I am going to lay out a little base knowledge and then we are going to begin cooking with and without salt to see how flavors can be enhanced or masked by salt.
Salt has been around forever since it is a naturally occurring compound of Sodium and Chloride elements. It has been used for curing meets before refrigeration was a viable option and flavoring food since it was discovered. It has really aided in the survival of mankind. Salt may be on your table as a flavor enhancer, but it is also in your body helping to regulate water content and even broken down into its simple elemental components to provide the electric current used to move a muscle, created a memory and sustain homeostasis. This is another reason to appreciate the complexity of the human body and how something so simple as table salt, sea salt and rock salt has allowed life to survive.
Salt is also one the true chemicals our tongue has a receptor for and is why it makes food taste "better." It is too bad that so many of our processed foods have such high amounts of salt in them; that people are begging to fear the use of salt on their food. You do not have to be afraid of salt, but like all things must be taken in moderation
My first experiments will be salt as a flavor enhancer on common everyday foods such as meats, starches, vegetables and fruits. I will also cure meat since that is something salt has been doing for centuries, but has been lost to many home cooks.
No comments:
Post a Comment