Cooking hack - What do you do when you put too much salt??

[dundee]

I made some Risotto yesterday. Unfortunately, I had put a bit too much salt than necessary and it didn't taste as good as it could have been.

So, I ask - when you put too much salt in your foods, what is your trick, to make it taste less salty? In the past I have tried -

- adding more principal ingredients (couldn't do it for Risotto)
- sometimes adding water...

What else have you used?

[Random Poster]

Lemon juice sometimes works.

[livesoft]

Feed to the dog.

[HomeStretch]

I don’t believe there is any fix for a dish such as risotto that is too salty. Maybe you could add an unsalted protein on top of the risotto and try to have each bite contain a bit of both.

[f8andbethere]

The only "hack" that's worked for me is to add little (if any) salt to dishes that are being simmered or reduced (like sauces or your risotto) until I'm about to take them off the heat.

Also, be aware that the size of salt crystals (table, kosher, sea salt, different brands, etc.) can result in dramatic differences if measured by volume.

In truth, there's really no way to reduce saltiness in a dish. You can add other flavor elements to distract, but that's not necessarily better.

[FeralCat]

There is nothing you can do, and hopefully you have learned your lesson. I sprinkle a little salt, let it cook in, taste, repeat if necessary. It's amazing how salty adding a little bit of salt tastes. I don't understand how restaurant and frozen food can contain so much hidden salt and not taste too salty.

[nisiprius]

IMHO one of the funniest stories of all time, from a collection of funny stories, The Peterkin Papers, by Lucretia Mott Hale. They are set in a town near Boston--not specified, but Braintree seems to fit--in the late 1800s, and are also a charming picture of life in that place and time.

The Lady who Put Salt in Her Coffee

You really should read it, but... just to convey the gist:

This was Mrs. Peterkin. It was a mistake. She had poured out a delicious cup of coffee, and, just as she was helping herself to cream, she found she had put in salt instead of sugar! It tasted bad. What should she do? Of course she couldn't drink the coffee; so she called in the family, for she was sitting at a late breakfast all alone. The family came in; they all tasted, and looked, and wondered what should be done, and all sat down to think.

At last Agamemnon, who had been to college, said, " Why don't we go over and ask the advice of the chemist? " (For the chemist lived over the way, and was a very wise man.)

...First he looked at the coffee, and then stirred it. Then he put in a little chlorate of potassium, and the family tried it all round; but it tasted no better. Then he stirred in a little bichlorate of magnesia. But Mrs. Peterkin didn't like that. Then he added some tartaric acid and some hypersulphate of lime. But no; it was no better. "I have it!" exclaimed the chemist,–"a little ammonia is just the thing!" No, it wasn't the thing at all.

Then he tried, each in turn, some oxalic, cyanic, acetic, phosphoric, chloric, hyperchloric, sulphuric, boracic, silicic, nitric, formic, nitrous nitric, and carbonic acids. Mrs. Peterkin tasted each, and said the flavor was pleasant, but not precisely that of coffee. So then he tried a little calcium, aluminum, barium, and strontium, a little clear bitumen, and a half of a third of a sixteenth of a grain of arsenic. This gave rather a pretty color; but still Mrs. Peterkin ungratefully said it tasted of anything but coffee. The chemist was not discouraged. He put in a little belladonna and atropine, some granulated hydrogen, some potash, and a very little antimony, finishing off with a little pure carbon. But still Mrs. Peterkin was not satisfied....

...All sat and thought awhile, till Elizabeth Eliza said, "Why don't we go to the herb-woman?" ...

...Meanwhile Mrs. Peterkin was getting quite impatient for her coffee.

As soon as the little old woman came she had it set over the fire, and began to stir in the different herbs. First she put in a little hop for the bitter. Mrs. Peterkin said it tasted like hop-tea, and not at all like coffee. Then she tried a little flagroot and snakeroot, then some spruce gum, and some caraway and some dill, some rue and rosemary, some sweet marjoram and sour, some oppermint and sappermint, a little spearmint and peppermint, some wild thyme, and some of the other tame time, some tansy and basil, and catnip and valerian, and sassafras, ginger, and pennyroyal. The children tasted after each mixture, but made up dreadful faces. Mrs. Peterkin tasted, and did the same. The more the old woman stirred, and the more she put in, the worse it all seemed to taste....

At last Elizabeth Eliza said, "They say that the lady from Philadelphia, who is staying in town, is very wise. Suppose I go and ask her what is best to be done...."

She told the lady from Philadelphia the whole story. The lady from Philadelphia listened very attentively, and then said, "Why doesn't your mother make a fresh cup of coffee?" Elizabeth Eliza started with surprise. Solomon John shouted with joy; so did Agamemnon, who had just finished his sum; so did the little boys, who had followed on. "Why didn't we think of that?" said Elizabeth Eliza; and they all went back to their mother, and she had her cup of coffee.

