On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:26:54 -0700, Michael Siemon
> wrote:

>Why? (I mean, why salt pasta water -- if you don't salt for potatoes,
>why do you do it for pasta?) I go back and forth on this, and do not
>have any strongly principled (or empirically useful) basis for doing
>the salting or not. I _tend_ to think that potatoes _need_ salt, and
>it helps to add it in cooking. But I could wrong. I don't have any
>such sense that pasta needs salting, and in fact I will generally
>_not_ salt pasta-cooking water. And have never had any problem with
>the results. So, once again, _why_ do you think you have to salt
>pasta cooking water?

Pasta needs the salty water, otherwise the end result is flat tasting.
I don't make my own pasta. Maybe if I did, I'd put a little salt in
the dough. In any case, I do not salt pasta water as much as
"traditional"; it is not sea water. How do I know I need salt? I
have tried not salting pasta water and ruined what I was making
because salt added afterward doesn't enhance flat tasting pasta.

However, I think the flavor of potatoes stand on their own as do plain
vegetables. I think people (and chefs) tend to ruin delicate flavors
by covering them up with too much salt.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.