Overheard a line cook say something that stuck with me

I was grabbing takeout from this little place in Portland last week and heard one of the cooks tell the new guy 'salt is not a suggestion, it's a rule.' That got me thinking about how many times I've skipped a pinch of salt in my own cooking because I was in a hurry or just forgot. It made me realize how much of flavor is about those tiny steps we think don't matter. What's the one thing you see beginners skip that actually makes or breaks a dish?

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3 Comments

violag804mo ago

I get what you're saying but honestly I think salt gets way too much credit. Good quality fresh ingredients don't need to be drowned in salt to taste good, half the time people just use it to cover up bland produce.

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shanec614mo ago

@violag80 hey, totally fair point - I'm just the guy who over-salts his eggs and THEN wonders why they taste like a salt lick.

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emmamason4mo ago

Actually I just watched that Netflix doc about salt last week and it blew my mind. They talked about how back in the day salt was worth more than gold and used to pay Roman soldiers. But the thing that stuck with me was this chef they interviewed - she said salt is basically a flavor amplifier, not a flavor itself. So if your eggs taste bland after salting, it's probably the eggs not the salt. My buddy runs a farm and his fresh eggs barely need any salt at all, they taste like butter straight from the chicken. Meanwhile I buy cheap grocery store eggs and need to dump half a salt shaker on them to get any taste.

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