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Salt

fuelair said:
NO!! you have to add LOTS of salt to raise the temp just a little. Salt is to help remove starch - soaking gets some, heating while soaking gets more, heating while soaking in salt water gets even more. Applies to pasta and potatoes. NOT to beans (salty will harden them), most veggies, etc. Sodium is the problem in salt (sodium chloride). Whatever the mass of salt is, sodium is right at 40% so 6 grams of sodium requires 15 grams of salt.
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I've been cooking for a long time, and one of my hobbies lately has been food science. I have never heard anything anywhere about salt "removing starch". I also use salted water when cooking beans, veggies, etc., to no ill effects.

Where are you getting this info?

Salting your water is for flavoring purposes only, according to everything I've read and also based on oodles of personal experience. Try it yourself. Cook a bit of pasta with salted water and then cook some without. Try cooking anything with salt and the same thing without. You'll notice the difference. Salt is the best natural flavor enhancer we have. That's why you'll even see small amounts of salt in cake and cookie recipes.
 
Try soaking cut pieces of potato overnight in salted and fresh water. There are a ton of things salt does to the chemistry of cooking.
 
russingram said:
I've seen people cook rice like pasta (i.e. large quantity of water, strain the rice when it's done), but my Amah in Hong Kong taught me to add rice to the pot, add an amount of water that covers the rice to a depth equivalent to the length of your first index finger joint (i.e., to the first knuckle), bring water to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover the pot, and cook for 20 minutes (don't peek!). Fluff with a fork, and serve. This seems to work with any size pot and any size finger. It doesn't work with large quantities, though (more than 2 lbs of rice).

Anywho, with this method, all the water is absorbed by the rice, therefore, so is the salt.
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Your amah and my momma. And you don't need to put salt in. Eew, what a way to ruin basamati rice.
 
bluess said:
Your amah and my momma. And you don't need to put salt in. Eew, what a way to ruin basamati rice.
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I put a small amount of salt in basmati rice (maybe 1/2 teaspoon per cup). It's delicious.
 
JLam said:
I put a small amount of salt in basmati rice (maybe 1/2 teaspoon per cup). It's delicious.
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NOOOOOO.

Salt in the curry or dal.

Besides if you salt the basamati you can't make yummy kheer later.
 
JLam said:
I've never tried this. What does it do?
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The water potato looks like a bloat monster from Venus, and the salt water potato actually shrinks but looks pretty normal.

At least that's what I remember...I haven't done it since I was little either.
 
ChristineR said:
The water potato looks like a bloat monster from Venus, and the salt water potato actually shrinks but looks pretty normal.

At least that's what I remember...I haven't done it since I was little either.
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How salted is the water?

Still I don't think that osmotic pressure plays that big a roll in how rice cooks.
 
I don't remember any sort of recipe for the salt water. But just for the heck of it I'm trying it on my kitchen counter right now. I added a lot of salt, I was trying to saturate the water.

I'm not sure about rice and osmotic pressure, as the increased boiling point temperature may end up having a bigger effect on the texture. But salt does change other things, such as slowing the rise of yeast bread, acting as a preservative, and so on.
 
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ChristineR said:
I don't remember any sort of recipe for the salt water. But just for the heck of it I'm trying it on my kitchen counter right now. I added a lot of salt, I was trying to saturate the water.
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Not that useful then as you are just demonstrating osmotic pressure.

It is rather like if you put a beaker of saturated salt water and a beaker of water in a bell jar, the salt water gets volume at the expense of the regular water
I'm not sure about rice and osmotic pressure, as the increased boiling point temperature may end up having a bigger effect on the texture. But salt does change other things, such as slowing the rise of yeast bread, acting as a preservative, and so on.
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The boiling point is not going to change enough for any ammount of salt in rice that will leave it eddible at the end. Try making rice in saturated salt water for example.

It seems likely to be all about seasoning, and not anything the salt does to the cooking process. IF it was all about raising the temp, just adjust the pressure by going to denver or useing a pressure cooker.
 
ponderingturtle said:
The boiling point is not going to change enough for any ammount of salt in rice that will leave it eddible at the end. Try making rice in saturated salt water for example.
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You hit the nail on the head. Salt raises the boiling point of water by one half degree Celsius for every 58 grams of salt dissolved per kilogram of water. That's far too much salt to use in a normal cooking situation, and even if you did use 58 grams of salt in a kilogram of water, you're only talking about raising the boiling point to 100.5 degrees Celsius.
 
