Salting technology
People, listen up, it is time to up our salt game. The WaPo writes (not paywalled):
Meat
“When salting meat for cooking, any time is better than none, and more is better than some,” Nosrat writes. This gives the salt time to diffuse into the meat, which improves flavor, moisture retention and browning.
“Aim to season meat the day before cooking when possible. … The larger, denser, or more sinewy the piece of meat, the earlier you should salt it.” As examples, oxtails, shanks and short ribs should be salted for one or two days. Salt steak more than 40 minutes or less than three minutes before cooking, J. Kenji López-Alt recommends in “The Food Lab,” noting that anything in between will leave too much moisture on the surface. Just keep in mind that salting meat too long will start to cure it (think jerky), so if you start with the best of intentions but realize you won’t get around to cooking, Nosrat suggests freezing the meat for up to two months and picking up the process from there after it defrosts.
Poultry
It’s best to salt chicken one day in advance and Thanksgiving turkey two or three days ahead of time, according to Nosrat. Especially with smaller cuts, you can still reap the rewards by salting a few hours before cooking or even in the period while your oven or grill preheats and you prep other ingredients.
Eggs
Once I started adding a little more salt to them, my scrambled eggs went from blah to well-seasoned. Moreover, salt can improve the texture of cooked eggs. It serves as a buffer that prevents the proteins from bonding too tightly and squeezing out water, López-Alt explains. He recommends salting eggs at least 15 minutes before cooking to allow the salt to evenly dissolve, though just before cooking also helps. Salting toward the end of cooking may produce tougher eggs that weep liquid.
Vegetables
A one-size-fits-all recommendation for vegetables is hard to come by, thanks to the wide range of types and cooking methods. Salt works on vegetables by helping break down pectin, a fiber in plant cell walls, speeding up cooking time, Harold McGee says in “On Food and Cooking.” It can also preserve the color of green vegetables, such as green beans.
“When in doubt, salt vegetables before you cook them,” Nosrat says. Add salt when you toss them with oil before roasting, and include it in the cooking water or in the skillet when you sauté. One exception: mushrooms. Because they are mostly water, adding salt too early can draw it all out and prevent browning. So salt mushrooms once they start to take on color. In other scenarios, salting sliced vegetables at least 15 to 20 minutes in advance works to your advantage. This may be eggplant or zucchini you plan to roast or add to a tart, cabbage for a slaw, or tomatoes for a Southern tomato sandwich or Caprese salad. Simply let the vegetables drain in a colander or on a towel and dab away any excess moisture before proceeding. Jacobsen almost always recommends a sprinkle of flaky salt on cooked vegetables for “a little salty pop rock in your mouth.”
Beans and grains
As with vegetables, add salt at the beginning of cooking beans and grains to help them soften and improve in flavor. Cooking beans in salted water does not make them tougher, contrary to a common myth, López-Alt says on Serious Eats. In fact, he recommends soaking them in salted water as well, for creamy beans that don’t rupture during cooking. You can salt a little less aggressively with foods such as grains that will, unlike beans, absorb all the water they’re cooked in, Nosrat says. And the longer a food cooks, the more salt it will absorb over time.
Meat
“When salting meat for cooking, any time is better than none, and more is better than some,” Nosrat writes. This gives the salt time to diffuse into the meat, which improves flavor, moisture retention and browning.
“Aim to season meat the day before cooking when possible. … The larger, denser, or more sinewy the piece of meat, the earlier you should salt it.” As examples, oxtails, shanks and short ribs should be salted for one or two days. Salt steak more than 40 minutes or less than three minutes before cooking, J. Kenji López-Alt recommends in “The Food Lab,” noting that anything in between will leave too much moisture on the surface. Just keep in mind that salting meat too long will start to cure it (think jerky), so if you start with the best of intentions but realize you won’t get around to cooking, Nosrat suggests freezing the meat for up to two months and picking up the process from there after it defrosts.
Poultry
It’s best to salt chicken one day in advance and Thanksgiving turkey two or three days ahead of time, according to Nosrat. Especially with smaller cuts, you can still reap the rewards by salting a few hours before cooking or even in the period while your oven or grill preheats and you prep other ingredients.
Eggs
Once I started adding a little more salt to them, my scrambled eggs went from blah to well-seasoned. Moreover, salt can improve the texture of cooked eggs. It serves as a buffer that prevents the proteins from bonding too tightly and squeezing out water, López-Alt explains. He recommends salting eggs at least 15 minutes before cooking to allow the salt to evenly dissolve, though just before cooking also helps. Salting toward the end of cooking may produce tougher eggs that weep liquid.
Vegetables
A one-size-fits-all recommendation for vegetables is hard to come by, thanks to the wide range of types and cooking methods. Salt works on vegetables by helping break down pectin, a fiber in plant cell walls, speeding up cooking time, Harold McGee says in “On Food and Cooking.” It can also preserve the color of green vegetables, such as green beans.
“When in doubt, salt vegetables before you cook them,” Nosrat says. Add salt when you toss them with oil before roasting, and include it in the cooking water or in the skillet when you sauté. One exception: mushrooms. Because they are mostly water, adding salt too early can draw it all out and prevent browning. So salt mushrooms once they start to take on color. In other scenarios, salting sliced vegetables at least 15 to 20 minutes in advance works to your advantage. This may be eggplant or zucchini you plan to roast or add to a tart, cabbage for a slaw, or tomatoes for a Southern tomato sandwich or Caprese salad. Simply let the vegetables drain in a colander or on a towel and dab away any excess moisture before proceeding. Jacobsen almost always recommends a sprinkle of flaky salt on cooked vegetables for “a little salty pop rock in your mouth.”
Beans and grains
As with vegetables, add salt at the beginning of cooking beans and grains to help them soften and improve in flavor. Cooking beans in salted water does not make them tougher, contrary to a common myth, López-Alt says on Serious Eats. In fact, he recommends soaking them in salted water as well, for creamy beans that don’t rupture during cooking. You can salt a little less aggressively with foods such as grains that will, unlike beans, absorb all the water they’re cooked in, Nosrat says. And the longer a food cooks, the more salt it will absorb over time.
By Germaine: Likes to cook
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