Our food writer, Mark Doe of ‘Just Cooking’ in Firies asks is cooking without salt really a nightmare for chefs?
OK, as I chef there is one thing I love in food, and it is the correct amount of salt.
Under-seasoned food can be bland and I often see people cringing when they see me season food here at Just Cooking!
I justify this by making the point that people very rarely add extra salt to the food once they taste it.
As taste is so personal, getting the seasoning correct to suit everybody can be a challenge for chefs.
Continued below…
A few years back I was asked by TV Nutrition expert Paula Mee, to come up with a selection of dishes that were to contain no added salt. A big challenge to say the least!
And to add more pressure, a group of GPs were then brought out to the cookery school to see how the dishes were prepared and then tasted them.
That evening I had to lock the salt away just in case temptation got the better of me!
But once we heard some of the statistics on salt consumption in Ireland, the challenge was set. One of the most concerning statistics Paula gave us was on cheaper sausages!.
Many children are brought up on sausages, mash and gravy, my own daughter loves this!. But did you know two cheap, poor quality sausages can contain up to six grammes of salt?
Then they may be covered in instant gravy, which can also be high in salt. This means a kids dinner can contain up to seven grammes of salt!
The RDA for a child is three grams of salt. Scary stuff. I would always purchase sausages with at least 80% meat content, avoid the cheaper pale looking ones.
The best way to reduce salt content is to avoid convenience foods. These can have a high salt and sugar content and are generally high in MSG.
Avoid certain brands of stock cubes that can be very high in salt. Also processed meats are high in salt. Since meeting Paula we now always have steamed chicken fillets in our fridge, that we use for sandwiches!
When cooking, experiment with spices, lemon juice, herbs, black pepper, ginger, chilli and garlic. A simple breast of chicken, grilled with lemon juice, garlic and plenty of black pepper is far from tasteless!
So get rid of that salt habit, and start cooking healthier food. If I can do it, anyone can!
Happy cooking
