The tips of our chefs to reduce the use of salt in the kitchen and ways to add flavor to your recipes
Reducing salt in the kitchen is the nightmare of those suffering from hypertension you hate cellulite. In fact, overuse can lead to health risks, which is why it is sometimes useful flavor dishes in alternative ways.
With the advice of The School of Italian Cuisine this venture will become simpler and more creative.
The spices and herbs aromatic, or ingredients such asgarlic and the onion, they certainly help us to decrease or even eliminate salt, adding flavor, but it is not the only way.
To keep intact or intensify the natural flavor of some ingredients, you need to follow the tricks also about the cooking methods used.
Cooking without salt: cooking to avoid
The cooking to be avoided for a low salt diet is definitely the boiling or the sbianchitura. Boiling foods in fact involves the dispersion of many nutrients and minerals, making it inevitable to add more salt in the cooking liquid.
The ideal cooking for a kitchen with little salt
The cooking methods to be used to reduce the salt are steamed (in a pressure cooker or in a bamboo basket) and roasted.
In general, the steaming keeps the properties of the raw material intact. The humidity that develops during steam cooking allows the chosen ingredient to cook without too much mineral salts. Furthermore, cooking water can be used flavor with herbs, spices, citrus peel, tea and so on.
In cooking roast instead, the sugars will tend to caramelize and consequently to intensify the flavor. In a meat sauce, for example, brown the meat well with a small fat part until you get a nice hazelnut color: the taste of the final sauce will be stronger.
How to reduce salt with aromatic herbs and spices
As we said at the beginning, the aromatic herbs and spices give a much more significant flavor. You can use them for marinate the ingredients before cooking, or at a later stage, but following some rules.
Basil, parsley, mint, thyme, oregano: to preserve their fresh taste herbs they must be added at the last moment, especially if they are very fine, otherwise they would burn.
The spiceson the other hand, they should be lightly toasted, in order to better release the aroma, thus obtaining a more decisive result. Have fun with turmeric, paprika, curry, cinnamon, saffron, cloves … so on and so forth!
Discover many other tips for cooking classes at La Scuola de La Cucina Italiana.
Texts by Alessandro Pirollo
This recipe has already been read 229 times!