When preparing almost any dish, be it fish or meat, porridge or another vegetable masterpiece, baked goods, and sometimes even a dessert, it is impossible to miss one important operation - “adding salt”. Salt helps all the tastes of your culinary brainchild to open up, even a dish completely devoid of spices and seasonings ceases to be insipid if it is just in moderation salt The addition of salt is especially important when cooking fish, eggs, mushroom and vegetable dishes, and boiling flour products. Strange as it may seem, meat needs less salt. Sometimes (but quite rarely) the meat may not be salted at all!

The chef will inevitably face the question - "How and how much salt?" It would seem that salt is so simple. But it is often quite difficult to salt a complex multicomponent dish correctly. It is a whole art to salt in moderation. But, if you have an impeccable "sense of taste" and culinary talent, then salt the food correctly will not be difficult. What should those less fortunate do? Learn, try, make mistakes and correct your mistakes, and also arm yourself with certain knowledge. We hope our article will help you with this.

Salt in moderation ”is understood differently by different people. In the cuisines of different countries, the understanding of how to salt is very different. For example, in the Middle East and Transcaucasia, it is customary to salt dishes quite cool, but in the Baltic States and in Germany, on the contrary, they are accustomed to unleavened dishes and, even the degree of salinity to which we, the Slavs, are accustomed, is not acceptable for these peoples. And in different families, the requirements for salinity differ. So an experienced cook, accustomed to feeding only her household members, can simply not please guests, to whom the food may be shown as under-salted or too salty. It is not for nothing that many restaurants seem to serve deliberately undersalted food. This is done so that everyone can add salt to their liking. And in most recipes, it is not strictly regulated how much salt you need to add. And the notorious "to taste" just indicates that the cook himself must decide on the amount of salt and please certain people - his family, his compatriots, or vice versa guests from another country.

There are salt norms that must be observed when preparing a dish (they are usually indicated in the recipe), and there are salt norms only to add flavor. The former are strictly constant and obligatory, the latter depend only on your preferences. Before you start cooking, you need to strictly determine for yourself how much salt you need and at what stage you need to add it. Here are the general rules for adding salt to food.

How to salt food?

Salting rules:

• Incomprehensible "Taste". If the recipe does not indicate the norms of salt, then this means that the dish is salted only for taste and the hostess needs to be guided only by her own taste, rely on the experience and preferences of the household.
• Why salt at the end of cooking? The vast majority of liquid and solid dishes are usually salted at the end of cooking, which helps to avoid salting - when the dish is almost ready, the volume of liquid (essential for soups) will not change (everything that should have boiled away has already boiled away), and the consistency of meat and fish dishes , as well as vegetables and mushrooms, is already such that the salt will evenly saturate the dish (and not just the surface). That is, salt at the end of cooking is very convenient and helps to avoid many mistakes. Another reason is that foods will cook faster in unsalted water (boiling, for example, beets and carrots in salted water impairs their taste).
• In addition, a number of products need to be salted. only at the end of cooking - beans, beans, lentils, peas, mung bean Foods that contain a lot of water - cucumbers, tomatoes, green vegetables and other vegetables, in the presence of salt, secrete liquid, lose their appearance and taste (these are the main ingredients for making salads and determine the rule - "salt the salad before serving").
• Adding salt at the beginning of cooking. Salt at the beginning of cooking only in two cases - if you need medium (water, milk or broth) for cooking flour products (for example, pasta, dumplings, dumplings or dumplings, dumplings, etc.) and if you need to boil fish - cooking fish soup, kali (fish or meat soup in cucumber brine) or simply boiled fish. Here you just need to salt the liquid before lowering the listed products into the boiling medium. For cooking, for example, pasta for 100 g of pasta, you need to take 100 ml of water and 10 g of salt, and dumplings - 1 tsp. for 3 tbsp. water.
• Fillings. All fillings for pies, pies, cabbage rolls, kulebyak, etc. you need to salt twice as much as usual, since part of the salt during baking (frying or boiling) will be absorbed into the unsalted dough (vegetable) shell or go to the cooking medium - water, vegetable cooked another medium for stewing. The cooking medium can become a waste or a sauce.
• Sauces, especially if they accompany the boiled fish and the meat is also praying a little more than usual.
• Taste for salt you only need to cool a small portion of the prepared dish.
• When used in the preparation of ingredients, already containing salt be sure to take into account that in this case you need to salt less, or even not salt at all. This should include the following products: tomatoes in their own juice, tomato paste, tomato juice, mayonnaise, canned vegetables, olives, capers, meat and vegetable bouillon cubes, pickles and other pickles, canned fish, cheese, sausages and sausages, meat delicacies etc. In this regard, it is recommended to use unsalted butter when cooking.
• After adding salt to the dish, add more and spiceswhich can increase the sensation of salinity. Therefore, real professionals in the art of cooking often deliberately undersalt their dishes in order to make sure that after adding spices, various sauces and seasonings that they are salted in moderation, and often do not need to add salt.

