I salt my food until the flavors sing. I salt stews, salads, pasta water until no one could accuse me of leaving a grain of my coarse kosher salt unaccounted for. Serving under-salted food is my greatest cooking anxiety. I want to be able to taste what I’m chewing, to feel satisfied when I’m done, to know I’ve just eaten a meal.
But how much salt is too much?
For a long time, I figured that because I don’t eat much processed food (except for that twice weekly bag of potato chips…you can’t eat just one), I was in the clear with sodium consumption. But recently, I noticed my sprinkles of salt turning into larger and larger pinches. My cookies were renowned for being salty sweet. And I wondered if I was upping my dose to impress increasingly picky tastebuds. If so, I figured I should probably wind it back down.
I always use kosher salt-I like the coarseness when I take a pinch-but I know some people subvert all the sodium intake by using sea salt, where the brininess stands in for some of the saltiness. I’m curious what kind of salt you tend to use.
What’s your take-are you more Maldon than Morton? Or does regular table salt suit you fine? And, do you worry more about over-salting or under-salting?
P.S. The vegetable that craves salt more than I do.
