On 28/01/2010 6:09 AM, blake murphy wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:36:22 -0600, Omelet wrote:
>
>> In > ,
>> blake > wrote:
>>
>>> one thing amuses me about tales from folks who have sharply reduced their
>>> salt intake: many, many, many say it renders restaurant or commercially
>>> prepared food 'inedible.' i know that's not the intent, but it seems a
>>> pretty dire side effect.
>>
>> On the up-side, it improves the overall taste of food. Without all the
>> saline, you can taste the more subtle nuances. :-)
>>
>
> sure. but some go to the extreme of *no* salt while cooking, and *no* salt
> at table. i think that leaves a lot of 'nuance' behind.

We haven't added salt at the cooking stage nor at the table for years
now and still find our meals quite flavoursome to the point we rarely
eat out these days. But then Asian cuisine adds quite a lot of herbs and
spices to the mix resulting in a taste treat and totally negating any
need for a flavour enhancer like salt. My wife has been cooking up a
storm with Thai cuisine of late and the combinations of flavours are
simply awesome.
>
>> It's not _our_ fault that most commercial chefs have to make restaurant
>> food taste like the great salt lake!
>>
>> It also saves you money. Eating out is expensive and most stuff is now
>> over-salted. I'm a better cook now than many local restaurants.

Chefs are given a budget when purchasing the raw materials. In a lot of
cases, this results in the cheaper produce being selected. You can
really tell the difference when a chef selects only the finest
ingredients but be prepared to pay for the privilege.
>
> i'd agree there, but it's more care and choice of ingredients (and trimming
> thereof) than salt levels. in fact, i find myself adding more salt at
> table in restaurants to compensate. (note: i'm not a customer of many
> fine dining establishments.)
>
> your pal,
> blake

Probably more to do with the blandness of the raw materials themselves.
I know that vegetables from the local supermarket have far less flavour
than the vegetable my brother grows in his own garden. Even produce from
our own vegetable garden tastes better and I'm no green thumb by a long
margin. We don't use chemicals and we don't "force" growth, just let it
all happen naturally and we get quite tasty vegetables for our trouble.

Krypsis