The sodium chloride breaks down into sodium ions and chloride ions when it dissolves. The ions allow many more chemical reactions to take place at a much faster rate. Like proteins that hydrolise, becoming yummy MSG. Other protein chains break down into shorter amino acids, more yumminess. Plus it raises the PH, which enables a whole 'nuther bunch of chemistry.

Chemistry- it's what's for dinner!
 
You got any sources for that? I'm trying to figure out why salt would catabolise a hydrolysis reaction.

The thing about not putting salt in water used to cook beans appears to be very widely accepted amongst cooks. If you google it you will find that it often comes with advice that acids as found in foods like tomatoes has the same effect.

Any chemists care to explain or refute this?
 
casebro said:
The sodium chloride breaks down into sodium ions and chloride ions when it dissolves. The ions allow many more chemical reactions to take place at a much faster rate. Like proteins that hydrolise, becoming yummy MSG. Other protein chains break down into shorter amino acids, more yumminess. Plus it raises the PH, which enables a whole 'nuther bunch of chemistry.

Chemistry- it's what's for dinner!
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Unless you are using de-ionised water to cook with, I seriously doubt adding a little bit of salt will make any difference at all. I'm also not convinced that having a few extra sodium and chlorine ions floating about will make any difference to the rate of chemical reactions, since they are not catalysts.

ETA : A salt is the product of reacting an acid and a base, and so is neutral. Adding salt should not alter the pH.
 
*Dons Sceptic hat*

I think all the reasons we may have heard for adding salt to cooking food are a lot of bollox.

I never add salt to anything. Zilch , nada, nihil, nothing, -with one exception- fish & chips, because that's traditional , innit?

I don't use the stuff in cooking at all. Nor do I ever have it on my table.

Not one person who has eaten with me has ever commented or asked for some. (And some have come back for more).

Doesn't mean I don't like saltin food. I do. And I obviously get enough in my diet to keep me sa(li)ne. (Remember I work on rigs, so half the food I eat is canteen food, which obviously is salted. I don't advocate going without salt 365 days a year.)

I just think it's a habit - and one we overdo wildly.
 
Cuddles said:
Unless you are using de-ionised water to cook with, I seriously doubt adding a little bit of salt will make any difference at all. I'm also not convinced that having a few extra sodium and chlorine ions floating about will make any difference to the rate of chemical reactions, since they are not catalysts.

ETA : A salt is the product of reacting an acid and a base, and so is neutral. Adding salt should not alter the pH.
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I think salts can have a pH, but salt does not, depending on the exact components of the salt. Some of them depleat the concentrations of H or OH in the water.
 
Soapy Sam said:
*Dons Sceptic hat*

I think all the reasons we may have heard for adding salt to cooking food are a lot of bollox.

I never add salt to anything. Zilch , nada, nihil, nothing, -with one exception- fish & chips, because that's traditional , innit?

I don't use the stuff in cooking at all. Nor do I ever have it on my table.

Not one person who has eaten with me has ever commented or asked for some. (And some have come back for more).

Doesn't mean I don't like saltin food. I do. And I obviously get enough in my diet to keep me sa(li)ne. (Remember I work on rigs, so half the food I eat is canteen food, which obviously is salted. I don't advocate going without salt 365 days a year.)

I just think it's a habit - and one we overdo wildly.
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And your food is likely more bland than if you used salt, try cooking rice, one batch with a bit of salt and one with out, and have others taste and see if they notice a difference.

Salt is after all one of only 4 things we can actualy taste.
 
Soapy Sam said:
*Dons Sceptic hat*

I think all the reasons we may have heard for adding salt to cooking food are a lot of bollox.

I never add salt to anything. Zilch , nada, nihil, nothing, -with one exception- fish & chips, because that's traditional , innit?

I don't use the stuff in cooking at all. Nor do I ever have it on my table.

Not one person who has eaten with me has ever commented or asked for some. (And some have come back for more).

Doesn't mean I don't like saltin food. I do. And I obviously get enough in my diet to keep me sa(li)ne. (Remember I work on rigs, so half the food I eat is canteen food, which obviously is salted. I don't advocate going without salt 365 days a year.)

I just think it's a habit - and one we overdo wildly.
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A tiny bit of salt goes a long way towards making things more flavorful. Seriously, give it a shot. Cook some pasta with salt and some without and do a taste test. You'll be amazed at the difference.
 
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