Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Samin Nosrat

job I had in the kitchen at Chez Panisse was called Pasta/Lettuce. I spent about a year washing lettuces and making every kind of pasta dough imaginable. I’d also start the pizza dough every morning, adding yeast, water, and flour into the bowl of the gigantic stand mixer and tending to it throughout the day. Once the water and flour brought the dormant yeast back to life, I’d add more flour and salt. Then, after kneading and proofing, I’d finish the dough by adding in some olive oil. One day, when it was time to add the flour and salt, I realised the salt bin was empty. I didn’t have the time right then to go down to the storage shed to get another bag of salt, so I figured I’d just wait to add the salt at the end, along with the oil. As I kneaded the dough, I noticed that it came together much more quickly than usual, but I didn’t really give it a second thought. When I returned a couple of hours later to finish the dough, something unbelievable happened. I turned on the machine and let it deflate and knead the dough, like I always did, and then I added the salt. As it dissolved into the dough, I could actually see the machine begin to strain. The salt was making the dough tougher—the difference was remarkable! I had no idea what was happening. I was worried that I’d done something terribly wrong.

      It was no big deal. It turns out that the dough tightened immediately because salt aids in strengthening gluten, the protein that makes dough chewy and elastic. As soon as I allowed the dough to rest, the gluten relaxed, and the pizzas that night emerged from the oven as delicious as always.

      Salt can take a while to dissolve in foods that are low in water, so add it to bread dough early. Leave it out of Italian pasta dough altogether, allowing the salted water to do the work of seasoning as it cooks. Add it early to ramen and udon doughs to strengthen their gluten, as this will result in the desired chewiness. Add salt later to batters and doughs for cakes, pancakes, and delicate pastries to keep them tender, but make sure to whisk these mixes thoroughly so that the salt is evenly distributed before cooking.

      

      Cooking Foods in Salted Water

      Properly seasoned cooking water encourages food to retain its nutrients. Imagine that you’re cooking green beans in a pot of water. If the water is unseasoned or only lightly seasoned, then its concentration of salt—a mineral—will be lower than the innate mineral concentration in the green beans. In an attempt to establish equilibrium between the internal environment of the green beans and the external environment of the cooking water, the beans will relinquish some of their minerals and natural sugars during the cooking process. This leads to bland, grey, less-nutritious green beans.

      On the other hand, if the water is more highly seasoned—and more mineral rich— than the green beans, then the opposite will happen. In an attempt to reach equilibrium, the green beans will absorb some salt from the water as they cook, seasoning themselves from the inside out. They’ll also remain more vibrantly coloured because the salt balance will keep magnesium in the beans’ chlorophyll molecules from leaching out. The salt will also weaken the pectin and soften the beans’ cell walls, allowing them to cook more quickly. As an added bonus, there will be less of an opportunity for the green beans to lose nutrients because they’ll spend less total time in the pot.

      I can’t prescribe precise amounts of salt for blanching water for a few reasons: I don’t know what size your pot is, how much water you’re using, how much food you’re blanching, or what type of salt you’re using. All of these variables will dictate how much salt to use, and even they may change each time you cook. Instead, season your cooking water until it’s as salty as the sea (or more accurately, your memory of the sea. At 3.5 percent salinity, seawater is much, much saltier than anyone would ever want to use for cooking). You might flinch upon seeing just how much salt this takes, but remember, most of the salt ends up going down the drain. The goal is to create a salty enough environment to allow the salt to diffuse throughout the ingredient during the time it spends in the water.

      It doesn’t matter whether you add the salt to the water before or after you set it on the heat, though it’ll dissolve, and hence diffuse, faster in hot water. Just make sure to give the salt a chance to dissolve, and taste the water to make sure it’s highly seasoned before you add any food. Keep a pot boiling on the stove for too long, though, and water will evaporate. What’s left behind will be far too salty for cooking. The cure here is simple: taste your water, and make sure it’s right. If not, add some water or salt to balance it out.

      Cooking food in salted water is one of the simplest ways to season from within. Taste roasted potatoes that were seasoned with salt as they went into the oven, and you’ll taste salt on the surface but not much farther in. But taste potatoes that were simmered in salted water for a little while before being roasted, and you’ll be shocked by the difference—salt will have made it all the way into the centre, doing its powerful work of seasoning from within along the way.

      Salt pasta water, potato cooking water, and pots of grains and legumes as early as possible to allow salt to dissolve and diffuse evenly into the food. Season the water for vegetables correctly and you won’t have to add salt again before serving. Salads made with boiled vegetables—be it potatoes, asparagus, cauliflower, green beans, or anything else—are most delicious when the vegetables are seasoned properly while they’re cooking. Salt sprinkled on top of one of these salads at the time of serving won’t make as much of a difference in flavour as it will in texture, by adding a pleasant crunch.

      Salt meats that are going to be cooked in water, like any meats, in advance, but season the cooking liquids for stews, braises, and poached meats conservatively—keep in mind that you’ll be consuming any salt you add here. While some salt may leach from the seasoned meat into the less savoury broth, it will have already done its important tenderising work. Anticipate the flavour exchange that will happen between the seasoned meat and its cooking liquid, and taste and adjust the liquid, along with the meat, before serving.

      Read on to learn more about the nuances of blanching, braising, simmering, and poaching, in Heat.

      

      DIFFUSION CALCULUS

      The three most valuable tools to encourage salt diffusion are time, temperature, and water. Before setting out to cook—as you choose an ingredient, or a cooking method— ask yourself, “How can I season this from within?” Then, use these variables to plot out how far in advance—and how much—to salt your food or cooking water.

      Time

      Salt is very slow to diffuse. If you are cooking something big or dense and want to get salt into it, season the ingredient as early as possible to give salt the time to travel to the centre.

      Temperature

      Heat stimulates salt diffusion. Salt will always diffuse more quickly at room temperature than in the fridge. Use this fact to your advantage when you’ve forgotten to salt your chicken or steak in advance. Pull the meat out of the fridge when you get home, salt it, and let it sit out while the oven or grill preheats.

      Water

      Water promotes salt diffusion. Use watery cooking methods to help salt penetrate dense, dry, and tough ingredients, especially if you don’t have time to season them in advance.

      

      USING SALT

      The British food writer Elizabeth David once said, “I do not even bother with a salt spoon. I am not able to see what is unmannerly or wrong with putting one’s fingers into the salt.” I agree. Get rid of the shaker, dump the salt in a bowl, and start using your fingers to season your food. You should be able to fit all five fingers into your salt bowl and easily grab a palmful of salt. This important—but often unsaid—rule of good