I use way less salt in my pasta water than most chefs push for.

Toning it down after a salty disaster actually improved my final dish's balance.

4 comments

4 Comments

nguyen.kevin1mo ago

Wait, you put in like no salt at all?

willowr961mo ago

Honestly seeing people's reactions to less salt is so interesting these days, Kevin. It's like a tiny version of the whole "health tweaks" thing where cutting one thing feels huge at first. My neighbor tried it with her soups and said everything tasted flat for a week until her taste buds adjusted.

felixm2925d ago

Yeah but that "flat" phase is the problem. If your food tastes bad for a whole week, you're doing it wrong. Like moore.angela said, you need to cut back slow. Don't go from salty pasta water to none. Just use a little less each time. Your neighbor's soup probably needed more garlic or herbs, not just less salt. You gotta build flavor with other stuff, not just wait for your mouth to give up.

moore.angela1mo ago

That "flat for a week" phase your neighbor hit is the whole key. It's like your taste buds throw a tantrum when you cut back, so you're tempted to dump more salt in to shut them up. Pushing past that is how you actually start tasting the other flavors in the food, not just the salt. It makes total sense that dialing it back in the pasta water lets everything else in the sauce come through better.