Cardiologists insist: if you do not add salt to dishes when preparing them, but only on the plate, this will reduce the amount of salt consumed and protect the cardiovascular system. But for all the chefs in the world, cooking without salt is nonsense! Who is right? Cooking teacher Samin Nosrat explains when to salt meat and vegetables when boiling, frying and stewing - and why it's important.
It tastes better if you cook it in salt water.
Imagine that you are boiling green beans. If the water is unsalted or not salty enough, its concentration of salt, a mineral, will be lower than the concentration of minerals in the beans. In an attempt to establish a balance between the internal and external environment, the beans will lose some of their minerals and natural sugars during cooking and will end up tasteless, gray and less nutritious.
If the water is saltier, that is, contains more minerals than beans, the reverse process will occur. In an effort to achieve balance, the beans will absorb salt from the water, seasoning themselves from the inside. It will also retain a brighter color as the salt balance prevents the loss of magnesium from the chlorophyll molecules. In addition, salt weakens pectin and softens the bean cells, which reduces cooking time and preserves more nutrients.
Advertising
Beef
The classic decoction, made according to the method described below, is equally good in its pure form, with croutons and dumplings. It also makes a very tasty and rich soup. We will tell you when to salt the beef broth a little later, but for now we will find out what is included in its composition. You will need:
- 1.8 liters of water.
- 550 g beef pulp.
- 1 onion.
- Salt and peppercorns.
The washed meat is freed from all excess, placed in a pan and filled with water. All this is sent to the stove, supplemented with a whole unpeeled onion and peppercorns, and then brought to a boil and freed from the resulting foam flakes. Cover the contents of the container with a lid and cook for at least one and a half hours. At the same time, it is important not to miss the moment when salting the beef broth. It is advisable to do this soon after the liquid boils.
From champignons
This recipe will be a good find for those who live very far from places where you can pick wild mushrooms. To recreate it at home, you will need:
- 2.5 filtered drinking water.
- 1 kg large raw champignons.
- 1 juicy carrot.
- 1 onion.
- 2 bay leaves.
- 5 peas of allspice.
- Salt (to taste).
The sorted, peeled and washed mushrooms are cut into large pieces and transferred to a large saucepan. The champignons processed in this way are poured with water, placed on the stove and brought to a boil. Immediately after this, onions, carrots and allspice are added. All this is boiled for about half an hour, trying not to miss the moment when adding salt to the mushroom broth. This should be done a few minutes before turning off the fire, at the same time as adding the bay leaf.
Turkey
This tasty and fragrant broth is equally suitable for dietary, therapeutic and baby food. It turns out to be moderately rich and easily absorbed by the human body. To prepare it you will need:
- 1 turkey thigh.
- 1 root celery.
- 1 carrot.
- 1 onion.
- 1.5 liters of filtered drinking water.
- 1 tbsp. l. dried parsley.
- Salt, bay leaf, black peppercorns and spices.
The washed thigh is freed from the skin, cut into pieces and placed in a pan. All this is supplemented with bay leaf, peppercorns, spices and water, and then placed on the fire and brought to a boil, not forgetting to remove the resulting foam. After ten minutes, carrot rings, celery sticks and a whole unpeeled onion are sent into a common bowl. All this is brought to full readiness, focusing on the degree of softness of the meat during cooking. When to salt the broth and season it with dried parsley, you need to decide based on the total duration of heat treatment. Experienced cooks advise doing this a few minutes before turning off the heat.
Chicken
This aromatic, easily digestible broth has unique properties. It helps to quickly restore lost strength and quickly recover from a cold. Therefore, any woman should know how to prepare and when to salt chicken broth. To obtain this decoction you will need:
- Chilled carcass weighing about 1.5 kg.
- 4 liters of filtered drinking water.
- 1 carrot.
- 1 onion.
- 1 stalk celery.
- 1 bay leaf.
- 3 sprigs of thyme.
- Salt, parsley and peppercorns.
For those who are interested in when to salt the broth during cooking, it would not hurt to know in what order to add the ingredients. The process must begin with processing the poultry carcass. It is gutted, plucked from the remaining feathers, washed, cut into large pieces, placed in a large saucepan and filled with water. All this is complemented with chopped celery, peeled carrots and a whole onion in the husk. The contents of the dish are brought to a boil, carefully removed from the resulting foam and cooked for about two hours. At the end of the designated time, a linen bag with herbs, spices and spices is immersed in a slightly bubbling liquid. All this is salted and cooked for another thirty minutes. The finished broth is filtered and used for its intended purpose.
