Using salt in cooking

Curry_Queen

nicnac wrote:

When I informed my brother (a chef of 20 years standing) that I don't salt cooking water for vegetables he informed that I should use a bit as it helps retain the nutrients within the food rather than them leaching out during the cooking process. Don't know if it is true but he has a very sound knowledge in food and the wherefores and whyfores of things foody.

There is probably a lot of truth in what he says and possibly has something to do with osmosis effect, although I can't quite get my brain around exactly how as the heat from cooking would cancel that out (and the two glasses of wine I've just quoshed means my brain has gone to sleep )

The best way to retain all nutrients in veggies is to steam them and obviously you don't add salt to do this. Adding some salt to food when cooking is beneficial for not only taste, but also alters acidity levels and counteracts any bitterness in certain foods.

If you use rock or sea salt, this has a much different flavour anyway and is far sweeter than the refined table salt you can buy (and also less sodium which is what actually does the damage!) so whilst it does what it does to enhance the flavour of the food it doesn't actually taste salty, and you use far less anyway as the granules are much coarser