Too much salt?

winterybella

winterybella

Guru
Joined
21 Oct 2014
Local time
11:11 PM
Messages
2,524
Location
Barbados
How many of you might be preparing that soup and when you taste it realize it's just too salty. Don't panic. It has happened to me all too often.

Decide there and then if you are going to double the meal and simply add another portion of ingredients. Naturally this can only be a perfect solution if you are closer to the beginning of the cooking.

What almost always works for me is to add some potatoes which is sure to absorb much of the salt. Once or twice I have added a little sugar to a stew to compensate for my heavy hand of salt. The potatoes are still my best option.
It goes without saying that being cautious from the outset saves you having to correct anything.
 
Usually when I cook soup I do not use salt. What I do is to put 2 pieces of pigtail into the water just before I begin to cook my soup. The pigtail tends to salt the soup sufficiently, more often than not, and to give it a nice flavour. If towards the end of cooking my soup and I taste it and discover that it could do with a little more salt, then I would just add a pinch of salt and that would do the trick. But, on the whole, I do not make a habit of putting salt into my soup.

When it comes to gravies, I would put in a little salt midway through cooking the stew. Near the end I would taste it to see if I need to add any more salt, and if so, then I would add a little more. But I tend to be cautious about how much salt I add at the beginning, since I can always add in a little more salt, but I cannot take it out if it happens to be too much. However, thanks for the tip of adding potatoes in case the stew is too salty. I have had occasions when It was just a bit too salty, and what I would do is to add a little more water. However, I prefer not to have to do this since it only tends to make the gravy thinner than I would have it to be.
 
Good old "pigtail" Caribbean girl. I don't prepare a lot of our traditional soups, but when I do "pigtail" is a must. I mostly rely on my mom for that kind of soup. I sometimes prepare a light chicken soup if someone is sick or if I have guest and want to use it as an appetizer. I like a thick stew or gravy so the potatoes work for me.

My salt issues never really stem from salt itself. It comes from the condiments I use.
 
I never use any salt in my cooking. It must be at least 20 years since I last bought a packet of salt. What I use instead are herbs and spices, although some condiments I add do contain some salt. No-one has ever complained about my cooking lacking taste and I must be a lot healthier for avoiding salt.

When I use packet soups or buy a sandwich, they always taste too salty to me.
 
Food4thought, like you I hardly use salt in my food but it's my understanding that all of the condiments I use can be equally damaging to my health. I lament having to eat tasteless or fresh food. I find it's when I am rushing that I mostly go a little overboard with the "salt". Thankfully, I can almost always correct it.
 
I've definitely heard of the potato trick! I would definitely do this if the potato was an ingredient in the soup already but if it isn't I'm not quite sure what to do. Just fish them out afterwards?

If it's too salty I usually just dilute it with some more water and add more flavor if it's missing flavor :P
 
My experience has mostly been with stews and I almost always have potatoes in my stews. The potatoes work will absorbing some the excess salt while thickening as well.

Sometimes I add water as well, but since I like thick soups, stews etc, I still need something to create that thickness for me. To your point of "fishing" out the potatoes. That's a thought. Fish them out and create another meal. Potatoes are good in any form.:wink:
 
I totally agree with you! Potatoes can absorb salt like crazy. Well, that is if I am making soup that has potato in it. I also try adding more broth to reduce the saltiness.
 
I'm never in danger of adding too much salt, as I never add enough. I prefer others to add it to their own taste as some people have health issues that you may not know about.

It's good to know as I can pass on this potato trick to others when I visit friends. The worst thing is over salting a a dish as you can't take it out and people not eating it because of it being polite. I had a landlady who adores salt and I had to tell her not everyone shares her love of salt when she cooked for me once!
 
Ella said:
I'm never in danger of adding too much salt, as I never add enough. I prefer others to add it to their own taste as some people have health issues that you may not know about.

It's good to know as I can pass on this potato trick to others when I visit friends. The worst thing is over salting a a dish as you can't take it out and people not eating it because of it being polite. I had a landlady who adores salt and I had to tell her not everyone shares her love of salt when she cooked for me once!
Click to expand...

Your limited salt approach is perhaps the safest way and definitely the healthiest, way but I know in my case that has to be worked at diligently. When preparing for guest I will usually ask if anyone has preferences and I find that helps. I once had a guest who had serious health issues and I had to be so careful about what I cooked and with what. It was then I was introduced to Mrs. Dash I think it is. I hardly used it afterwards. Personally, I know that I have to try harder to control my sometimes "heavy" hand with the high flavours.
 
I don't know if it actually works, but I heard somewhere that using bread in soupy mixtures that are too salty is a good way to sponge up most of the salt into the bread. I think it's like the potato idea except salty bread isn't nearly as tasty as a salty potato. Most of the time, I'll just double up the portions if it's too salty. It's always better to have leftovers than to let someone go hungry. At least, that's one way my family would put it.
 
Thanks for those tips! This has also happened to me a couple of times and thankfully I've been able to solve it one way or another, often by adding more water if it was a stew that I was cooking. I never knew about adding potatoes though and I surely would try it the next time this happens to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom