kitchen Angst!

Do you see what I mean? This is the passage that most people will (at least pretend too) know, if you ask them what the Bible says about Salt. Not so good in my eyes.

We are the salt of the Earth. Thats good, but if we loose our “Savor”… (Our ability to “enhance”), We become dirt, only to be walked on! Not so good!

Now this is not a religious blog and I never want it to become one. I just came upon these passages while I was researching the subject and found them worthy of mentioning. As well as great jumping off points. Nothing more I promise!

Salt, Is the most important component of any dish. Not enough will leave your dish bland, to much will render it inedible. How do you know when enough is enough? Well I am sorry their is no easy formula for that other than, Taste, Taste, Taste! When you are preparing something that takes a long time to cook, or needs to reduce, do not start adding your salt until you are in your “Final” stages of the cooking process. Not heeding this advice, will only come back too bite you in the ass at the end. Once it’s in it’s in. The most important rule to remember is, that you can always add more salt, but you can NEVER PULL IT OUT! So less is always more until you are ready to eat. I am not saying you can’t add a pinch of salt to your broth or sauce before you finish the plate, but a key thing to remember is, If you add even a pinch too much to one aspect of the finished dish you will have to exclude that pinch from something else. Salt builds up fast and before you know it you have nothing more than a salt lick for dinner. Yuk! So just be patient and add only a small bit at a time, let it dissolve, “marry” with the dish, and only then add more if needed. You want to balance the 4 taste’s your tongue can detect, remember from yesterday? sour, bitter, sweet, salty. If you can balance these four flavors you will end up with a great tasting dish! Then your nose has an easier job of letting you whether or not you like it!

Now for the next question, What exactly is a pinch of salt? A pinch by definition, is what can fit between your thumb and forefinger! by recipe, it is 1/8 of a teaspoon. Any less would be a dash! I would suggests using the finger method to relieve yourself of the overwhelming feeling of control. Savory cooking is mainly done by taste and feel. Only when you get into Pastry will you need to worry about the chemistry of what is going on and then your pinch may be to much! But that comes much later! By then you will be weighing out everything!

Now for the last question: How much salt do you put into your Pasta water?

Well again I am not going to give you an excite amount here. I will say your water needs to taste very salty. Unless you are using chicken broth or some other type of “flavored broth” to blanch your pasta. All that salt is going down the drain. You need to get that salt into your pasta. If you don’t you will end up having to season(or add more salt to) your dish so it isn’t bland. Which is fine if you don’t want to use the sauce in some other way. The key is to remember that if all your components are well balanced on there own, they will come together will and make a remarkable dish. If not, you have the added complication of finding that missing flavor, and making the adjustment later. And that can be a bitch!

Always season your food! But bear in mind what your main objective  or”flavor” is when you do this! The end result is the main objective!!!!!!

Be the Salt of the Earth! Not the dirt, Someone else walks upon!

Loves!

James