How to fix salted dishes and how to salt fish and meat dishes, dishes from vegetables and mushrooms, read the sections.

The ability to properly salt food during cooking is akin to art. How to use it correctly in the cooking process?

Salt promotes juicing

When cooking, salt meat and vegetables shortly before cooking and eating.

On the contrary, salt cabbage and zucchini, the juice of which contains bitterness, before cooking, giving the juice time to stand out and draining it.

Salt blocks the transfer of nutrients into the decoction and strengthens the cell membranes

Salt future fried fish and fried meat before cooking to prevent the product from losing shape. The same applies to the preparation of flour products.

Salt increases the pressure of the liquid on the product in solution

Be sure to boil meat and legumes in unsalted water to speed up cooking, and add salt at the end of cooking.

When boiling chicken eggs, salt the water, on the contrary, so that the contents of the egg with cracked shells do not leak out through a tiny crack.

Salt increases the boiling point of the water-salt solution

Saline water boils at a higher temperature than pure water. Salt water when steam cooking - food will cook much faster.

Summing up

Salt is included in many foods that do not even have a pronounced salty taste. Keep this in mind, in order to avoid when cooking dishes from dairy products, sea fish and algae, semi-finished products and ready-made meat products, canned vegetables and flour.

Good appetite!

Most often, housewives salt food without hesitation, “on the machine”. But in order for the taste of a particular dish to fully manifest itself, it must be salted at a certain time. The Land of the Soviets will tell how to salt dishes correctly.

Different foods require different amounts of salt... For example, fish (it doesn't matter - boiled or fried) needs a lot of salt, but the meat needs to be salted very sparingly, otherwise it will become tasteless, and if you salt it at the wrong time, it will also be tough. Many housewives know how to salt food correctly intuitively, but if you don't have a "culinary instinct" yet, our tips can help you.

Most dishes are salted at the end of cooking.... The fact is that when we salt, we focus on the volume of the dish: the larger the volume, the more salt we take. But during the cooking process, the excess liquid boils away, and the volume of the dish becomes less than we expected - as a result, we have oversalt. And at the end of the preparation, there will be no such "surprises". In addition, food at the end of cooking absorbs salt more evenly.

For example, meat broth is salted about half an hour before cooking. And salt the mushroom broth right at the very end. Some foods (for example, legumes - peas, beans, lentils, etc.) are salted five minutes before removing from the stovebecause they are boiled in salt water for a very long time. Having salted them at the beginning of cooking, you will have to wait a very long time until they are finally ready.

But in some cases salt food correctly at the beginning of cooking... For example, if you decide to cook pasta, noodles, dumplings, dumplings or any other flour products, then you need to salt the water at the very beginning. The same applies to the preparation of boiled fish, fish soup or vegetable broth: first we salt the water, and only then we put the fish or vegetables. Some housewives, however, believe that it is correct to salt the fish broth five minutes after it has been defoamed.

If you are making a pie or pies with salty fillings or stuffed vegetables, then correctly salt the filling or minced meat twice as muchthan if you were cooking, for example, minced meat for cutlets. When cooking, some of the salt will be absorbed into the unleavened dough or vegetables that you are going to stuff, some will dissolve in the water in which you will stew the vegetables, and the dish will turn out to be moderately salty.

