I’m a pretty good cook when it comes to regular comfort food and homestyle food. But the one thing I struggle with is salt. I love salty foods and when I eat, I always salt my food even before tasting it. I think the only savory foods I don’t salt are pizza, tacos and hotdogs!
So when I’m cooking I’m always afraid I’m going to add too much salt and because of this I usually end up not adding enough salt. How much salt should I add to 1# of ground beef if I’m browning it for lasagna or a hot dish (casserole)?
About a teaspoon per pound of meat is a good general rule. Of course, it will matter on grain size. I do a teaspoon plus a bit of Kosher salt (with large grains), so probably 3/4 tsp with fine-grained salt might be a good start. Take into account any other ingredients you add that may have salt in them, too.
That’s a huge amount - half the RDA if you allow 8 oz meat per person. Try cooking without adding any salt and let people season the food to their taste.
I thought I read somewhere to use a 1t per lb also. It seemed like a lot to me but when I watch the chefs on the cooking shows it always looks like they’re using too much too. So it must be correct. I remember Robert Irwin saying in one of his shows, that you always salt and pepper meat while cooking.
Not adding salt while cooking makes everything bland even if you add it while you’re eating. IMO salting while you’re cooking makes a difference.
I have always found that salting while cooking takes less salt to achieve the proper degree of saltiness than adding salt after the fact. It takes a LOT of salt to make unsalted cooked food taste right.
Most cooking doesn’t really work that way. There’s no set exact “correct” level of ingredients; you can mess around changing things a good deal, and may well like your food better if you do so. (Exception for some – not all – baked items, in which changing the recipe might mean, say, that the cake won’t rise; and for canning done for preservation, in which changing acid, sugar, or salt levels may require changing processing times or even type of processing.)
It’s to a very great extent a matter of taste. For salt in particular, most people have gotten accustomed to eating a whole lot more salt than they need, so their food may then taste bland without it; but, to people not so accustomed, the same level of salt may taste like way too much.
Some of it’s also in whether the other ingredients have sufficient flavor on their own. Many fruits and vegetables, and even meats, as available in standard grocery stores, are pretty much tasteless; the produce is of varieties bred for yield and shipping ability only and not for flavor, and the meat’s from animals who get no exercise and are on diets intended only to gain size as fast as possible.
This. I don’t have a great sense of taste, but I was told by my doctor to cut back on salt so pretty much cut it out and now when - for example - I get served chips with a ‘standard’ level of salt, they’re far too salty for me, so I have them without salt. I really only add salt to meat when I want a crispy skin. Mind you, even beforehand I was only adding a pinch, not 1 tsp / lb.
No, that’s a pretty normal amount. For sausage making, the rule of thumb is 2% by weight of meat, which is actually closer to a teaspoon and a half per pound. In bread baking, about 2% of flour weight is pretty much standard, as well. I find 2% to be a pretty good number to shoot for. My number is actually closer to 1.5%, so I’m being conservative.
I make bread with no salt. I think it tastes fine.
It rises five times; which improves flavor. Using good flour, and more than one kind of flour (e.g. some corn or rye, as well as wheat), is also helpful.
Well, more power to ya, if it works for you. I’ve made bread without salt by accident before, and I had to dump the loaves, they were just so bland and adding salt after the fact didn’t help. I have an Italian friend who is a baker who admitted he’s done the same and just trashed it, as well. I think it makes a huge difference, but, clearly, we have different salt thresholds. (And I don’t think I’m particularly salt-loving. My wife always salts whatever I make, even at the 1tsp per pound level of my meat dishes.)
I’m salt sensitive, salty foods make my blood pressure go up, and many salty or briney foods taste unpleasant to me. OP, since you prefer more salt than usual, follow recipes for a while until you get an idea of what is standard. Maybe learn the preferences of the guests you will be cooking for, too.
Seasoning a dish while cooking is critically important.
If the OP is having trouble the best I can advise is practice on someone with a more “normal” salt tolerance than you (OP) and learn where to stop (which is before you are happy with it). Remember, you can always add salt but you cannot take it out once added.
Also realize different dishes have different seasoning standards. A nice, thick steak headed for the grill is usually seasoned way more than you would think it should be. Scrambled eggs only need a little.
Again, try to learn where the line is for other people and err on the side of too little seasoning when in doubt.
It’s not just me. I’ve fed that bread to lots of people, and most of them have asked for more – including asked for loaves to take home. Some of them were surprised when they found out there was no salt in it.
Again, I’m using flours that have considerable flavor on their own; and multiple risings over several hours. Most bread isn’t made that way, and it may well make a difference to the flavor.
– and, while seasoning a dish while cooking is indeed often important, salt is not the only seasoning in the world.
Different people like different things. If you like large amounts of salt in your food, go ahead and put them in there. But the OP asked about feeding guests who may not like it; and there’s more than one way to produce flavor.
I don’t salt it either when I’m frying it up, but that’s the amount I ballpark for later. (Unless I’m making something like meatballs where you want the salt incorporated into the meat from the beginning.)
Indeed. Like I said, if it works for you, go for it. I don’t like “large amounts of salt.” But I do like some salt. I’ve never had anyone say my food is too salty, but, like I mentioned, my wife salts it even more, even though I think it’s plenty salty.