# Salt **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325 "2019-05-01T14:49:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325/21 "2019-05-02T01:55:14Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > 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.) What about grilled burgers? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325/22 "2019-05-02T03:05:51Z")
my family has always added lawrys seasoning salt to their meat while cooking unless it calls for special seasoning like taco meat ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325/23 "2019-05-02T03:39:14Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > What about grilled burgers? Sprinkle, sprinkle. No idea of amount. Just enough to get a reasonable sprinkle on it. I’m guessing maybe 1/4 tsp for a quarter pounder? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325/24 "2019-05-02T07:49:05Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > 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.) My meatballs don’t get salt, the salt is in the tomato sauce. Different strokes and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325/25 "2019-05-02T14:29:02Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > My meatballs don’t get salt, the salt is in the tomato sauce. Different strokes and all that. Meatballs are nothing more than round sausages. I make beef/pork Italian meatballs and marinara quite often and I can’t imagine not adding the appropriate amount of salt to the mix. The holy ingredients in most cooking are fat, acid, salt and heat. Leave one of them out and you’re doing yourself a disservice. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325/26 "2019-05-02T14:34:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Meatballs are nothing more than round sausages. I make beef/pork Italian meatballs and marinara quite often and I can’t imagine not adding the appropriate amount of salt to the mix. The holy ingredients in most cooking are fat, acid, salt and heat. Leave one of them out and you’re doing yourself a disservice. And it’s not just that, but the salt affects the texture. You get a more springy texture if you incorporate the salt in, and a looser texture if you don’t. Now, that’s all a matter of preference. For hamburgers, I don’t like that springy texture, so I never ever incorporate the salt into the meat. For meatballs and the such, I do, so I will incorporate the salt into the meat. But it does give the meat a tighter texture than a salt-less version. So do whichever you like. There’s no “correct” answer. I happen to like my burgers one way, but my meatballs and sausages the other way. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325/27 "2019-05-02T14:51:08Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I can honestly say that I have never added salt to ground beef as it’s cooking, regardless of what recipe it’s being used for. Nor I, although I sprinkle salt heavily on the frying pan as heats, so the surface of the burger is salted. Other than burgers, I mostly use ground beef for dishes that will have tomato sauce, and that is typically quite salty. On the rare occasions when I use unsalted tomato sauce, I add salt to the dish with the sauce, not in the meat. > [@pulykamell](#): > > And it’s not just that, but the salt affects the texture. You get a more springy texture if you incorporate the salt in, and a looser texture if you don’t. Now, that’s all a matter of preference. For hamburgers, I don’t like that springy texture, so I never ever incorporate the salt into the meat. For meatballs and the such, I do, so I will incorporate the salt into the meat. But it does give the meat a tighter texture than a salt-less version. So do whichever you like. There’s no “correct” answer. I happen to like my burgers one way, but my meatballs and sausages the other way. Yup. I really dislike the texture that salt gives to ground beef. It feels “fake” and “over-processed” to me. This is probably because I am not in the habit of adding salt to dishes made at home, but fast-food and other low-quality ground beef I eat has often been pre-salted. Anyway, I cook ground beef to be tender and loose, and add salt in other ways. Also, I tend towards a lowish-salt diet, and my blood pressure is very sensitive to salt, so I generally prefer less salt in my food than most people. Unless I have a cold – then my blood pressure drops and I feel lousy, and a good dose of salt (I usually eat olives out of the bottle) makes me feel SO much better. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325/28 "2019-05-02T19:28:19Z")
Wow. Ya’ll are eating a LOT more salt than I do, that’s all I’m sayin’… Although mystery solved as to why I always seem to feel much more thirsty eating in a restaurant than at home. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325/29 "2019-05-02T21:27:29Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Wow. Ya’ll are eating a LOT more salt than I do, that’s all I’m sayin’… > > Although mystery solved as to why I always seem to feel much more thirsty eating in a restaurant than at home. Yep. Even if you think 3/4 - 1 tsp per pound of meat is a lot, restaurants and prepared foods are usually salted at even higher levels, in my experience. Just for fun, I checked and I see that a 79g serving of IKEA meatballs has 370mg of salt, which works out to 2.3 teaspoons of salt per pound (!). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt/833325.md?page=1)