Meat should be salted very sparingly. - it already contains various salts. If you are not a fan of salty dishes, you don't need to salt the meat at all - just add some spices to it that will emphasize the taste of the dish. But if you still cannot do without salt, remember that too much salt can completely ruin the meat dish. In this case, it is better to undersalt and salt the meat already on the plate.

Meat is usually salted immediately before frying, or during the frying process, turning the piece over. The liver is fried unsaltedotherwise it is too tough.

Fish however (even boiled, even fried, even stewed), on the contrary, you need to salt abundantly. If you are going to fry fish, then you need to salt it 10-15 minutes before cooking, then during the frying process it will not fall apart.

Vegetables occupy an intermediate position between fish and meat: they are salted more strongly than meat, but weaker than fish. Mushrooms salted a little steeper than vegetables. It is very difficult to salt vegetables and mushrooms correctly: the slightest salting can completely ruin the dish, and it is almost impossible to eliminate it.

How to salt potatoes correctly? It depends on how you cook it. If you are boiling peeled potatoes, salt them immediately after boiling the water in which they are boiled. Jacket potatoes are salted at the very beginning of cooking (if salted at all). But fried potatoes are salted at the very end, then it turns out to be crispy and ruddy.

As you can see, it is an art to salt food correctly. When cooking, you need to rely not only on recommendations for certain products, but also on the traditions of a particular world cuisine, your own taste and even intuition. Remember: it is better to undersalt a dish than to oversalt\u003e because oversalt can be very difficult to fix

How to salt food properly? The question is not idle. Indeed, like any spice, you can not only improve the dish, but also completely ruin it. My grandmother, Anna Nikolaevna, used to say: "You know how to salt, you know how to judge." From time immemorial, there have been culinary rules: when and how much salt. Let's remember them.

Rule one

Any liquid and semi-liquid dishes cooked in water should be salted only then , when they are completely readybecause food absorbs salt more evenly at the end of cooking.

The meat broth is salted 20-30 minutes before the end of cooking, so it becomes transparent.

Vegetable soups - 10 minutes before the end of cooking.

Mushroom broth is at the very end.

Legumes (beans, beans, lentils, peas) are salted after cooking. If you add salt to them at the beginning, they will cook for a very long time.

However, from this rule there is exceptions: if you are cooking cereals, pasta, noodles, dumplings, dumplings, donuts, as well as fish, fish soup or vegetable broth, then salt the water at the beginning of cooking. In this case, the water boils faster.

Second rule

The meat should be salted very sparingly, it already contains various salts. The delicate taste of the meat dish, its pronounced smell, are preserved only with moderate salt intake.

If you are stewing meat, then you need to salt it 10 minutes before cooking, otherwise it will be tough.

When frying, pieces of meat (langets, entrecotes, escalopes) are salted only when they have a golden brown crust (as a rule, 3 minutes before the end of cooking, otherwise they will be dry).

Meat dishes cooked on a spit are salted just before the end of roasting.

The liver is fried unsalted, otherwise it gets too tough.

Rule three

Fish (even boiled, even fried, even stewed), you need to salt abundantly.

In order for fish with a soft consistency to become denser, it must be salted an hour before frying.

If you are going to fry or stew fish, it is better to salt and pepper it raw 10-15 minutes before cooking, then during the frying process it will not fall apart.

Fish for baking in the oven is salted 5-7 minutes before cooking.

Rule four

Potatoes are salted in different ways, depending on how they are prepared.

Peeled boiled potatoes are salted as soon as the water boils.

Jacket potatoes are salted at the very beginning of cooking (if salted at all).

It is better to salt fried fried foods when it is almost ready, otherwise the slices or straws into which the potatoes are cut will fall apart.

If potatoes are boiled for mashed potatoes, then they are salted at the end of cooking, then it will be tastier.

The fifth rule

When frying vegetables, salt is added at the very end, otherwise the vegetables will be stewed.

When frying eggplants, salt the pan, and not the vegetables themselves - so it is almost impossible to oversalt them.

Raw salads are salted before serving, otherwise the juice will stand out, the taste will deteriorate, the dish will be unappetizing.

As you can see, salt food is a whole art.

