People and Salt

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jpmcgrew

Executive Chef
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
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4,569
Location
Raton,NM, USA
:)So this thanksgiving we we go to our neighbors I brought most of the sides 2 stuffings,gravy,sweet potatoes etc there was a really nice man there but I cant stand it when someone gets a plate of food and immediatley starts salting the meal with out even tasting it first.As I watched him he added copious amounts of salt not once but 3 times before even tasting the food I just stared at him.I couldnt believe it I aways took pride in my cooking by seasoning just right if its right no salt needed.Thats how I judged my cooking at the Ski Valley by how much people used salt at the table.
I believe it was Henry Ford the inventer of the Model T would take prospective employees to lunch fot the interview if they salted their food before tasting he would not hire them.
So heres my question why do people salt their meal before tasting and why did Mr.Ford not hire people that did the same thing.I believe he figured they made a decision first before getting all the information.
Any thoughts?
 
I don't know, jp. That always perplexes me, too. Our oldest son was that way when he lived at home. He'd fill his plate and then proceed to salt away. I can't tell you how many times I said, "Chris, how do you know it needs salt if you haven't even tasted it?" He never had an answer. I don't know if he still does it. He's 37 now, so I hope he's changed over the years. It's certainly healthier if he has.
 
It has always drove me crazy when people do that. Why they do it can be for as many reasons as their are people, but my guess is that most of those people have gotten so used to over salting their food that they always know that they will be adding salt anyway so why not add it right at the beginning.
 
I almost always salt at the table before tasting the food, even if I've cooked it.

It's because: 1) no one these days, even me, cooks with enough salt for me (I cook for me and for a low-sodium diet brother), and 2) I like the taste of freshly sprinkled salt on my food just before I eat it, and 3) habit.

Everyone's taste is different, and there is no such thing as "perfectly seasoned" one-size-fits-all. I consider it arrogant and presumptuous when salt and pepper shakers are not on the table at a restaurant or at a home where someone has cooked.

I do admit, however, that I taste food first at someone else's house before I salt it, but ONLY to avoid a negative reaction from the host!

Lee
 
I almost always salt at the table before tasting the food, even if I've cooked it.

It's because: 1) no one these days, even me, cooks with enough salt for me (I cook for me and for a low-sodium diet brother), and 2) I like the taste of freshly sprinkled salt on my food just before I eat it, and 3) habit.

Everyone's taste is different, and there is no such thing as "perfectly seasoned" one-size-fits-all. I consider it arrogant and presumptuous when salt and pepper shakers are not on the table at a restaurant or at a home where someone has cooked.

I do admit, however, that I taste food first at someone else's house before I salt it, but ONLY to avoid a negative reaction from the host!

Lee
:)Its not arrogant or other wise I just expect people to taste first and then decide if it needs more salt.After that its your choice on what to do.
 
You asked why, jp, and I gave you three good reasons.

You asked for thoughts, and my thoughts are that omitting S and P shakers from the table is arrogant and presumptous.

Lee
 
There are restaurants that do not put them on the table, usually upscale places. I agree with QSis that the practice of doing that is ridiculous. Taste is completely subjective and no chef could ever expect to cook something so that every single person tastes it the same way. The only way to know if you need to add salt though is to first taste it.
 
:)I always have S&P at the table I just once heard by my french chef employer years ago said in top end places they do no not.My point in my question was why salt before you have not tasted the food in the first place?How do you know if it needs more salt until you try it first.Im saying why do people salt before knowing it needs more salt.Get It?
 
I am guilty of salting before tasting. I just know that I like fresh salt on certain foods no matter how seasoned it may or may not be. No disrespect intended. I will admit I am working on "not salting" since I don't think it is a very healthy habit.
 
In regards to tastes...not that I'm one but smokers generally automatically put salt on their food because it tends to be "bland" because of their reduced tasted buds. What would be interesting is a restaurant that put salt and pepper only on the tables in the smoking sections.

A lot of people know they have dulled taste buds and automatically salt. When I'm eating out I do taste first but if I'm eating from a box or a can (soup, frozen food, mac and cheese) I salt before tasting because I know those are generally blander than I want.

Until I was 18 I never used salt because my mom smoked and her food was always saltier than I liked. I do think habit has a lot to do with it.

Ford, if it was him, wouldn't hire an employee who didn't taste their food first did it because he considered them to "make decisions without thinking or without detailed information," if I recall correctly. I remember hearing the story, but don't remember 100% of the details.
 
I do not buy the smoker thing. I used to smoke and when I quit I did not notice a change in tastes whatsoever. I lived with a number of smokers and none of them salted without tasting. I know because we actually discussed things like that. I am sure some do, but to say smokers generally do that, I am just not buying into that.

