One of the highest-leverage cooking skills is knowing how to use salt properly.
Ask any chef— salt is the single most important ingredient in cooking.
A few tips:
- Use a high-quality salt with a medium-fine grind for everyday cooking. Salt touches everything you eat, so it’s worth buying really good, clean stuff. In my opinion Vera Salt is the best out there. It’s what I use for all my cooking.
- Get a salt cellar (or just use a wide bowl). You want to keep lots of salt easily accessible right by your stove. It should be big enough that you can get your hand in there and grab a big pinch. Shakers and grinders don’t cut it.
- Measure salt by FEEL. Another reason why a salt cellar makes sense. Take note of how much salt you’re picking up and how it tastes on your food. Do this over and over again and you’ll be able to measure salt with the feel of your hands and then taste to adjust. This is a super important skill.
- Always salt in stages and always taste as you go. Salt takes time to permeate food; you can just salt all at the beginning or all at the end. Taste throughout the cooking process and adjust as needed. This will make sure your final dish is properly seasoned.
