Help it's on the stove! Cutting salt

[Jeni78]

Hi All - I am making a meat pie (pork) and the recipe called for 1.5 t salt and I added all of it and now I think it's too salty.

It also has onions, garlic, nutmeg, allspice, potatoes and chicken broth.

I'm cooking now and the meat is done...

 

[Andy M.]

You still have to put it into a crust and bake it. That may make it OK.

There's not much you can do at this point other than increasing the recipe by half or more.

There is no way to remove the salt you already added.

 

[Bigjim68]

One thing to check when you are using store bought chicken broth is the salt content. I find most of it too salty for my taste. I buy unsalted Kitchen Basics. It is available here in the supermarket.

Nothing I know you can do once a dish is too salty other than increase the volume of the recipe

 

[Jeni78]

Thanks! It's in the oven - might end up in kitchen disasters, depending on how it turns out.

I'm hoping it will be workable...

 

[Bigjim68]

Serve it with lots of beer

 

[Kayelle]

Potato's take up a large amount of salt......I've saved dishes from being too salty by adding large hunks of potato even if the recipe doesn't call for them, and then removing them. In this case, you could have added more potato, and removed what you didn't want for another use.

 

[Jeni78]

Well it is more of a kitchen disaster!

It is edible so I will add some corn and potatoes and I think this will fix it.

The crust is dark because it's a wheat crust, my first time trying that and it was okay but the dough was harder to work with.

In my flustration, I forgot to do the egg wash on the bottom of the crust to keep it from getting soggy...

 

[Jeni78]

OMG it looks worse in photos...lol anyone hungry!!!? lol

 

[Mimizkitchen]

I do the same as what Kayelle does, i've found that potatoes are the only thing that will help out with salt overdose...

 

[Jeni78]

By the way this is a "Tourtiere" which is French Canadian...does anyone know how to pronounce "tourtiere" so when I tell this story to my friends I can at least get the name right?

 

[Andy M.]

By the way this is a "Tourtiere" which is French Canadian...does anyone know how to pronounce "tourtiere" so when I tell this story to my friends I can at least get the name right?

Tort - rhymes with sport. - E - Air

 

[bakechef]

My grandmother was french canadian and she made these, they never looked much better, but tasted great! I don't think that she ever wrote down her recipe, I think it was in her head.

Maybe if you try again, you could skip the bottom crust, as they often get too soggy in this type of pie anyway. You could just scoop it out of the pan.

 

[rheadewey]

uhm...i think i'll pass dinner thanks...hehehe j/k

don't worry about that it's just one mistake. at least you're sure that you'll do better next time!

 

[bigdaddy3k]

I'll eat it!!!! Man I love a good meat pie.

 

[jennyema]

I do the same as what Kayelle does, i've found that potatoes are the only thing that will help out with salt overdose...

Potatoes don't absorb salt. They absorb liquid. You could add a kitchen sponge or just remove some of the liquid with a ladle and get the same result.

They don't make your dish less salty except for the fact that you've added additional unsalted starchy mass to the volume of food you are cooking. You could add rice or bread, too.

Potatoes aren't special.

Really the only way to reduce salt or heat or whatever error you've made it to make a 1/2 or 1/4 batch or whatever without the offending ingredient and combine them.

 

[Mimizkitchen]

Potatoes don't absorb salt. They absorb liquid. You could add a kitchen sponge or just remove some of the liquid with a ladle and get the same result.

They don't make your dish less salty except for the fact that you've added additional unsalted starchy mass to the volume of food you are cooking. You could add rice or bread, too.

Potatoes aren't special.

Really the only way to reduce salt or heat or whatever error you've made it to make a 1/2 or 1/4 batch or whatever without the offending ingredient and combine them.

Yes, and the salt is in the liquid... I personally would never add a sponge to my food, and if you want a starchy mess, well go ahead and add rice... I've been cooking a long time and have used a potato successfully, but what do I know...

 

[GB]

Yes, and the salt is in the liquid

The point Jenny was making is that by adding the potato you will remove salt and liquid, but the concentration of salt will not change if you remove the potato. If it works for you then keep doing it. The science behind what is happening is solid though. These are things that can be measured.

 

[Mimizkitchen]

The point Jenny was making is that by adding the potato you will remove salt and liquid, but the concentration of salt will not change if you remove the potato. If it works for you then keep doing it. The science behind what is happening is solid though. These are things that can be measured.

Do you think i'm removing any more salt or liquid then if I used a sponge or ladle??? Tell me how I will get the same result if I ladle liquid out, does all the salt go into that particular ladle full??? Please enlighten me...

 

[GB]

I am not saying you you will remove more by using a sponge or ladle. I am saying that a potato does not selectively remove salt. The potato removes liquid (just as a sponge would) and since there is salt in the liquid then you are removing salt as well, but the concentration of salt remains the same. It does not matter if you use a potato or a ladle or a sponge or bread or rice or anything else that will absorb or remove liquid. You will end up with the same exact concentration. These items do not selectively remove salt and leave other things behind which is what you would need to have happen if you wanted to make something less salty then what you started with.

Think of it this way. If you had a gallon of salt water and you removed a cup of that water has the overall saltiness of the original changed? Nope it hasn't. If you take that same gallon of salt water and put a potato in and let it soak up what it will and then remove the potato then that is the same as dipping a cup in and removing some of the salt water. The concentration remains exactly the same.

 

[Mimizkitchen]

GB I understand your point, to a certain extent... I've always used this method when necessary(as many others have) and find it always takes out some of the salty flavor, and not much of the liquid... But everybody has their own method and whatever works best for them is fine in my book...