Would you rather ...?

A fair amount of literature doesn’t support no sodium as beneficial. I think we have some medical doctors on site who might provide a professional science based opinion. As I understand reducing sodium while increasing potassium is beneficial. Everything in moderation (within normal ranges) probably rules the day.

Higher ends or health conscious restaurants are cutting salt. Cheaper, fast foods use sugar, salt and spice to mask their not so great ingredients.

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Fresh chilies count as a vegetable so we can have both!

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I presume you’re now trying to suggest some scientific basis for your somewhat pejorative remarks upthread. Nice try. No cigar.

There’s some scientific suggestions that Covid isnt serioius. That’s equally bollocks.

By the by, I might have stopped using salt for medical reasons. I continue not to use it as a matter of taste.

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I have a relative, low in sodium in her blood test, doc prescribed some “salt” pills. Symptoms is fatigue and sleepless nights…

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Pejorative? 🤷

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At Mr. BR’s request I stopped cooking with salt many year ago. I never missed it nor have I understood peoples fascination with salt. Out of curiosity a few years ago I started using salt again, and I now have 4 different salts. Except for something like smoked salt I can’t really say it makes a difference in the way food tastes but I continue to use it. It has become a habit, like in the olden day when we all grabbed the salt shaker and salted everything on our plate, even before tasting anything. I never use the full amount called for in a recipe as I find it makes food taste too salty for me. Pepper however I love, I can’t imagine cooking without copious amounts of pepper.

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For non salt eaters, what do you think of food like cured ham or cheese, do you eat those food? Do you still like that or you avoid consumption as well?

Agreed. I can’t let go of black pepper. Some cuisines cannot exist without the use of spice.

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Absolutely. The flavour of ham intrinsically includes the flavour of salt. You can’t have one without the other

Kosher salt all the way. Bread is lifeless w/out it.

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Speaking of pepper, does anyone else find it amusing to see how chefs on cooking shows “season” their food with pepper? First of all, they put it in EVERYTHING, which I find silly, and secondly, they use so little in most cases that I don’t understand why you’d bother. Two twists of the mill for a quantity of stew that is meant to feed six? Give me a break!

I love pepper and when I want to taste it, I want to TASTE IT. However, if I am cooking something where its distinctive flavor is not wanted, I don’t use it at all. It seems like many recipes call for it (and tv chefs just add it) on autopilot.

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Yes, you can use naturally salted foods, just not salt as a standalone ingredient (or spice, or condiment, or seasoning, or whatever you want to call it)

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Thanks. Then, my answer changed. It will be no salt but spices. I can put olive or anchovies in making bread. And I can buy cured meats and vegetables. :laughing:

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This is my thought too.

People tend to forget just how versatile and essential salt is too cooking (and baking!).

For example, you couldn’t cure meats, or pickle vegetables, or bake just about anything.

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I have a coworker who does this every day with his lunch, and I just shake my head. His lunches are 95% frozen meals LIKE Stouffers, Lean Cuisine, Power Bowls, etc. Granted, I eat these on occasion as (maybe 6-8 times a year?) but not every day. And NOT with grabbing the salt grinder and twisting several times before tasting!

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Yes, drives me crazy. Handfuls of salt and two grinds of pepper.

Well, I think (I hope?) it’s more for the videoing of the preparation, especially since the recipe will usually call for more ground pepper. I’d certainly hope that home cooks wouldn’t just add a couple of grinds of pepper to a large meal.

They should have little bowls of freshly ground pepper, like they do salt.

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Maybe, although I find most recipes just say “to taste” for pepper, unless it is a main component of the dish (like steak au poivre or Tuscan peposo, etc.). People watching these shows for instruction are then led to believe that a couple of twists are somehow an appropriate multi-purpose amount, when in actuality that’s too little to make a difference. I think it’s part of the reason people still use pre-ground pepper, too - if you never use enough freshly ground pepper to taste it, you are unlikely to care that the pre-ground stuff has no flavor! :rofl:

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