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Alternatively, instead of overloading on salt: for non-bland food:
Get local in-season produce. E.G. Fresh tomatoes vs canned or long distance imports is a night and day difference. Also can be cheaper and you also know that the money is staying local, not feeding some rich fuck's investments.
Mother. Fucking. GARLIC.
Optionally, find a good chili oil.
Great tips, but starting with the word 'alternatively' sorta suggests that these will work instead of salt...
Sadly, some people have to limit their salt intake and aren't allowed to any that's not naturally in there. For them, it would be an alternative. Let us be very thankful we are not them. Especially me, because I can't have hot chili anything and not much garlic.
Agree with all points. To expand on tomatoes...
local in-season tomatoes > canned tomatoes > all other tomatoes
Local is for sure the best but canned, which are picked ripe and processed soon after, are better than tomatoes that have had to be shipped. Those were picked before they were ripe.
And especially if you are cooking the vegetables, don't shy away from vegetables that are a little aged.
That little drizzle of decay adds flavor.
Salt often tastes different when added during cooking vs after
Yes, but if you stir it into a warm sauce it will mostly dissolve and it will still substantially improve it compared to no salt at all.
Sauce is a different matter.
But yeah, if you didn't salt that yeast dough, you aren't going to be making it better right before it goes into the oven.
Not all foods get the you can salt me whenever pass.
Once i completely forgot the salt in my bread. It was disgustingly bland; like, I couldn't believe a teaspoon of salt would have such a massive effect.
But I actually salvaged it by putting salt on every slice of toast I made with that loaf.
It worked out okay!
The water you boiled the pasta in is not the "pasta sauce".
pasta tea
I raise you pasta coffee
Srsly?
This reminds me of a roommate my sister had, who asked her what went into a grilled cheese sandwich. She said just two pieces of bread with a slice of cheese between them. She went into the kitchen a few minutes later to find the roommate staring at the uncooked sandwich on a plate. "Something wrong?" she asked. Roommate answered, "Is this supposed to melt the cheese?"
You can also just add and stir in soy sauce. But add in garlic, some onion powder and chili paste for flavor.
Finding soy sauce was like discovering a cheat code irl. Haven't found a dish yet that isn't improved by some combination of soy sauce, chili sauce, and/or lemon juice
Soy sauce and fermented food in general are full of umami flavor.
It won't be quite the same as having salted the pasta and the sauce, while cooking it, but "salvageable", absolutely.
How is it different from salting after?
Salt does not penetrate as much and just does not add as much flavour
It matters more in solids.
If you add some salt to sauces, you can just give it a few stirs to incorporate it.
When it comes to something like meat, the biggest thing is that the salt can penetrate into the meat itself, rather than just sit on the surface. Same goes for things like potatoes or pasta.
Other than that, I couldn't really tell you, on a technical level, but you can be sure it boils down to "chemical reactions."
If you're curious or skeptical, you can experiment pretty easily. Make a batch of tomato sauce, and seprate it into two portions. Salt one before simmering it for a few hours, and the other one after. Most people will be able to taste the difference.
Pro tip: if you want your food to taste saltier but you've already salted it, throw a bit of lemon juice in there. Oftentimes when your mouth tells you it's not salty enough, what it actually needs is a bit of acid
Same thing if the food tastes too greasy or fatty. Lemon juice isn't a bad go-to for whenever you go "this dish is missing something, but what?"
I usually cook without much salt because you can always add more, but you can never remove it. This way everyone can eat each meal to their liking.
You could also cut the food with more unsalted food, to fix the balance. Not uncommon in restaurant kitchens.
That's a good idea, I'll save it for occasions when I put too much salt.
But the salt absorbing into the pasta will be a bit different than being part of the sauce. If it's a common issue that people you're cooking for want less salt, fine I guess. If not, salt the water when you cook pasta.
Salt is one of those things that works even on raw stuff, go wild