Not to mention that many chefs smoke and thus season with a smokers palate already.
 
In regards to tastes...not that I'm one but smokers generally automatically put salt on their food because it tends to be "bland" because of their reduced tasted buds. What would be interesting is a restaurant that put salt and pepper only on the tables in the smoking sections.

A lot of people know they have dulled taste buds and automatically salt. When I'm eating out I do taste first but if I'm eating from a box or a can (soup, frozen food, mac and cheese) I salt before tasting because I know those are generally blander than I want.

Until I was 18 I never used salt because my mom smoked and her food was always saltier than I liked. I do think habit has a lot to do with it.

Ford, if it was him, wouldn't hire an employee who didn't taste their food first did it because he considered them to "make decisions without thinking or without detailed information," if I recall correctly. I remember hearing the story, but don't remember 100% of the details.
:)I smoke and dont feel my buds have been affected.But I do believe some peoples taste buds dont work as well as others.Another thought I think is some people have eaten really bland food their whole lives so they automatically salt their food and have so for years.Also some people have super taste buds.We all a have a certain a bud more sensitive than others so there are I believe sweet,salty,bitter and sour all of us are usually sensitive to one mine is bitter I can taste it where others cannot but I love sour. I know people that cant do sour like pickles and saurkraut but I love it.I hate anything even slightly bitter
 
I'm with Elaine. I salt some foods for the taste of freshly seasoned salt and don't salt other foods.
Over the years I've gone from always salting my steaks (not necessarilly peppering them), even though I cooked them and used plenty of salt, and never salting my salads, to just the opposite. Weird how someone's tastes change so much. I used to only buy sodium free bacon, but that's changed, too.
However, when eating at a friend's, I never season until after I taste, and even then it seems sometimes rude. Almost as if saying they didn't season properly. I said friend's, not family :huh:
But everyone's tastes vary. I had a buddy that would automatically pour catsup on every steak I made. Drove me nuts. And you would never see a bottle of A1 sauce in my fridge even though people must buy and use the stuff.
 
i tend to cook without salt for health reasons, then add it just before i eat so that i get the most flavor while ingesting as little as possible.

my wife has gotten used to that, so she salts without tasting first. that used to bother me, but now i'm just happy if she likes what i cook, extra salt or not.

since i've reduced my salt intake, i've found very few occasions that i need to add it when we're not dining at home. most of the time, even if a dish is really good, i wish it had a little less salt.

taste is so extremely subjective that offering salt and pepper, and other appropriate condiments for that matter, is just good manners whether you're a host at home or in a restaurant.

as far as smokers go, it only makes sense that if you're polluting the heck out of your mouth, nasal passages, throat, lungs, and stomach on a regular basis, there's gotta be an effect on the sensation of taste.

when i used to be a heavy drinker and smoked a lot of doobage, i knew that i could sneak the fact past a smoker, but non-smokers such as my parents or girlfriends could smell me from several feet away. i wonder if i tasted salty as well? :rolleyes:
 
:)I dont think its rude to salt I think its rude to salt before tasting.Thats It.I also salt certain things before tasting especially from scratch you need to salt at the beginning to know where you are going in the end this includes spices and herbs you need to know how far you need to go seasoning wise.
 
I never noticed one bit of difference in the taste of foods after I quit smoking years ago. I kept waiting for the wonderous difference, but it never came.

As for salting the food, I don't understand why people care what I do and don't do with the food I eat. If I tend to like things on the saltier side than most people do, why should that anger anyone?

BC
 
I wonder if much of it has to do with what we learned at home. When I was growing up, my grandmother moved in with us and was on a no-salt diet. Consequently, there were no salt shakers on the table and none added in cooking. It didn't bother me because that's all I knew and my mom was a horrible cook anyway. Then after I married, not only did I not know how to cook, but we adopted a daughter what had to have a no added salt diet. So again, there was never a salt shaker on the dining table and most of the time in the kitchen.

Since I've been learning to cook, I now use salt when a recipe calls for it and I try to remember to have some salt shakers around if I have guests for dinner. (I forget this alot and my best friend always brings a salt shaker in her purse when she comes to stay with me just in case. :blush:) But none of us ever really think about it. And I smoke, but I can definitely taste even a little salt and don't particularly care for it, probably because I never developed a taste for it.
 
I cook well and serve well seasoned meals. I also happen to like a variety of salts so I introduce my guests to gray salt (sel gris) from France and other finishing salts...a few crystals of which are a pazzaz in the mouth but do not over do the food. It accomplishes many goals. I also put out white and multi color pepper grinders for much the same reason. It gives people pause and they tend to taste before and after a gentle seasoning of these special items.

But yes, I hate the unmerited ruination of fine food or even good home cooking with unthoughtful habits such as catsup on everything and salt without reason.
 

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