own devices. Unsalted food tastes like a dirty dish rag to me. SO hates salt though, so I use little to no salt when I cook for us,and just salt mine after. The only time i get annoyed is when I order fries and they come unsalted. A lot of local small places around here don't salt their fries,which SO is thrilled about,but it ticks me off. Why wouldn't you salt a fry???? Anyway, by the time we get the fries home,salt won't stick to them,so I put salt in some ketchup and dip them. Ordinarily I wouldn't eat ketchup on my fries,but I cannot eat any form of potato without salt.

Often on tv they seem to use a lot.

I think some foods call for salt. Pasta cooking water should be as salty as the sea according to Italians!

Starches need salt. I love salty caramel!

I use salt. It's salt. But I don't salt vegetables, ever. Most vegetables are sweet and salty on their own. I do salt beef, but never the outside of a roast or steak or any chunk. All that does is dry out the surface and make that salty, which makes it hard to add finishing salt to the interior. Sauces, soups, stews, etc., get a little salt. Tuscan bread is a favorite, but the reason it doesn't have salt is because it goes with olives, capers and other highly salty things. In general, grains want salt. I don't use nearly as much salt as most conventional recipes ask for. I think the problem with TV chefs is they spend so much of their lives eating highly salty foods they've lost their ability to discern it when it isn't thrown in by the handful.

The thing about salting the cooking the cooking water is not that it makes the food salty--it doesn't really. It makes the water that clings to the food salty. Water has its own minerally kind of blandness, and usually tastes better on the surface of wet foods, from pastas to poached eggs, if it has some flavor. As salty as the ocean is highly unnecessary, however, unless you're already used to eating a ton of salt.

Many cooking crutches are basically SALT with other flavors, from Ponzu sauce to bullion cubes or paste, to Maggi sauce, to packets of dry soup. People lean on these because they have a hard time using that much salt directly. I had a horrible time with my Thanksgiving gravy, which is based on a velouté. I kept having to add more salt because I don't salt my stock and nothing else that went in carried any salt either. I finally figured out that I was using sufficient salt for the stock but hadn't considered the flour. It still probably didn't have enough salt for some people, but all I was looking for was it to bring out the flavor, not color it. ;)

I do use salt in cooking and baking, but I defy anyone to say my food is salty. It doesn't offend me if you salt the food I serve you, though I think you're an idiot if you don't taste it first.

If you buy canned, processed, packaged foods, spice mixes, bouillon, boxed/canned stocks, even low sodium...you might not want a salt shaker in your home. One scant cup of V8 has enough sodium for the day. Way to salty for us. All of it. Salt lick like Annie says.

Salt and sugar is cheap so they put it in everything.

Cooking with whole fresh foods like most chefs salt is needed in moderation.

Have never purchased salted butter.

I do salt pasta water now. Didn't for a few years. And potato water for mashed.

Not familiar with the op's tv show. Cured salted fishes and meats? Depending on the beast, 10-20 hours heavily salted is extracting water/moisture only. There is a point where the salt starts to reach into the fibers and start a curing process.

A 1/4 cup of salt on a cod fillet for 2 hours will pull out a good amount of water making the fish firm and less watery. Rinsed of the salty water it is not at all salty but great for certain bakes, cod cakes, frying for a crispy not soggy exterior. At 12 hours salted, the fillet gets very firm and slightly salty. How I prep for freezing. I then thaw in a water/milk/yogurt bath to extract that tiny bit of salt. Unless you have studied salt curing this may not make sense.

Of course I prepare fish fresh from the sea no salt. We catch our own and often 50-100lbs a season. And have fully salt cured where it sits in an salty wet pickle for 10-14 days, then out to air dry in the wind and sun. Full cure and no refrigeration needed.

3-5 minutes in heavily salted water is not much time to do much but very lightly dust the beans with salt. 3-4 hours would be a 'salt-lick'. Coating certain cuts of meats with salt will draw out some moisture on the very outside of the fibers. Not necessarily making the meats too salty.

We are having steak tonight. Cast iron seared. I let it rest uncovered in the fridge with a dry rub, no salt. 8-10 hours. I want the surface dry without moisture so I get a good sear no steam. Many ways/methods to get a dry exterior surface on meats. Salt is one.

The chef in question says that salt is necessary for delicious food (along with fat and acid). After she salted the short ribs (with more salt than I would use in a year) and rested them in the fridge to tenderize, she baked them and served them with green beans cooked in salted water to a friend and the woman did not flinch - they were both making\ yum, yum noises. They looked like they were enjoying the food immensely. She did say two very interesting things - Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt is the least salty salt. She also said it may look like she is putting so much salt on that if you eat it you will have a heart attack, but she promised you won't.

The one place I do use salt is in baking. It really does add a high note to the bake.

I think I will try the green beans in salted water as an experiment.

