Ingredient

Salt

Salt is the only ingredient that makes almost everything else taste more like itself. It is also the one most often measured in a unit that does not survive changing brands: a teaspoon of fine table salt and a teaspoon of flaky sea salt can differ in weight by a factor of two.

What salt actually does

It does at least four things, and only the first is obvious.

It tastes salty, which is a basic taste in its own right. It suppresses bitterness, which is why a pinch of salt in coffee, dark chocolate or a bitter green makes them taste rounder rather than saltier. It increases the perception of sweetness and of aroma, which is why salted caramel is not a gimmick and why an unsalted tomato tastes of much less than a salted one. And it changes food physically — drawing water out of vegetables, dissolving muscle proteins in meat so they hold on to moisture, controlling yeast in a dough.

That last one is why "add salt at the end to taste" is bad advice for anything but a finished sauce. In a brine, a dough or a braise, salt is doing structural work and needs time.

The kinds, and why volume measures fail

Weight is comparable; volume is not, because the crystals are different sizes and shapes. This is the commonest reason a recipe comes out too salty.

Fine table salt

Dense, dissolves fast, usually iodised. A teaspoon holds far more salt than a teaspoon of anything else. Fine for baking and for water.

Kosher or coarse salt

Larger, lighter flakes. Easy to pinch and scatter evenly, which is why professional kitchens use it. Roughly half to two-thirds the salinity of table salt by volume — and the two big brands differ from each other.

Flaky sea salt

Thin, crunchy pyramids. Almost all of its value is texture and the burst on the tongue, so it is a finishing salt and wasted in a pot of water.

Rock or grinder salt

Convenient, no better than the others once ground.

The safe rule

If a recipe does not say which salt it means, add less than it says and taste. Salt goes in easily and does not come out.

When to add it

• Meat, well in advance. Salt on the surface draws out moisture, dissolves proteins and is reabsorbed, seasoning the interior and improving the texture. Forty minutes is useful; overnight is better for a large joint.
• Vegetables, early in the pan. Salt pulls water out, which helps onions soften and mushrooms brown once the water has gone.
• Pasta and green vegetable water, generously. This is the only chance to season them from the inside, and most of the salt goes down the drain.
• Soups, stews and sauces, in stages. A little at each addition builds seasoning that tastes integrated; all of it at the end tastes like salt on top of soup.
• Anything that will reduce, cautiously. The salt does not evaporate, so a sauce reduced by half is twice as salty.
• Salads, at the last moment. Salted early, the leaves collapse.

When it has gone wrong

Salt cannot be taken out, so every fix is dilution or distraction.

• Add more of everything else. More stock, more tomatoes, more vegetables. The only real cure.
• Add acid or a little sugar. Neither removes salt; both reduce how salty the dish reads.
• Add fat or dairy. Cream, butter or yoghurt blunt the edge.
• Serve it with something unsalted — plain rice, potatoes, bread — so the whole plate averages out.
• The potato trick does not work. A raw potato simmered in a salty soup absorbs salty liquid in proportion; it removes salt and water together and barely changes the concentration.

Common questions