Thread: Adding salt at the end...

On Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:22:32 +1000, Jeßus <[email protected]> wrote:

>What reason would there be to not add the salt earlier on? What would
>it affect - the Chorizo?

I don't really know. I favor salting early on, and in layers. It
makes it more than one dimensional..and you really need less salt.

Christine
--
http://nightstirrings.blogspot.com

RE: Subject

Yes, especially fried foods just as you remove them from the oil.

Lew

Jeßus asked:

> Just curious more than anything:
>
> Making Caldo Verde again for dinner. I've been using the same recipe
> each time I've made this, it says to add the salt near the end:
>
> "About five to ten minutes before you plan to serve the soup, turn off
> the heat and stir chopped kale, smoked paprika and unrefined sea salt
> into the soup. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and allow the caldo
> verde to rest for about five minutes or long enough to wilt the kale."
>
> What reason would there be to not add the salt earlier on? What would
> it affect - the Chorizo?
>
> Just curious...
> Thanks

I can think of two reasons:

1. As you cook the soup, liquid will evaporate. If you add salt to taste in
the early stages, it will concentrate in the liquid and be too salty by the
end of cooking.

2. If your soup contains beans, salt is believed to toughen their skins,
although I don't buy into that belief.

Bob

On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 01:10:00 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
<virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:

> 2. If your soup contains beans, salt is believed to toughen their skins,
> although I don't buy into that belief.
>
That myth is just about the beginning of cooking beans.

Beans need a lot of salt while cooking or else they are bland and
tasteless. For instance, I can't say how much salt I add to pinto
bean soup other than to say it's a *lot*.

--

Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

On Wed, 04 Aug 2010 01:30:28 -0700, sf <[email protected]> wrote:

>On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 01:10:00 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
><virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:
>
>> 2. If your soup contains beans, salt is believed to toughen their skins,
>> although I don't buy into that belief.
>>
>That myth is just about the beginning of cooking beans.
Not even that. The beginning is a myth too...
>
>Beans need a lot of salt while cooking or else they are bland and
>tasteless. For instance, I can't say how much salt I add to pinto
>bean soup other than to say it's a *lot*.
I totally agree. Beans need salt in cooking. It doesn't toughen
skins...

I have also learned to salt the soaking water too, if you soak them
before hand. I learned this from Cooks..on their TV show. It does
make a big difference.

Christine
--
http://nightstirrings.blogspot.com

Christine Dabney <[email protected]> wrote:

> I have also learned to salt the soaking water too, if you soak them
> before hand. I learned this from Cooks..on their TV show. It does
> make a big difference.
>
> Christine

I agree. Often when you are reconstituting dried foods in water, your only
chance to get some extra flavor into that food is in the reconstituting
process, be it hot or cool. For example, if you don't want bland pasta, you
need to salt the water it's boiled in. It's a solid principle.

MartyB

Jeßus wrote:
> Just curious more than anything:
>
> Making Caldo Verde again for dinner. I've been using the same recipe
> each time I've made this, it says to add the salt near the end:
>
> "About five to ten minutes before you plan to serve the soup, turn off
> the heat and stir chopped kale, smoked paprika and unrefined sea salt
> into the soup. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and allow the caldo
> verde to rest for about five minutes or long enough to wilt the kale."
>
> What reason would there be to not add the salt earlier on? What would
> it affect - the Chorizo?
>
> Just curious...
> Thanks


I suspect someone's grandmother thought salting earlier might
toughen the kale? Waiting till the end would also let you know
how much salt the chorizo had already added, so you don't over-salt.

BTW, I have never had caldo verde when the kale wasn't cooked for
quite a while, not just "wilted".

gloria p

In article <[email protected]>,
Je?us <[email protected]> wrote:

> Just curious more than anything:
>
> Making Caldo Verde again for dinner. I've been using the same recipe
> each time I've made this, it says to add the salt near the end:
>
> "About five to ten minutes before you plan to serve the soup, turn off
> the heat and stir chopped kale, smoked paprika and unrefined sea salt
> into the soup. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and allow the caldo
> verde to rest for about five minutes or long enough to wilt the kale."
>
> What reason would there be to not add the salt earlier on? What would
> it affect - the Chorizo?
>
> Just curious...
> Thanks

I personably prefer to add salt at the table.
--
Peace! Om

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat. --Alex Levine

Omelet wrote:

> I personably prefer to add salt at the table.

Salt added at the table to rice or pasta will *not* taste the same as
that salted while cooking.

Goomba replied to Sycophant:

>> I personably prefer to add salt at the table.
>
> Salt added at the table to rice or pasta will *not* taste the same as that
> salted while cooking.

While you are correct for most people, if Sycophant can't tell the
difference, then the only person suffering from her culinary bungling is her
father, and she doesn't care about that.

Bob

On Wed, 04 Aug 2010 01:33:37 -0700, Christine Dabney
<[email protected]> wrote:

> On Wed, 04 Aug 2010 01:30:28 -0700, sf <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 01:10:00 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
> ><virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:
> >
> >> 2. If your soup contains beans, salt is believed to toughen their skins,
> >> although I don't buy into that belief.
> >>
> >That myth is just about the beginning of cooking beans.
> Not even that. The beginning is a myth too...

Isn't that what I said? I've heard not to salt during the first boil,
but it's ok to salt after that. I cook beans for so long that it
doesn't matter because I get the salt in PDQ.
> >
> >Beans need a lot of salt while cooking or else they are bland and
> >tasteless. For instance, I can't say how much salt I add to pinto
> >bean soup other than to say it's a *lot*.
> I totally agree. Beans need salt in cooking. It doesn't toughen
> skins...