If you still know the rules of this art, tell us about them and remember that undersalt is on the table, oversalted is on the back.

Useful Tips

Did you know thatsalt can remove bitterness and enhance sweet taste? Or that the time the salt is added during cooking also affects the appearance of the dish? How to eat less salt? What to do if food is too salted? You will find answers to these and many other questions in our article.

1. In order to understand the degree of salinity of the dish, cool it down. If you taste it hot, it will not seem as salty to you as it really is.

2. When cooking soup, try only the broth. If its degree of salinity suits you, then all its components will be well salted.

3. Salad should be salted before serving, and if you dress it with mayonnaise or salty sauce, then it does not need to be salted at all. This is because tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables, upon contact with salt, begin to secrete juice, losing both appearance and taste.

4. During cooking, try it a minimum number of times, because the more times you try, the more your sensitivity to salt will dull.

5. Salt tastes different from different manufacturers, so it is better to choose "your" salt and always use it.

6. Be careful when using ingredients that already contain salt. These are mayonnaise, tomatoes in their own juice, canned vegetables, tomato juice, olives, capers, tomato paste, pickles, cheese, bouillon cubes, canned fish, meat delicacies. Salt may or may not be required at all. Also try to use unsalted butter in your cooking.

7. If you cook with spices, remember that some of them add to the flavor of the salt. Therefore, it is better to specially undersalt your dish, so that after adding all the sauces, spices and seasonings, make sure that there is as much salt as you need.

8. Any filling for pies, pies, twirls, pies, cabbage rolls, etc. salted more than usual, because part of the salt during baking, cooking or frying will go into an unsalted vegetable or dough shell (or go into the cooking environment).

9. The vast majority of dishes are salted at the final stage of cooking. Last but not least, this is done in order to avoid salting, because when the dish is almost ready, the amount of liquid is already as needed (important for soups), and dishes from meat and fish, mushrooms and vegetables are already of such consistency that salt can soak evenly, and not just superficially, as it would be if you salted at the beginning.

Another reason to salt at the end is that foods cooked faster in unsalted water. Moreover, if, for example, beets and carrots are boiled in salt water, then you will only worsen their taste.

Among other things, there is a list of products that need to be salted only at the end of cooking. These are beans, peas, lentils, mung bean.

10. At the beginning of cooking, dishes are salted only in two cases: if you need water, broth or milk for cooking flour products, or if you want to boil fish.

Some more tips from the chef

- get rid of bitterness with salt

It is for this reason that some coffee lovers prefer to add a pinch of salt to their coffee before starting to cook. And that is why salted olives taste so great, they are very bitter when raw. You can very simply test this property of salt: put something bitter on one side of your tongue and salt on the other. You will instantly feel how the salt kills the bitterness.

- add some sweetness with salt

Here we are talking about products that combine both sweet and bitter tastes. A good example is grapefruit. The sweet pulp of this fruit is hidden under a bitter film shell. If you remove the entire film, the fruit will become even tastier. But you don't have to remove the film, as it is quite troublesome, but just add a little salt, the bitterness will go away. At the same time, salt will not only remove bitterness, it will also enhance the sweetness.

- enhance the flavor with salt

Salt enhances the flavor of many foods, try adding salt to a melon or grapefruit and you will see great results.

When and how to salt fish

It is best to rub the fish with salt before cooking, and not salt in the usual way, like other food. Fish needs a lot of salt, about 3 teaspoons per kilogram. If you want your fish soup to turn out without undersalting and without oversalting, then add about 4 teaspoons.

You will need a little more salt for the soup, because the other ingredients in the dish take some of the salt for themselves. The main rule in the case of fish is to salt it before cooking.

How and when to salt meat

Since meat itself is not a bland product, it does not need a lot of salt. For this reason, most of the problems arise with meat dishes. The amount of salt is related to the way the meat is cooked. Baked meat requires about half a tablespoon per 1 kilogram, an average fried steak will need 1 teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon per 1 kilogram of minced meat will be enough for cutlets.

Salt the fried steak after the end of cooking, while you are setting the table, it will just reach. If you have time, you can salt it one hour before cooking, then it will have time for all the juice that has been released to be absorbed back, and the meat will turn out soft. Do not salt the steak just before cooking, the salt will draw out all the juices from the meat very quickly.