I've never heard of Salt Fat Acid Heat or its author, but just read an article in The Atlantic about her. I like her idea of balance, and that's what salt does in much of my cooking. My husband dislikes salty food, so in most dishes, I salt toward the end, when the other flavors have had a chance to develop on their own. Then, salt accordingly. I follow the same approach with sugar. I rarely bake, but cooking, though... I've had to develop my own approach and learn how to use salt strategically.

As an aside, research is questioning the relationship between salt and blood pressure. It's turning out to be like the millions who cut eggs from their diet over concerns about high cholesterol--for most, it's much more complex.

America's Test Kitchen says that if you salt a piece of meat and let it rest for a certain ? amount of time, the moisture that the salt draws out of the meat has time to be reabsorbed.

ATK LINK

I think I first heard of pre-salting poultry and beef from Judy Rodgers (Zuni Cafe in San Francisco). Her method is to salt up to several days early for maximum flavor, moistness and tenderness.

I've tried the pre-salt method, and it works. I had bought a top round roast and found this method infused it with flavor and tenderized it. I followed the instructions on this link, and it worked. Turned out very well, and my family enjoyed it.

https://www.afamilyfeast.com/top-round-roast/

I dry-brined my turkey this year which involved salting it and leaving it in the fridge for a few days. It really did come out moist and I did not taste any saltiness just lots of flavor (I ate the wings which would have had plenty of salt on them). It really ended up being an excellent way to cook the bird.

I am wondering if I am missing out on some great taste by passing the salt by.

If you have Netflix, I recommend watching the show - the first and second episodes (Italy and Japan) were incredibly interesting. The Japan episode showed how miso and soy sauce are traditionally made. I had no idea.

I use the dry salt method for turkey, and it does make the meat more moist.

A lot of TV chefs think that salt goes into everything, and I have to disagree with that. Some will say that it is a flavor enhancer, whereas in reality, it is a flavor of its own and it either belongs with a certain food or it does not. My mother would put salt on lemons and eat them. I never put salt on fruit, but I often put fresh lime juice on fruit that is overly sweet. For me, lime juice and lemon juice work better as flavor enhancers than salt, and I use them more than I use salt. I sometimes use sumac as a flavor enhancer instead of salt.

I just warn people who are eating with us, or who I give some soup to, that I don't add salt, so you might want to!

Actually, I cooked and blended up some zucchini a couple of years ago and used it as soup starter, and it tasted a bit salty! Also a good way to get some veges into reluctant kids! Nancy

I like salt and probably use more than some here would be comfortable with. I even sprinkle flaky sea salt on chocolate candy and brownies, but I don't salt my pasta water.

That's interesting about the sumac, Lars. I need to try that some time.

I also pre-salt beef, AnnT mentioned it here and it was the first I'd heard about it, so I tried it. Now I do it regularly.

Colleen, when I lived in White Cloud there was no unsalted butter at the only (tiny, little and independently owned) grocery, so I got salted butter. If I did find unsalted butter locally it was usually pretty old, the stuff just doesn't sell. Even when I was a child and we churned butter, Grandma would add salt after the butter was churned and drained and "paddled".

So anyway, that's what my family is accustomed to using on dinner rolls and in mashed potatoes or whatever. Now instead of buying two types of butter I just buy the salted stuff and use it on the table and in baking, and I don't salt the foods that I use it in/on.

Annie

Same here, Annie. Unsalted butter is easy enough to find but I don’t buy it. Also like you, I bake with it and omit the salt from the recipe. We’ve both won prizes for our baking so it can’t be too bad :-)

When we were travelling in Europe we mostly ended up with unsalted butter with our bread, which we salted because it just tasted wrong.

I've recently noticed people using butter in odd ways and finally came to the conclusion that they were looking for the salt in it. In my youth a favorite treat was bread and butter "Italian style" (i.e., taught to us by an Italian. I have no idea if anyone else in Italy does it). That's bread spread with sweet (salt free) butter and sprinkled thickly with powdery grated parmesan cheese. Tuscan bread has no salt, the butter has no salt, but the parm brings plenty. :)

Oooh, I would try that, it sounds delicious!

I think salted butter has more flavor than unsalted. Isn't salted butter cultured, while 'sweet' means uncultured?

Salt is a preservative so salted butter will have a longer shelf life. Also different butter companies use varied amounts of salt. I only buy unsalted so i can control that.

Un-salted is supposedly fresher. (I read that somewhere). Added salt can mask that fresh flavor. We don't use much butter so why complicate maters by having two types. I keep it in the freezer.

We make our own sea salt so prefer using it as a finishing flavor boost. I stock Diamond kosher for brines, etc.

I only buy unsalted butter. You can always add salt if you need it but you can't get it out of the butter if you don't.

From the Challenge Dairy website:

All Challenge Butter like most of the butter produced
commercially in the United States is sweet cream butter, butter produced
from fresh sweet cream as opposed to butter made from cultured or
soured cream. Both Challenge regular and Challenge Unsalted are sweet
cream butters. To complicate matters however, many consumers and
cookbook writers use the rather misleading term “Sweet Butter” to refer
to unsalted butter. To add to the confusion the term “Sweet Cream
Butter” more often refers to salted butter; but could refer to any
butter that is made from sweet cream.