Especially the way I cook them.
>
> I have also learned to salt the soaking water too, if you soak them
> before hand. I learned this from Cooks..on their TV show. It does
> make a big difference.
>
I'll try that next time I soak beans. I'd heard not to salt the
soaking water.


--

Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

sf wrote:

>>>> 2. If your soup contains beans, salt is believed to toughen their
>>>> skins,
>>>> although I don't buy into that belief.
>>>>
>>>That myth is just about the beginning of cooking beans.
>> Not even that. The beginning is a myth too...
>
> Isn't that what I said? I've heard not to salt during the first boil,
> but it's ok to salt after that. I cook beans for so long that it
> doesn't matter because I get the salt in PDQ.
>> >
>> >Beans need a lot of salt while cooking or else they are bland and
>> >tasteless. For instance, I can't say how much salt I add to pinto
>> >bean soup other than to say it's a *lot*.
>> I totally agree. Beans need salt in cooking. It doesn't toughen
>> skins...
>
> Especially the way I cook them.
>>
>> I have also learned to salt the soaking water too, if you soak them
>> before hand. I learned this from Cooks..on their TV show. It does
>> make a big difference.
>>
> I'll try that next time I soak beans. I'd heard not to salt the
> soaking water.

My experience has been similar to Christine's, but I take it even further: I
soak the beans in ham stock, so they get salt *and* the smoky ham flavor.

Bob

On Wed, 04 Aug 2010 12:40:27 -0400, Goomba <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Omelet wrote:
>
>> I personably prefer to add salt at the table.
>
>Salt added at the table to rice or pasta will *not* taste the same as
>that salted while cooking.

I do both. I salt the cooking water but I rarely salt pasta dishes at
the table, the sauce (and cheese) usually contains enough. I don't
put out the salt shaker at the table for just me for any dish but I do
for guests, their choice. About the only food I salt is buttered
toast, I don't buy salted butter so I like to sprinkle the butter with
kosher salt... the large crystals on the surface are much nicer than
the salt in salted butter.

On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 10:26:20 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
<virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:

> My experience has been similar to Christine's, but I take it even further: I
> soak the beans in ham stock, so they get salt *and* the smoky ham flavor.

I don't go that far. If I want a smoky ham hock flavor, putting a ham
hock in the cooking water does the trick for me.

--

Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

In article <[email protected]>,
sf <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 10:26:20 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
> <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:
>
> > My experience has been similar to Christine's, but I take it even further:
> > I
> > soak the beans in ham stock, so they get salt *and* the smoky ham flavor.
>
> I don't go that far. If I want a smoky ham hock flavor, putting a ham
> hock in the cooking water does the trick for me.

Interesting idea tho'.

I do like sf does and just cook the pre-soaked beans with a ham bone and
ham skin, along with onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and misc. herbages.
--
Peace! Om

Web Albums: <http://picasaweb.google.com/OMPOmelet>
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat. --Alex Levine

Christine Dabney wrote:
> On Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:22:32 +1000, Jeßus <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> What reason would there be to not add the salt earlier on? What would
>> it affect - the Chorizo?
>
> I don't really know. I favor salting early on, and in layers. It
> makes it more than one dimensional..and you really need less salt.
>
> Christine

I'm no expert but my experience has been the opposite - I find the
longer the salt has been in the food, the less I taste it and I end up
adding more and more.

-S-

sf <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 10:26:20 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
> <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:
>
>> My experience has been similar to Christine's, but I take it even
>> further: I soak the beans in ham stock, so they get salt *and* the
>> smoky ham flavor.
>
> I don't go that far. If I want a smoky ham hock flavor, putting a ham
> hock in the cooking water does the trick for me.

The difference between your method and Bob's is that his gets the flavor
into the bean, while yours puts it around the bean, and in the cooking
liquid. That doesn't mean it won't still taste good, but if you took a bean
from each recipe and wiped it completly clean and tasted it, I'd bet on his
bean to have more flavor.

You can't infuse any more liquid into a reconstituted product.

MartyB

On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 16:58:50 -0500, "Nunya Bidnits"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
> sf <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Wed, 4 Aug 2010 10:26:20 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
> > <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:
> >
> >> My experience has been similar to Christine's, but I take it even
> >> further: I soak the beans in ham stock, so they get salt *and* the
> >> smoky ham flavor.
> >
> > I don't go that far. If I want a smoky ham hock flavor, putting a ham
> > hock in the cooking water does the trick for me.
>
> The difference between your method and Bob's is that his gets the flavor
> into the bean, while yours puts it around the bean, and in the cooking
> liquid. That doesn't mean it won't still taste good, but if you took a bean
> from each recipe and wiped it completly clean and tasted it, I'd bet on his
> bean to have more flavor.
>
> You can't infuse any more liquid into a reconstituted product.
>
OK, I understand.

--

Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

Bob Terwilliger <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:
> Goomba replied to Sycophant:
>
>>> I personably prefer to add salt at the table.
>>
>> Salt added at the table to rice or pasta will *not* taste the same
>> as that salted while cooking.
>
> While you are correct for most people, if Sycophant can't tell the
> difference, then the only person suffering from her culinary bungling
> is her father, and she doesn't care about that.
>
> Bob

We know you don't like her. So does most of the Western Hemisphere. It's not
necessary to keep obsessively making the same point ad nauseum.

MartyB