2020-04-04 Salt Food From the In

Seasoning food with salt is tricky. Too little and you’re adrift in a sea of blandness. Too much and you may have to toss what you’re making and order pizza. Complicating matters further is that salt is a dietary villain, one of the no-no ingredients.

Let’s address that right now: some people do need to pay closer attention to their salt intake than others. Unless you’ve been told by your doctor to limit your salt consumption, you can relax about your sodium intake from home cooked food. Cutting back on highly processed, packaged foods is the best way to keep salt consumption in check.

Experiment #1: Cooking green beans in seasoned water

In chapter one — Salt — Samin writes about how to properly season cooking water, which translates to water that’s as “salty as the sea.” I was a little uncertain about that recommendation because I saw how much salt she used in the Salt episode on Netflix, and it’s A LOT. I gaped at the television as I watched her joyously throwing copious amounts of the stuff at everything within reach.

Experiment #2: Boiling potatoes in salted water before roasting

Typically, when I roast potatoes, I toss them with olive oil and salt and stick them in the oven. But, in the interest of seasoning from “the inside out” I took Samin’s advice and boiled the potatoes in “salty as the sea” water before roasting.

Learnings about myself:

• I thought I knew enough about seasoning food. How arrogant is that?

• Being open-minded to new things and questioning old beliefs can be a pleasurable experience

• Trying something I’m uncertain about can change my point of view and approach to cooking. And possibly to life?

Learnings about cooking:

• Salt, salt, salt. Don’t be afraid of it. “Salty as the sea” is my new motto.

• I was never a fan of vegetables cooked in water. No more. The water just needs to be seasoned properly.

• Simmering potatoes in salted water before roasting is guaranteed to produce perfectly seasoned tubers.