The choice of unsalted (“Sweet Butter”) or lightly salted regular
butter is largely a matter of personal taste. Unsalted (“Sweet Butter”)
is often preferred in cooking because it gives more precise control of
the amount of salt added to a recipe. The amount of salt in salted
butter can vary by manufacturer but a helpful rule with Challenge Butter
is to figure there is about ¼ teaspoon of salt per 1 stick (¼ lb or ½ cup) of butter.

Salt acts as a preservative so salted butter has a slightly longer
shelf life, but the “sell by” dates on Challenge products automatically
reflect this difference. The “sell by” date on the regular lightly
salted Challenge Butter is 6 mos. beyond the manufacture date and the
date on Challenge Unsalted Butter is 5 months.

https://challengedairy.com/tips-and-techniques/sweet-cream-vs-sweet-butter

I only use unsalted butter, but I do like my salt! It's impossible to put too much salt on a potato. Eggs taste better with salt. Nearly everything does! Even pumpkin pie calls for 1 tsp of salt.

I know there are people whose physicians have restricted their salt, but for the rest of us, salt is, well the "salt of life"!

I use unsalted (sweet butter) for most cooking and baking, but will fry an egg in salted if that's what's handy.

A lot of commercial butter has no flavor other than salt. The flavor of plain butter comes from what the cow ate, mostly, if I understand that right. Organic Valley makes "pasture butter", which is from the milk of cows who have been grazing. They also have a cultured pasture butter, which I haven't seen, but I assume it's even more flavorful.

Vermont creamery cultured butter is the tastiest butter I've tried in this country. The sweet (unsalted) butter where I lived abroad was amazingly delicious, but pale. Not grass fed. I don't know what made it so good.

We like cows to live outside but in the winter, they are inside. The milk from different seasons makes very different cheeses and butters.

True. Pasture butter is seasonal, though butter freezes very well.

I tried my green bean experiment. A pot of boiling water, salted pretty heavily, threw in green beans for three minutes. Strangely, there was absolutely no salt taste in the green beans and I had to sprinkle a tiny bit of salt on them at the table. Next I will try pasta in water that tastes like the sea.

Sodium chloride use in my kitchen:

1. Himalayan salt blocks for presentation once in a while.

2. I only use salt if I cook for others. Health-wise, I have no issue with eating salt. I just like pure food tastes better.

dcarch

Late to the party --- I've seen the program as well, it's really an interesting miniseries on Netflix. The parts in Italy, Japan and Mexico were best for me -- the finale episode was a bit of a letdown (back in NorCal). I even rewatched the first episode just before heading through Liguria last week, where I had some wonderful pesto and foccacia. I too was alarmed by the amount of salt she slathered on the short ribs -- it was way more than I would, but I suppose she was using a mild salt and it wasn't that dissimilar to a salt-based dry rub (I often do not add much salt to food, traditionally only meats and pasta/potato water, and find some restaurant food too salty). I think she also made a comment about sea water when she was cooking those green beans and scooping in so much salt it made me shudder.

The method of making foccacia with the master baker was fascinating -- the brine used to finish the crust was so interesting.

Just prepared semoule.....couscous.... not sure what i should really call it lol i can't imagine that with no salt.

About 40 years ago, I started routinely halving the amount of salt called for in recipes. Everything always tastes just fine. I do lightly salt my pasta water,and vegetables/meats/eggs as they are cooking. I find that I usually add no salt at the table. I don't want to taste the salt, just enhance or bring out the natural flavor of the food. In regards to the green bean experiment-- I'm not surprised that a mere 3 minutes of cooking time did not allow any salt to permeate the beans.

Also late to the party, and have never seen the show. I'll keep it simple: Yes, I use salt. Not a lot, not a little. Past several years I've tried to use more herbs and spices, reducing salt amount. But I'd prefer not to live without it : )

ETA: I do like salted caramel if the caramel is very rich and the salt is light... sweet and salty are a combo I do enjoy on occasion : )

I know what the show is, but I haven't watched it yet.

I do like salt. It has a wide array of flavors and such to add to cooking. I have iodized table salt, kosher, pickling, Pink Himalayan.. seasoned salts, black and white pyramid flake salt, and fluer de sel. A variety of ferments, brined things, bouillons and bases, sauces- even canned cream soups and V-8 are on my shelf. Unsalted butter much more than salted, though I do sometimes use it. And I save my bacon grease, it's a tasty salty fat. I make most of my stocks and leave out the salt.

I don't use large amounts of salt while cooking or tableside. My mom always said you can always add it in, but can't take it back out. Food should be seasoned, not salted. Then when I was a teen, she got salt-sensitive, so we cut back on the salt even more.

The method of making foccacia with the master baker was fascinating -- the brine used to finish the crust was so interesting.

That foccacia is on my to-do list. The recipe is on line at Samin's web site. And I am a fool for foccacia!