When cooking meat, it is better to salt it after the water boils and you skim off the foam. This will allow the salt to penetrate deeply into the meat, and it will have a deep taste. As a rule, if the meat is salted before the end of cooking, it does not have time to soak in the salt, and it turns out salty only on the outside.

How to salt sweet pastries

It's no secret that sweet pastries also need to be salted. This is done in order to emphasize the sweet taste and lightness of the dough. As a rule, one small pinch of salt is enough for a sweet dough. Yeast dough needs two pinches, and butter-based puff pastry needs half a teaspoon of salt per kilogram of dough.

Salt unsweetened pastries

Flour dishes with meat filling can be evenly salted if you slightly undersalt the dough and oversalt the filling. Be sure to salt the meat fillings well, then, upon contact with the practically bland dough, you will get an excellent balanced taste.

How to salt porridge

Milk porridge should be salted less than porridge cooked in water. Salt should be put into any cereals and cereals when they are almost completely ready, so it is absorbed more evenly.

Buckwheat already initially has a slightly salty taste, so a minimum amount of salt is required for its preparation. A couple of pinches of salt per 250 grams of cereals will emphasize its natural taste. When it comes to rice, the same amount of salt will require more - about 1 teaspoon.

Salt vegetables

Vegetables are best salted at the very end of cooking, as the added salt at the wrong time can make vegetables tough. There are a few things to keep in mind. For example, when cooking fried eggplants, add heavy salt to the oil and fry the vegetables in it before frying. At the same time, do not salt the eggplants themselves at all, since they will take the amount of salt they need from the oil.

Potatoes are best salted about 15 minutes after boiling, when they are almost ready. For one kilogram of potatoes, take half a tablespoon of salt. The added salt in time makes the vegetables juicier. For this reason, vegetable salads, tomato and squash caviar, vegetable sauces are salted ready-made.

When to salt soup

Soup is best salted when all its ingredients have already been cooked. The standard proportion is 1 teaspoon of salt per 1 liter of food.

Salt dumplings and pasta

Any dish that is cooked in water or broth and consists of unleavened dough must be salted at the boiling stage of the liquid, because the dish itself will take as much salt as it needs from the salted liquid. For pasta, this is the proportion of 1 liter of water - 1 teaspoon of salt, for dumplings and dumplings - 0.5 teaspoon of salt per 1 liter of water.

What to do when we oversalt the dish? What are the ways of salvation?

How to save salted meat

Salted meat is much easier to salvage than anything else. For example, you can add a bland sauce based on unsalted butter or flour. This sauce will instantly absorb excess salt.

Another way is to add fatty sour cream to the dish. You will get an excellent gravy, and sour cream, mixed with meat juice, will give the dish a new taste and take away excess salt. In case you decide to use sour cream, remember that it should not be added to the cooking dish, as the effect will be insignificant.

Transfer the finished dish to a porcelain dish (it is better than metal), add the chilled sour cream, mix well and let cool. Later, if you want to heat your food, do it in a water bath.

An unleavened garnish will also help to save the situation with salting. When you have salted the minced meat, you can easily add grated raw zucchini, potatoes or finely chopped cabbage to it. Such additives will not only save the minced meat, but also make the cutlets more juicy and tender.

How to save salted fish

Fish absorbs salt more actively, therefore, in the case of salting it, it will be more difficult to save the situation, because animal meat, as a rule, absorbs salt only by the surface layer, which cannot be said about fish.

The first way is to stew salted fish in sour cream, adding a lot of onions and parsley (dill). The second way is to cook an unsalted side dish, mashed potatoes or grits.

The third way is to soak salted fish in cold water. To do this, fill the whole small fish with cold water, periodically renewing the water, and cut the large fish into pieces so that the salt comes out faster. Milk is often substituted for water.

How to save salted vegetables

An over-salted vegetable dish will either have to be completely changed or thrown away. If, for example, you salted root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, beets, rutabagas), then the only way out is to make mashed potatoes from them and mix with the same mashed potatoes, but unsalted. Of course, in this case, you will spend more time and products.

