This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
When should you salt?
In the kitchen, we salt very frequently, almost all the time, and we must be careful because this salt can influence the texture of what you are cooking.
I'm not going to talk about the amount of salt here, that's for another time, but rather about : When do you salt?
I'm not going to talk about the amount of salt here, that's for another time, but rather about : When do you salt?
18 K 4.5/5 (22 reviews)
Keywords for this post:SaltSaltTimeCookingLast modified on: August 13th 2019
When should you salt?
Let's imagine that you are going to prepare leeks. There are thousands of ways to do it, but one of the most classic is "sautéed".
By doing so, you will have a cooking that preserves the structure of the vegetable, and you avoid the excess of liquid at the bottom of your pan.
To sum up: When cooking vegetables or mushrooms, it is best to add salt only once the cooking is finished, to keep your vegetables in good condition.
How do you do it?
- You peel, wash, dry and slice your leeks
- You do the same thing with a shallot
- In a saucepan or a frying pan, you heat a littleoil or butter or clarified butter
- Once it's hot, you pour in the shallot, stir a little and add a little salt and pepper
Here is the first salt shaker, note that it is light, and concerns (for the moment) only the shallot, we continue...
- Cook the shallot, 1 minute maximum, it must not colour or turn brown (we say"without colouring")
- Add the leeks, stir well to mix, and do not add any salt.
Why not? Well, because the salt with its hygroscopic side, if you add it now, will "pump" the water out of the leeks, water that will end up at the bottom of the pan, and that you will have to remove later by overcooking.
Moreover, if the water is extracted from the leeks, they will become excessively soft and less appetizing, losing their beautiful green colour more easily. Let's continue... - You cook/sauté the leeks like this, uncovered, stirring from time to time, until they are soft to your taste, but still green
- And finally, off the heat, you add salt and pepper to taste
By doing so, you will have a cooking that preserves the structure of the vegetable, and you avoid the excess of liquid at the bottom of your pan.
To sum up: When cooking vegetables or mushrooms, it is best to add salt only once the cooking is finished, to keep your vegetables in good condition.
Lasts posts
A tablet holder
Perhaps you too cook by consulting your recipe on a tablet or phone, and putting it down on your worktop? It's practical, but not the best solution. Here's a look at how you can make an inexpensive, almost universal stand.March 14th 20261,1435
Pre-calibrated pastry dough
When making pie dough (shortbread, shortcrust, sweet...), it's always a good idea to make a lot at once, and then divide it into pieces, which you can freeze. I've already pointed out the mistake not to make, which is to form a ball before freezing. It's difficult to roll out afterwards because...March 9th 20261,1225
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20253,1755
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20252,0985
Who's making the croissants?
When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...November 23th 20251,916
Other pages you may also like
Raising (or leavening) agents
When we want to make a dough or batter rise when baking, either in patisserie or bread-making, we need to use a raising agent or leavening agent, one of which is called leaven. In the context of baking, a raising agent is simply what "makes something rise". It is a substance which, when added to...June 16th 202158 K4.8
Rosemary in recipes
Rosemary, as I’m sure you know, is a culinary herb, one of the famous French "herbes de Provence", and is very effective in bringing a real taste of the Mediterranean to any dish. The classic way to use it in a recipe is to add a sprig or two and leave it in during cooking as a way of...April 18th 201824 K4.7
Butter doesn't make you fat, unless you eat too much of it.
Whenever I'm discussing cooking and recipes, there is one idea which comes up frequently, like this: "Oh no! But that's got butter in it" (I should add, for the sake of accuracy, that this is something I hear more frequently from women, who are almost all concerned with keeping their figure). ...March 26th 201246 K4.5
The art of the charlotte
In cooking, a charlotte is a delicious moulded dessert, with biscuits around the outside that have been soaked in a flavoured syrup, filled with a light cream or mousse. The charlotte is left to set in the fridge before being turned out and served in slices. It is very light and a lovely sweet...February 27th 201347 K4.3
Fruits which can ruin your jelly
There are many ways of making a fruit mousse, but one of the simplest is to prepare a fruit jelly (basically a fresh fruit coulis with gelatine) and then mix this jelly before it sets completely with whipped cream. The result is perfect for filling a charlotte, for example. But do beware;...March 6th 201380 K4.0
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.