salting - do you shake or sprinkle?

I have a salt pig for the Maldon sea salt I use when cooking. Here's a pic of the Emile Henry one I own (mine's blue)     http://www.saltandpepper.co.uk/cook_shop/Salt+and+Pepper/Salt+and+Pepper+Accessories/1595

  I have a couple of very small wooden spoons with long handles which I bought from a local craft shop.  The spoon contains just enough to salt water for vegetables etc.  I also have salt mills for the kitchen and dining room - both Peugeot. 

 

Funny you ask this, Siduri. This week I saw a (very good) cook advise to always sprinkle from your hand, it's the only way where you get really in touch with the amount of salt you use. Makes perfect sense to me. However, I always salt from the carboard box.

Yesterday I had another cooking class and there we use saltmills, you know, the ones that look like peppermills and work the same way. These are really bad! You don't see at all how much you salt and there's a too big "spray" of salt coming out of these things.

I am going to give it a try to salt from the hand; shake a bit of salt in one hand from the cardboard box and pinch-salt with the other. The remaining part will go over the shoulder like our supersticious grandmothers did.

BTW, you're a bit confused, Siduri, it's still saturday; ..."Just an idle sunday-morning question..."  

 

    Hi Siduri,

   I look at salting food while cooking, and finishing, as an intuitive process.  I never really gave much thought about having a salt shaker or not, in the house.  We have one salt shaker in our house, it is an el'cheapo picnic type salt shaker that contains fine iodized salt in it.

    When cooking I usually sprinkle, with my fingers, or sprinkle sea salt out of the box.  I've tried a good deal amount of salt in comparison tasting, and for taste and texture I prefer Fleur de Sel when finishing my food, which I sprinkle on with my fingers.

   Oh, the salt shaker with fine iodized salt?  For some reason I prefer fine iodized salt on popcorn.  This is the only place we used fine iodized salt or the salt shaker.  (all popcorn kernels are not created equal either!)



   Dan

 

We don't even own a salt shaker.

I agree fully with the cook Chris talks about. There's no way I could tell, day in and day out, how much salt I was adding except by feel.

I keep my working salt in one of those spring-lidded containers, and add it to the food either with my fingers (usual) or by dipping a measuring spoon into it. If I've done my job right there's no need to add additional salt at the table.

For those rare times that at-table salt is needed I just carry the main container over and sprinkle whatever is needed.

 

Interesting question.  When I visit my family in greece in the summer my mother and grandmother and I always end up in the kitchen together making one dish.  Each of us is responsible for part of the dish.  The seasoning however always ends up in confusion because each of us has our own way of salting things.  My Mom pours from a box, my grandmother has to dip into the box with her fingers and I'm out of my comfort zone either way because it's not my box or my kitchen and I have no clue how to do it there.  It's funny, we all have our own way of measuring salt and it all works.

At home I have a little jar of rock salt that I use my fingertips to measure.  This is used for when seasoning a pot of soup, stew, boiling water, etc, anything that cooks in liquid.  Then I have a special salt shaker for my fine sea salt that is not for table use.  This I use to salt meat and other foods that will not be cooking in a liquid.  It has rather large holes and spreads fast. 

We don't salt at the table because I'm a pretty good seasoner lol.

 

I never use a shaker for any spice as to many times I have seen the tops fall off  along with the spice or herb into the soup or sauce.. I shake into my hand(glove On) then to product

 

I do all of the above. If my hands are wet, I either use a salt shaker for small amounts or pour directly from the box, for larger amounts. If my hands are dry, I pour some into my palm and sprinkle it in with the other hand for small amounts or just dump the handful for larger amounts. 

I don't have a salt shaker on the table, but there's one nearby for the rare occasion something needs further seasoning.

 

For generations we always had a stonelike cup with our prefered salt. The one we have now is from Chili and is carved from stone. Not expensive.

Always put in one hand and salted with the other. As someone said, I don't like big containers of anything over the pot. Accidents happen and you can always add

but hard to take away.

pan

When younger I always sprinkled,

now I shake

 

I catch Hell from Siduri when ever I salt anything. I figure it's just easier to call Rome when I salt.............I sprinkle, when shes not looking,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,CBB

 

Here's what I use: 






Basically just a small glass dish full of kosher salt. Easy to grab a pinch or two as one goes along. Main problem is that it is often close to my coffee grinder ( half a pinch goes into the press with the coffee ) and it can get black flecks of coffee in it. I think my wife still thinks those black specks could be bugs!

mjb.

 

Like Ishbel, I have a salt pig> I like to sprinkle as I feel I hae more control of the amount of salt that gets into the meal.  I also keep one of those chinese soup spoons in the pig for salting cooking water, i.e. where I need a larger quantities.  We have a salt shaker and a pepper grinder on our dinner table in case I got it wrong, or we hae someone that likes it really salty.

As for wet hands - what are tea towels for?  Or an apron? Or the seat of your pants heh /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif

I'm with you about finding it annoying to wash and dry hands all the time, so I tend to keep something close at hand (pun intended) to keep them dry.  Usually oa teatowel over my left shoulder.  Works for me.

 

I dry my hands, but they never seem to get really dry. They stay just damp enough for salt to stick to.

 

I agree with this. I always pinch it between thumb and forefinger before adding.

 

I have a large salt pig next to the stove that holds about 2 boxes of Maldon. I haven't got a shaker for the kitchen or the table. I sprinkle and taste along the way. If my hands are damp I dry them.

 

For me, the best way to ensure the amount of salt to put on food is to sprinkle it with your hands. Then let it simmer for a few minutes then taste it.

 

to always sprinkle from your hand, it's the only way where you get really in touch with the amount of salt you use.

This sort of dogmatism really turns me off. There are a half dozen ways of achieving any particular kitchen task. The "right" one is the one that works best for you.

Now I happen to be a hand-sprinkler. And personally agree with that observation. But that doesn't make my way better nor worse than Siduri's. Especially for something as imprecise as adding salt to a dish.

i find the salt ALWAYS sticks to my hand, which is ALWAYS damp when i cook, (doesn't it do that to you?)

Actually, it doesn't. Although I wash my hands often while cooking I also dry them well. Not because of salt or anything like that. I'm just bothered by the idea of picking up a knife with wet hands. Always seems to me that that's an accident waiting to happen.