If the vegetables are only slightly oversalted, add a little flour, fat, sour cream, beaten egg white or a whole beaten egg to the puree from such vegetables. It is important to understand that over-salted vegetables can only be saved by puréing.

You don't need to worry about over-salted vegetable salad. Add a few more cucumbers, a tomato and more herbs to it. Tomatoes will save a stew of vegetables from excess salt. You just need to chop them finely and add them to the dish while continuing to cook. The vegetables that you cooked whole and salted, you just need to pour boiling water and cook for a couple of minutes.

How to save salted mushrooms

Mushrooms can be saved with flour, mashed potatoes or rice, which naturally must be cooked without salt. Stewing in sour cream or cream with onions will also help. It all depends on how salty the dish is. If the salinity is insignificant, then the addition of an additional portion of mushrooms will correct the situation, but there is no guarantee that the dish will become uniform in salt.

Both salted and unleavened mushrooms can come across, that is, it will not be possible to achieve uniform salinity, but it will turn out to smooth out the taste. Unfortunately, fresh mushrooms do not know how to draw out excess salt; unsalted acidic liquids (lemon-acidified water, sour cream) and starchy substances such as flour can do this.

How to save over-salted rice

The easiest way to "bring back to life" is over-salted rice. You just need to rinse it under cold water or boil it in unsalted water for a few minutes. You can also get rid of excess salt pasta, buckwheat and many other cereals. The main thing in this matter is not to overdo it, so as not to get smeared.

How to save salted soup

At first glance, it may seem that nothing is easier. Just add water and it's in the bag. However, it is better to leave this method as a last resort, otherwise the taste runs the risk of being hopelessly spoiled. It's great if you have unsalted broth in stock, but if you don't, then a bag of rice will come to your aid, which you need to hold in the soup.

Rice has excellent absorbency and will quickly absorb all excess salt. There is another way to save the soup - the use of refined sugar. A spoon with a lump of sugar is immersed in the soup, and the melted sugar is replaced with a new one, doing this until all unnecessary salt is gone.

Pasta and potatoes have good absorption properties. If the recipe allows, add more of these ingredients. If not, just cook a few whole peeled potatoes in the soup, and then remove them after 10-15 minutes. Potatoes will take away excess salt without spoiling the taste.

How to save salted salinity

Sauerkraut, pickles, tomatoes are often very salty. They will be saved by running cold water, in which it is necessary to soak vegetables.

How to eat less salt

It remains to talk about the most important thing, about how to learn to eat less salt. The average person consumes about 15 grams of salt every day, although 3 grams is enough for the body. Want to eat less salt? This is not easy, especially if you are used to salt everything. Here are four ways to help you move towards a healthier, less salt kitchen.

Step # 1

To begin with, you must clearly understand to yourself that excessive salt intake is dangerous, it is associated with the development of hypertension and increased blood pressure. The latter, in turn, is the main cause of premature death and the development of heart failure.

Excessive salt intake can, among other things, include cataracts, stomach cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, edema and fluid retention.

Step # 2

Taste the food right. Learn to taste food before adding salt. If you are the habit of using salt, then try to begin to re-understand the taste of unsalted food. Over time, you will realize how much salt hides the real taste of food. Learn new things.

Step # 3

Cut back on salt. There are several ways you can help you reduce your salt intake for cooking, on the table, in takeout, and at lunchtime. Some dishes, for example soups, are much tastier if they are slightly salted. If you want to reduce the amount of salt rather than eliminate it entirely, try putting salt in your hand first, so you can see how much salt you want to use.

To reduce the amount of salt in the kitchen

Just stop salting your food. Start by halving the amount of salt in the recipe. Continue to reduce gradually, replacing salt with seasonings.

At home at the table

Do not reach for the salt shaker; remove it from the table altogether. If you can't help it, shake the salt shaker once over your food and try to wean yourself from this habit each time. Be careful with seasonings, as many side dishes and sauces are seasoned with a lot of salt.

Takeaway food

Ask that the fast food they make for you not be salted. Do not eat food that you know for certain that it has been salted. Chips, crackers and French fries get their enticing aroma, not least thanks to the generous amount of salt.