I get annoyed when I am served unsalted fries. Or unsalted food in general. Why am I paying for food that I have to season myself? But fries especially. Unsalted potatoes and eggs are useless.

I was talking with the other night minion at work. He likes to call to chat with me on his off nights while I am walking. Anyway, I was talking about a VERY disappointing experience at one of the local "home cooking" meat and three type restaurants. It was bland. I had to salt and pepper everything. He was quite indignant in his defense of that place, and told me that HE doesn't like a lot of salt, for health reasons. And that a lot of restaurants do not salt food because a lot of people can't have salt. I for one do not believe that is the reason for unsalted food at these places. In most cases, they just do not know how to cook. In the case of fries, they are just lazy. If someone is cutting salt, they can order unsalted fries.

In any case, the restaurant in question was a comfort food place. Mac and cheese or chicken and dumplings is not a health food because you didn't season it properly,which is why I think they just can't cook or do not care.

I do not ask for a "lot" of salt. Just season it. Food does not need a ton of salt to taste good,and too much can certainly ruin it. But it does need some. And I think that salting the food after its done is NOT as effective as season while cooking. That is salt during cooking enhances the flavor. Salting after just makes it taste too salty at first, then bland at the back end of the bite. I also think that one has to use MORE salt if you have to season bland cooked food than if it seasoned throughout cooking. If I am served unsalted fries, I eat them with ketchup, and I salt the ketchup, not the fries.

Unsalted fries I’ll agree with, but I actually prefer that over over-salted. As for the rest, finding anything from any restaurant that’s undersalted is a rarity for me. But I haven’t eaten at a real restaurant in a while. I’d be less disappointed in undersalted than oversalted.

Oh, you are right about salt on french fries. It is a must. I do not cook with salt as we are salt sensitive. Since I am no longer accustomed to salt in food, all restaurant food tastes salty to me. Some is inedible as the salt seems to burn my mouth. We carefully pick where we eat or take out from.

It is true that many Americans consume way more salts than the maximum recommended daily allowance. And a lot of processed /prepared food has an enormous amount of salts in them. Many manufacturers have been making lower salts versions of things for a while, it will be interesting to see how the new FDA requests work out with the food producers that may not already be working on salts reduction..

When I was 19, I made a conscious effort to reduce the amount of salt in my diet because just about everyone in my family had high blood pressure. Over the years, I eliminated salt completely from my home cooking and barbecue. Today, I still cook without it and don't miss it in the least. Even when I go out and occasionally eat French fries, I'm fine without adding salt. Oh, and my blood pressure is just fine.

For me, most food does not require any salt at all. Most Americans seem to be addicted to salt, but if one eliminates most salt from their food, they will be able to taste the food instead of the salt.

Most vegetables do not need salt. and I prefer to eat them without any salt at all, especially ones that are somewhat sweet, such as corn and squash. I can eat potatoes with or without salt, but I cannot eat them with excessive salt. I almost never eat French fries and never order them if there is an alternative. If I am eating fish & chips, I use malt vinegar instead of salt. The only vegetables that I think really do "need" salt are the ones that taste bitter, and salt mitigates the bitter taste. Even some of those I can eat without salt, as I like bitter.

I do not think that it is natural for foods to be salted. At some point in human history, humans started putting salt on food to preserve it, and I believe that this is when the addiction to salt began. I call it an addiction because when people are deprived of it, they crave it, whereas people who are not used to salt do not crave it and often find it offensive.

I am with amylou on this one!! Outside of a few prepared foods, I don't find much of anything to be oversalted. In fact, because IMO the proper seasoning of food while cooking DOES improve taste and texture, the lack of salt when cooking just makes for a very bland taste in the final outcome.

btw, salt - sodium chloride - is absolutely essential to the proper functioning of the body. That's why so many medical issues require saline IV's - to maintain good hydration, regulate electrolytes, maintain energy levels and gastrointestinal function and in balance with potassium, regulate blood pressure.

Yes, it is possible to use too much and I believe that some are much more sensitive to salt levels than others but to dismiss it as unnecessary is taking the issue a bit too far.

I am not a salt eater. But I am not that concerned about salt. I am a lot more concern about fat in food.

Salt can be "washed out" from your system in a few days. Fat stays in you arteries forever.

All the butter, cream, and marbling ------------ . When you go to the restaurant, you can ask them not to salt, but butter, cream, fat are part of the recipes, they can't eliminate them.

dcarch

So true! There are some real dangers for people who don't get enough salt in their diets, but that's not Americans! I do think the fried should have been salted while hot. Not drenched with salt, but sprinkled. OTOH, the shortribs/greens/mashed potatoes dish did not have enough other flavor to make up for no salt. The greens were fine, but not enough so to help the potatoes and meat, even when all eaten on the same forkful. And I'm no salt hound!

One of the issues, which we've discussed before, is that perception of salinity decreases as one tastes more and more salt. Taste altogether wears out with age and certain environmental stresses. It's a truism that they use more salt in the East of the USA than the West. I think that's a possible reason for the inedible fine dining--chefs coming here from the saltier East.

