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Salt - Again


idun
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A few days ago a few of ate together. I found a friend whispering to me that the food had no taste and who had made it, as we had all brought something. I know that the person who made it never cooks with salt and had produced a dish that was spicy but tasteless at the same time.

Seasoning rules for me and apparently a good friend of mine too. I do believe that if I couldn't have food seasoned whilst it iscooking, I would become very depressed to be honest as I would be deprived of a great pleasure in my life.

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Give up salt and food will taste bland and uninteresting at first, but after a while you will begin to discern the real - sometimes delicate - taste of things. After a further period you will find that food containing added salt actually tastes rather unpleasant. Professional cooks frequently over salt their creations making eating out something of an ordeal.
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I think you are right- my husband has had to have a salt-free diet for the last three months and I've stopped using it in cooking and on the table and stuck with it alongside him.  At first it was hard going and everything tasted "unfinished" somehow. Finally a few days ago we said the same thing as you've just said- we are used to it now and food tastes different , nicer flavour ' especially vegs...all sorts of delicate flavours we'd not noticed before.  It's a bit like giving up smoking when after a while the real taste of food is revealed.I must say it has taken since September to win me round, but I'm there now!
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Odd, really...I was listening to a podcast interview a few days ago with Heston Blumenthal and he was explaining that (whilst understanding and accepting the health implications of using too much salt) the main problem with most cooking is that people don't use enough. In his most recent book, he writes at length about the benefits and properties of salt, and on the podcast he was talking about how brining (soaking for +/- 24 hours before cooking an a weak brine solution) makes an unbelievable difference to many meats, especially chicken. I must admit to trying this with some trepidation at Christmas with a joint of rolled rib beef. My entire family pronounced the experiment a success, and the beef the most tender and delicious they'd tasted. He also explains that salt (surprisingly) is a wonderful addition if you want to reduce bitterness, and provides some little experiments you can try to prove this.

Frankly (and I must say that I have low blood pressure to the point that I should probably be dead...) I'm 100% with Idun.

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Salting does have a tenderising effect on meat and poultry.

You can do it by sprinkling on some pickling salt (get it in big sacks from the supermarket) and leave for a few hours. Then rinse thoroughly to get rid of the salty taste.

Salting also draws out the blood from the meat.

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Salting does have a tenderising effect on meat and poultry.

You can do it by sprinkling on some pickling salt (get it in big sacks from the supermarket) and leave for a few hours. Then rinse thoroughly to get rid of the salty taste.

Salting also draws out the blood from the meat.

We've been treating our chickens like this for a while.

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I have never smoked, but have heard about things tasting better when people have stopped.

Would I get used to no salt, I wouldn't want to, I'd have to be very very ill before I gave it up. I use less in cooking now as my husband has blood pressure, a concession on my part, but I just cannot use none.

I definitely could taste the food a few days ago, the basic flavours of the elements involved, but the magic of food and cooking is when basic things are put together and seasoned and the flavours come together, the chemistry just right, a perfect marriage.

I feed my friends who don't use salt. They never turn down my invitations, and they take seconds, no gav'ing on my part. If it were really too salty for them, wouldn't they make gentle excuses either not to come or to take little?  

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The body has the same reaction with sugar, cutting down on sugar for a few months results in your receptor levels re adjusting so things taste sweet without additional sugar and things that are sweet like Snickers/Mars bars are insipid.

Modern mass produced prepared food is heavy in both salt and sugar as the manufacturers use cheap ingredients to replace the real flavour that should be there. 

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