Salt- friend or foe?

We season food with salt multiple times when we are cooking a meal but as health conscious people can we do without it? To answer this question, we need to understand the role of salt when cooking.

As a flavouring

Salt asensuates flavour by enhancing foods it is added to during the cooking and serving stages. In a pot of boiled vegetables, to season the sauce of a casserole, salt plays a vital role. Our pallet recognises the multiple components of taste. When these components are balanced we enjoy the flavour of our food. The components of taste are sweet, bitter, sour, salty and unami. Therefore the addition of salt enhances the food that we eat to please our pallets. Does that mean all our food must be highly seasoned? No, processed food is formulated to appease these taste components and if we eat a large component of processed food your pallet will be attuned to a salty diet. Some professional chefs spark mini controversies by refusing to allow salt on their diner’s table because the Chef is the ruler of  their kingdom and they  have decreed that there is sufficient seasoning in a dish when it is served. If you want to reduce the salt quota of your food intact, does this mean you are destined to eat bland food? No all foods have natural flavouring enhancers- tomatoes contain naturally occurring MSG. Foods can be enhanced by roasting/ toasting ( think coffee, nuts), herbs & spices can provide a flaovoursome alternative. Vegetarians beware in Thai cookery seasoning is in the form of fish sauce and palm sugar in curries to balance a dish to our pallet.

The Mallard effect

Salt in the cooking process assists with the browning and crisping of food, again ultimately bringing flavour to a dish. Salt raises the boiling point of water by absorbing available water which is why if you are ever marooned on a desert island you will be desperate for fresh water to prevent dehydration.

If you season meat before grilling or roasting it, the available water evaporates faster causing the surface to brown faster and again give fuller flavour. This doesn’t happen magically you need enough airflow to sustain the browning process which is why if you overload a pan when browning meat for a casserole, the meat will stew in its own juices and be tough instead of crisp and brown. Likewise if roasting meat or vegetables, trays with a low side that allow air flow will result in crisper browner food.

Some people prefer not to season their meat prior to cooking for fear that the salt will draw out moisture leaving a dry piece of meat. The moisture lost is so negligible and is counteracted by allowing meat to rest for the juices to settle for at least 5 minutes if a small piece or longer if a joint of meat.

Liquid extraction

My brilliant old mum is not a good cook by a long shot, but one dish she taught me to make and I still make today is pickled red cabbage. Food preservation is effective when moisture is extracted from food and therefore cannot be used by microbes to make us ill. When pickling vegetables and meats, salt is used to draw out moisture from the vegetables, emptying  the cells of their moisture, which is then replaced by vinegar making pickling an effective way of preserving. A similar technique is used to extract the bitter flavour of large eggplants/ aubergines.

In both these examples, the salt is rinsed away and the food dried before progressing to the next stage of processing, whether pickling in malt vinegar or cooking.

Denaturing of protein

Salt in sweet dishes, who’d have thought! Sydney has been gripped in the salted caramel craze for a couple of years. In baking and desert preparation, salt has a very important role to play. When making meringue or the Aussie Pavlova, you whisk egg whites to aerate the mixture. Egg white is a tight bundle of protein strands that don’t want to be separated and split. They are partying together. To be the albumen party pooper, you add a pinch of salt to assist the whisking stage and achieve better aeration.

This chemical trick can work effectively to extend the coating power of egg wash if you are brushing the tops of pies or pastries or when crumbing food to extend the glue that holds crumb coatings to fish and other pané foods.

Salt has many uses and comes in many guises: table, cooking, sea salt, pink. It enhances flavour and helps us to create much conversation worthy dishes. It deserves to be used and not cast aside as an enemy. If you have been told to reduce your salt intake for health reasons, consider where is it hidden or where can I substitute for a healthier options thus reducing your overall intake but still allowing you to enjoy its flavour.