On Seasoning and Developing Flavor

And why I generally don’t put salt quantities in my recipes

Adapted from my book Modern Potluck (published by Clarkson Potter, 2016)

Good seasoning—the process of adding salt, spices, acid, and herbs to make food taste better—is what can often separate a fine cook from a good one and good cook from a great one.

In my experience, many home cooks don’t use enough salt. Sometimes, health is cited as the concern, and this can be a valid reason for taking it easy on the salt. But the goal is never to make food that tastes salty; instead, you want to make food that tastes like a better version of itself. The best-tasting food is often salted multiple times during the preparation—as you sweat the onions, before you brown the meat, before you serve the dish.

When I tell people they need to use more salt, they often ask me, "Well, how much?" That's tricky, too. People have different palates, and different salts have different levels of salinity, so it’s best for cooks to learn to season food their own way. For that reason, unless the recipe involves seasoning a raw meat mixture that you can’t fix later, or something else that would be dangerous to taste while raw, I avoid specifying the exact amount of salt to use. Rather, I  guide you about when to season.

If you’re seasoning the dish in its final stage, add a little salt at a time, until it tastes good to you. If you’re seasoning meat before you brown it, or vegetables before you roast them, use enough salt so you see a light dusting, then proceed.

This brings me to types of salt. Ordinary table salt has a harsh, unpleasant iodine flavor, so I don’t recommend cooking with it. Some people prefer to use sea salt because it has beneficial minerals and more interesting, subtle flavors. Note, though, that the texture and salinity of these salts can vary widely. For example, fine sea salt is very different from a more chunky grey sea salt. So if you want to use sea salt, taste your food frequently to get a sense of how it’s developing its flavor. 

For general seasoning, I often use Morton’s kosher salt because it’s visible on the surface of the food and easy to add in pinches. For sprinkling on at the end,  I like to use delicate flaky salt, like Maldon.

There's one other thing to note: Not all kosher salts are the same. Morton’s kosher salt is heavier by volume than Diamond Crystal salt. This means if you add ¼ teaspoon Morton’s to a recipe and ¼ teaspoon of Diamond Crystal to the same recipe, the one with the Morton’s will taste saltier. (In fact, you often need to use almost double the amount of Diamond Crystal to get the same saltiness as Morton’s.)

In the end, when it comes to the type of salt you want to use, pick one and stick with it. That way, you’ll have a consistent sense for how much you need to add as you cook.

Seasoning, of course, is not just about salt. Acid, from citrus and vinegars, adds  sparkle to a dish. And heat, from chiles or peppercorns, can enliven a dish. Herbs, spices, garlic, and onions, as well as condiments (which add lots of different flavors at once), help season food as well.

Apart from seasoning, browning your ingredients brings out those foods’ natural sugars and is an important part of developing the flavor for certain recipes.

Ultimately, I’d like you to trust the recipes I write but also use your intuition. If a dish seems like it could use more flavor, try adding some salt, a squeeze of lemon, or a dash of hot sauce. If you wish the dish had more depth, maybe add a dash of soy sauce or brown the meat or vegetables more next time. The more you cook, the more you’ll learn and the better your food will taste.