First of all, it's not SALT you need to worry about -- it is SODIUM. Sodium
is IN salt but it's also in all sorts of other products. You can not use a
single grain of salt while cooking but still prepare a meal heavily laden in
sodium.

> spare ribs

Buy these at the butcher, not the grocer -- otherwise, they may have added
sodium.

> ***1/2 cup salt***

Egads -- that's 24 teaspoons and there are 2350mg of sodium in each
teaspoon! US RDA is 2,400mg, and that's 5 times what we actually need, let
alone a recipe that uses 56,400mg of sodium! That's just a heart attack on
a plate. If your uncle is on a low sodium diet, then he should be getting
no more than 2,000mg-3,000mg PER DAY -- even most dietitians will not go
higher than 4,000mg-5,000mg in a 24 hour period.

> 2-3 onions

Not bad -- only about 10 or so mg of sodium.

> 4-5 stalks celery

These are a bit high at around 100mg for a cup of chopped celery. Over the
course of a recipe they're seldom an issue.

> 1-2 yellow beet

Probably around 125mg or so here.

> 2-3 cups Vietnamese fish sauce

This is going to be kind of high -- you'll want to check the label.

All in all, this recipe is a bit of a problem -- it doesn't say how much
water to use nor does it say how much pork. Half a cup of salt is an awful
lot for just a single rack of ribs.

> I believe the salt serves to break up the meat during cooking, so it's
> necesary. It'll also land him in the emergency room.

Salt serves no "necessary" purpose in a recipe other than flavoring. It may
do other things, but nothing that cannot be worked around. If you want to
break the meat up, cook it longer and it will break up on it's own.

In this particular recipe, the salt is used to flavor the meat before
covering it in barbecue sauce. Most of the flavor you'll get will be from
the barbecue sauce so it's a bit redundant. Also, a good portion will
remain in the broth/stock after the meat has cooked but it will be very
difficult to determine how much would actually be ingested. Pork has a
goodly amount of sodium anyway. In the end, the added salt's just not
needed.

You can use a variety of spices and herbs, all no-sodium, to give the broth
flavor (and subsequently, the meat). Personally, I prefer my ribs
barbecued. Try preparing the recipe without any salt at all, then
select a really good barbecue sauce. If your uncle is not on any meds that
potassium would be an issue for, use a couple of tablespoons of a salt
substitute in the stock.

> Does anyone know of something that can be used in place of the salt
> that will not adversely affect the taste? I'd appreciate any help you
> all can give.

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do to work around this 'un. Low
sodium is a tough situation for cooking. First and foremost, one must get
used to eating less sodium -- once you do, then your tastebuds begin to
notice smaller amounts. It's like anything else -- if you get too much, you
overload and more seems like less. Now, you can TRY some salt substitutes
to either get that number down or replace it altogether. The biggest thing
is serving size. For example, 1/2 cup of salt may be a LOT of sodium, but
if it's going into a pot that will generate 50 servings then you're only
consuming 1,128mg (still a helluva lot for someone on low sodium).

There are two types of salt substitute out there that can help out -- either
the half and half kind (half table salt, or sodium chloride (NaCl) mixed
with half potassium chloride) or just potassium chloride (KCl). KCl has a
bit of a wang to it -- in short, it tastes nasty as hell when eaten plain or
over something (like french fries). On the other hand, it's not so bad when
you cook with it from the get go. For example, I'll use it to season soupy
dishes, fried rice, and ground meat crumbles. I'll be boiling up a chicken
here soon for some soup -- I'll use KCl in the pot when I make the broth.
Bear in mind that this can be an issue for medications however -- you don't
want to overdo it on potassium if he is taking heart meds that prevent him
from losing potassium or if he's already on potassium supplements.

You can also look at a variety of spice blends to juice up the flavor. Mrs
Dash isn't bad (the table blend is great when cooking burgers, go figure)
and of course you can always make your own blends as well. I also use a lot
of onion and garlic in m dishes -- great for any kind of broth/stock type
cooking IMHO.

If you'd like to find some decent low sodium recipes, visit
http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com and/or buy the low sodium cook books
authored by a fellow named Gazanigga (they're up on Amazon for something
like $12 and $17).

Low sodium is not an easy lifestyle to get into, but once you do it gets
much easier. It is VERY important for some heart ailments, less so for
others, and equally important for other ailments that are not even heart
related. If you have any other questions about low sodium dieting, feel
free to drop me a line off-group as well.

James