When to salt meat before cooking
I don't remember the first time I tried (at least consciously) pre-salted meat. But now I can immediately tell when it is not salted. I've cooked thousands of chickens over the years—marinated and not—and I can tell you from experience that pre-salted meat not only tastes better, it's also more tender.
If you want to see this, do a little experiment: when you are ready to fry the chicken, cut it into two halves. Salt one half the day before cooking, and the other half before frying. You'll notice the difference before you even take your first bite. Chicken that has been salted in advance will fall off the bones easily, while the rest of the chicken will not be nearly as tender, although still moist.
When it comes to salting meat, the principle “the sooner the better” applies here. If possible, try to season the meat the day before cooking, and if that doesn't work, do it in the morning, afternoon, or at least the very first thing when preparing ingredients for dinner. I usually salt the meat as soon as I get home from the store so I don’t have to think about it anymore.
The larger, denser or tougher the piece of meat, the sooner it should be salted. Beef tails, shanks and short ribs can be seasoned a day or two in advance, roast chicken a day in advance, and Christmas turkey two or even three days in advance. The colder the meat and environment, the longer it takes to cure, so in an emergency, leave seasoned meat on the counter rather than in the refrigerator (but not for more than two hours).
While pre-curing is a great way to improve the texture and flavor of meat, there is such a thing as brining too early. For thousands of years, salt was used as a preservative because it was known that when treated with enough salt for a long time, meat would dry out and become jerky.
If dinner plans change, brined chicken or ribs will sit fine for another day or two, but no longer, or they will dry out, become tough as a shoe, and taste canned. If you are unsure about using cured meat within a few days, pack it tightly and place it in the freezer. In this form, meat can be stored for up to two months. Then simply defrost it and cook as usual.
From pork
This rich broth is suitable for preparing hearty hot lunches. To treat your family to it, you will need:
- 1.2 liters of filtered water.
- 800 g pork loin on the bone.
- 1 onion.
- 1 carrot.
- Salt, green onions and pepper.
First you need to deal with the pork, from which the broth will be cooked. It is washed, placed in a pan, filled with clean water and sent to the stove. About forty minutes after boiling, coarsely chopped and pre-baked vegetables are loaded into a container with a slightly bubbling liquid. Immediately after this, it is time to salt the meat broth and season it with pepper. After another half an hour, it is filtered and sprinkled with chopped onions. Cooked pork can be cut into pieces and served along with the liquid component, but most often it is used for making salads.
From carp
This basic recipe, which provides an opportunity to express your culinary imagination, should be mastered by any novice housewife. To play it you will need:
- 1 carp
- 1 onion.
- 2 cloves of garlic.
- 2 bay leaves.
- 4 black peppercorns.
- Salt and spices.
- Drinking water.
Having dealt with the list of required components, you need to figure out in what order to cook and when to salt the fish broth. The process should begin with processing the carp. It is cleaned of scales, gutted, and freed from the head, tail and fins. The carcass prepared in this way is cut into pieces and placed in a pan. All this is filled with water, placed on a working stove and brought to a boil. After a couple of minutes, the fish is washed, supplemented with clean liquid, onions, peppercorns, garlic and bay leaves, and then returned to the fire. About ten minutes after boiling again, add salt and spices to a common pan. All this is boiled for a little less than a quarter of an hour and poured into plates.
When to salt vegetables, legumes and mushrooms
The cells of most vegetables and fruits contain an indigestible carbohydrate - pectin. By ripening or cooking, pectin becomes softer, making fruits and vegetables more tender and, in many cases, tastier. Salt also helps break down pectin.
If in doubt when to salt vegetables, do it before cooking. Place vegetables for cooking in boiling salted water, season vegetables for frying and sautéing in a frying pan, and salt vegetables for frying and grilling with a high water content - tomatoes, zucchini and eggplants - in advance so that they have time to release excess water. But don't season them too early or they will turn rubbery, 15 minutes is plenty.
Advertising
Although mushrooms do not contain pectin, they are 80 percent water, which they begin to lose when salt is added. To preserve the texture of the mushrooms, salt them after they have browned.
The best way to discourage people from eating legumes is to serve them beans that are hard and tasteless. Contrary to popular belief, salt does not make beans tough. On the contrary, it promotes the breakdown of pectin contained in their cells and acts on legumes in the same way as on vegetables: it softens them. To season beans from the inside out, salt them when soaking or at the beginning of cooking.
Legumes and grains are dried plant seeds, their purpose is to be stored until the next planting season. They have a hard shell and require long-term heat treatment in large amounts of water. The main reason legumes or grains turn out hard is because they are not cooked enough. Hence the universal advice: keep cooking!