This thread has made me realize that I have had a back and forth fight with salt my whole life!

My mother does not use salt. And us kids were not allowed to salt our food because it was bad for us. My dad would dump salt all over his before eating it. She claimed at the time it was for health purposes but when I got older and took over the cooking for the family she explained to me that my dad would dump salt all over everything before tasting it. So if it was seasoned properly, he would complain that it was too salty because he will have covered in in extra salt. I carried on correctly seasoning things, as I saw on food network. My siblings all raved about the improvement but my dad would harrumph about it being too salty. I once snapped and told him to TASTE THE FOOD BEFORE DUMPING HALF A SALT SHAKER ON IT, that got me a swift smack. I was undeterred. If I was going to learned how to cook properly he was going to have to learn how to eat properly, and that includes tasting food before adjusting it. He still does it to this day. I think his salt need has increased over the years.

When I started dating SO, I learned that while he likes his food seasoned properly, he only likes minimal salt. So I had to readjust my cooking for him. I tried cutting all salt for one meal and that certainly did not go over well. Neither of us could stomach it. I couldn't even chew it it was so bland and vile. We are both horrified when we see cooking shows and the food isn't seasoned properly. He had a big laugh the other day when I was watching an old Nigella Bites episode on YouTube. She put together a "meal" that consisted of a boiled chicken breast, which she sprinkled raw paprika over when it was done, white beans with chorizo, and blanched kale. No salt, pepper, anything anywhere in sight. It looked horrible! He turned to me, laughing, and teased me that "that is why people say that white people cant cook!" It was pretty funny I will admit. I will say that as much as I LOVE Nigella Lawson, I do notice her lack of seasoning and cringe sometimes, as much as a cringe when I see Ina Garten add a boatload of salt to something that needs maybe half the amount. I mean, Nigella will cook a chicken with no salt. None. Who wants to eat that? gross! And Ina will put 2 or 3 tablespoons all over one! Who wants to eat that?!?!? gross!

So now I cook how I like, or rather, how my SO likes and if I want more salt I will separate my portion out while it is cooking and add it. If I go to a restaurant and their food is unseasoned, I assume that they do not know how to cook properly and will not go back. I am not going to pay for food that I have to fix before eating it. Same if it is oversalted. I am more willing to forgive an oversalted meal than an unsalted one because if its oversalted, at least they TRIED. Unsalted food makes me think that they just plunked it down, "here, eat it or not, I don't care. Just pay your bill.''

My salt intake is not a concern for me. I workout daily and do sweat an awful lot, and my BP is great, even though I am heavier than I should be. To each their own I suppose.

The offending recipe starts at 4:53

I am a saltin' fiend! Taste is subjective, and my tastebuds tell me food tastes better with salt, and usually a lot of it. Maybe my tastebuds have a really diminished sensitivity to salt, I don't know. DH thinks that is the case. I don't have high blood pressure and it doesn't run in my family, so I'm not worried about it. I have to be really careful when cooking for other people, though, because what I think tastes just fine in terms of salt tends to be too salty for others, so I usually just follow the recipe to a T or keep things on the bland side if throwing something together without a recipe -- they can add more salt at the table as they wish (which I most certainly will).

You can always add salt but you can't remove it once it's been added. I love salty things like potato chips and salted nuts, but cannot stomach some of these "recipes" using canned soups and seasoning mixes that are almost entirely salt!

I salt very little when I cook as you can always add. I don't use anything like packaged soups so I don't have that problem to deal with. I do think that some veggies need salt. I can't abide a potato with no salt.

Mxk3, you can reset your salt perception, if it's just used to more salt than other people like (as opposed to something structurally different). The problem is you'd have to really want to. Just give up salty foods, like pretzels and chips, and limit the salt not just to the recipe level that you find bland, but, like, half of that. Do that for a couple of months. If you and yours can make it through that, you should start tasting salt and finding things properly seasoned at a much lower salt level. I.e., literally, give it a rest.

But...I don't want to.

About 20 years ago, we were on a cruise and I got a horrible sore throat! (Got it checked out)

It ended up frying my taste buds when it came to saltiness! EVERYTHING tasted salty for over a year!

We have since grown and used home grown herb mixes, Mrs DASH and the like.

We do have salt available for others.

When eating out, I have learned to ask for no finishing salt on my meal. I hope they don't spit in it!

I would like to see Rachael Ray's BP#s! She adds a "pinch" (1/8th C at least) to everything she cooks!

DH and I use very little salt. I only put salt on eggs and baked/boiled potatos. I don't use salt on French fries because I use ketchup, which has salt in it. We were watching ATK or Cooks Country and remarked how much salt they add to everything. And not just a pinch but tablespoons. They use a salt rub, then add more while cooking, more added to the sauce or gravy, and of course salt is added to the vegetables. I can't take over salted foods and I find most food at restaurants oversalted.