The chef's salt problem
Last night my husband and I went to a good restaurant (I'm not going to say what it was in case our server puts two and two together), and I was struck once again by a chef's salt problem. By that I mean if you are an artiste, you don't want your customers salting away at their food before they taste it. So you don't allow salt shakers to be put on the tables. But fine tuning salt often doesn't work, as I realized all over again when I tasted our overly salty greens last night.
Other seasonings don't seem to me as difficult to gauge as the amount of salt a particular diner thinks tastes good. Sometimes when I eat out, other people at the table will complain a dish is bland and it tastes just right to me. I love salty foods, but if it's not popcorn or whatever I want to taste the other flavors.
I don't think either is right or wrong, but I do feel the chef is caught in the middle. He or she might as well just suck it up and put a salt shaker on the table. That way maybe the tendency wouldn't be to oversalt.
Comments
Actually this opens a bigger question, Do we really know how food is supposed to taste. Regardless of of what the chief thinks, it is still based on what we have become accustomed to over the years.
That's a good question. In my opinion, it's supposed to taste good. And the chef who figures out how to make it taste good to the most people wins.
Posted by: Bill | February 24, 2008 10:18 AM
Were you the lady that threw the salt shaker at the waitress at RESTAURANT NAME WITHHELD last night? You really know how to swear in Italian!
There were no salt shakers at my restaurant. :-)
Posted by: Ed H. | February 24, 2008 10:59 AM
Simple...taste food first, then add salt if needed. I understand the chef's point of view, but also that some people's palates are different. Less is more (if you taste the salt, it's probably too salty). But not that crappy salt. Maybe some sea salt, or at least some kosher salt. More bang for buck.
Posted by: Patrick | February 25, 2008 11:23 AM
The problem with many chefs and salt - and I am generalizing based on both "celebrity" chefs and a few I know personally - is ego. I am the chef, therefore I alone know how much salt is needed. My palate is more refined than yours, so you ought to let me handle the delicate matter of seasoning.
Posted by: Daria | February 25, 2008 1:55 PM
The Chef should have a good palate and should know how much salt, oregano, eye of newt, whatever, to put in. It's not ego, it's just cooking. A chef who salts too much does not have a delicate palate. I've always wondered what smoking does to the palate, since so many kitchen people smoke like fiends.
On another salt issue. Have you seen the Campbell's soup commercial where the chef looks longingly out at the ocean and ponders how can I make soup with lower sodium? Of course, use lower sodium sea salt! Right. The only way sea salt has 25% less sodium is if you subtract 25% of it. A quick check shows that basic sea salt contains 99.83% Sodium Chloride instead of 100%. Their marketing info says that they also add "proprietary flavor enhancers" to make up for the lost salt flavor. Spooky chemicals ... Campbell's ... possibilities ... How gullible are people?
Posted by: (this ham is too salty, it's ...) voodoopork | February 25, 2008 4:15 PM
Funny, I just realized that I never thought of putting salt in my food whenever I go out to eat. Is there anyone out there like me (except for my wife)??
I will add hot sauce occasionally if the dish calls for it and I think that might count if we restrict it to just sodium content in the food.
Posted by: Eric | February 25, 2008 4:20 PM
When a bartender puts salt and pepper in front of me if I'm eating at the bar, I feel like something stupid and unnatural has happened and I move then out of reach. It messes with my feng shui. I also do something a little obnoxious sometimes. When the server comes around with his giant wooden phallo-truncheon and asks me if I want fresh ground pepper on my food NO MATTER WHAT IT IS, I say, "No thank you, I will try it the way the chef made it." I made instant friends when I did that the first time I went to Rocco's Capriccio, but not so much elsewhere. Try that, it's fun. Why should a waiter be seasoning my food or even me? Why not bring out a whole spice rack. Maybe I want some cinnamon on my veal. (ugh, I just finished working out, can you hear the cranky in my tone?)
Posted by: voodoopork | February 25, 2008 4:49 PM
Voodoo - maybe you need to stop working out.
A good friend of mine is a chef and we share very similar tastes in food. But, from time to time, his place will prepare a dish for me that I wish had just a little more salt to make it pop to my tastes.
The reality is that different people have different tolerance levels for salt. I like a liberal use of salt - especially for much of the bland food that's served out there. But my mom likes even more salt. I'm shocked and horrified at time by her very liberal application of salt.
When I'm served a dish, I will always taste it first and then decide if I'd like a little salt or pepper. And I'm never shy about adding more - except the other night when I was having dinner with a lady friend and was a bit engaged to get up and hunt down some salt.
Posted by: Jay C. | February 25, 2008 6:20 PM
Voodoo- maybe that'll be the new trend; they bring out the 24-item spice rack and forego the billy-club sized . I can see at least two or three chains picking this up. Cheesecake Factory, are you listening?
What's frustrating is people who just unload stuff on their chow without tasting it. A wee tad presumptive, eh?
If midpriced chains didn't load their prefab chow up with sodium-based chemical crap and other bad things (i.e. High Fructose Corn Syrup), it wouldn't be so bad.
Posted by: Patrick | February 27, 2008 4:52 PM