[3cat]

I made some Risotto yesterday. Unfortunately, I had put a bit too much salt than necessary and it didn't taste as good as it could have been.

So, I ask - when you put too much salt in your foods, what is your trick, to make it taste less salty? In the past I have tried -

- adding more principal ingredients (couldn't do it for Risotto)
- sometimes adding water...

What else have you used?

Acids and sweeteners can help. Adding more white wine to a risotto might help, depending on how over-salted it was. A slightly sweet or medium dry wine might work. A little bit of agave syrup might also work. You can hopefully cook the risotto a bit longer to drive off the water from the syrup but the risk is overcooking the rice. I've used the agave syrup trick successfully a few times, though never with risotto. The sweet balances the salt and the salt keeps it from tasting overly sweet.

[mhc]

Do a really hard work out where you sweat a lot, and the salty food will taste better.

Drink some cold beer and have the risotto as your salty snack.

[snic]

Include something else in the meal with too little salt. A piece of meat, perhaps, or some vegetables, which you have prepared with no salt at all.

[3cat]

Include something else in the meal with too little salt. A piece of meat, perhaps, or some vegetables, which you have prepared with no salt at all.

Exactly the purpose of Pane Toscano (Tuscan bread).

[AlwaysLearningMore]

I made some Risotto yesterday. Unfortunately, I had put a bit too much salt than necessary and it didn't taste as good as it could have been.

So, I ask - when you put too much salt in your foods, what is your trick, to make it taste less salty? In the past I have tried -

- adding more principal ingredients (couldn't do it for Risotto)
- sometimes adding water...

What else have you used?

For those dishes where is practical, adding potato works well. The potato is removed before serving.

[leeks]

Dilute with more food or water. I suggest cannelini beans (if you can find unsalted cans or soak/cook from dry) or riced cauliflower (grocery stores have it in frozen veggie section). Otherwise, add water (or broth) and veggies/beans/lentils to make it into a soup/stew.

[ReadyOrNot]

Make some more risotto without any salt, mix the two risottos together.

Or
Mix in some unsalted mashed potato, Don't call it risotto.

Or make some unsalted pasta. Combine with risotto and call it rice-aroni or something.

Or
Use it as a sauce over some plain unsalted vegetables.

Or make "soup with risotto" with lees salt in the soup than usual.

[InvisibleAerobar]

I made some Risotto yesterday. Unfortunately, I had put a bit too much salt than necessary and it didn't taste as good as it could have been.

So, I ask - when you put too much salt in your foods, what is your trick, to make it taste less salty? In the past I have tried -

- adding more principal ingredients (couldn't do it for Risotto)
- sometimes adding water...

What else have you used?

No suggestion for you this time, but the way to avoid this in the future is to use stock (that is to say, salt in aqueous form), as opposed to measuring out however much salt and sprinkling or worse, doing it by feel.

For 275 g of uncooked rice, I use about 1 L of stock prepared to contain ~1,000 mg of sodium. Rough estimate is that this is ~1/2 teaspoons of sea salt, which is an amount I don't trust myself to distribute evenly.

[tonyclifton]

If it is a little too salty, just eat it. If it is inedible, throw it out. Next time measure or weigh how much salt you put in. Risotto is not an easy dish so consider this a lesson learned.

[AllMostThere]

There are many folklore fixes for excessive salt, but none work. The best course of action is to admit your failure, toss out the meal and go out to dinner.

[UpperNwGuy]

My cooking instructor always said, add salt (or any other seasoning) a little bit at a time because you can always add more, but once it is in, you can't take it out.

[Beensabu]

Peanut butter. Works for all the spice "oopsies".

[FeralCat]

Peanut butter. Works for all the spice "oopsies".

Salted or unsalted peanut butter?

[Beensabu]

Peanut butter. Works for all the spice "oopsies".

Salted or unsalted peanut butter?

Natural Creamy

[avidlearner]

if the dish has lot of liquid or gravy then take a cheesecloth and put some rice in it and add some water and let it cook with the gravy and rice will soak some of the salt and you can remove it.

[Wannaretireearly]

Add more protein. Eggs and shrimp come to mind

[retireIn2020]

I made some Risotto yesterday. Unfortunately, I had put a bit too much salt than necessary and it didn't taste as good as it could have been.

So, I ask - when you put too much salt in your foods, what is your trick, to make it taste less salty? In the past I have tried -

- adding more principal ingredients (couldn't do it for Risotto)
- sometimes adding water...

What else have you used?

Well, you won't beat Bobby Flay when you do that. This is the reason you add, taste, add.

[ClaireB1000]

Well I’ve noticed with bread that they have added salt and sugar to make it last longer - I’m guessing maybe the salt/sugar counter act each other taste wise???

so maybe add sugar?

[SimplyCurious]

I've been cooking for 74 years (at age 12 was encouraged to learn to use the kitchen stove) and have encountered quite a few poorly seasoned dishes of my own making. I've noticed that such dishes--stew, soup or a casserole where I've oversalted or added a few too many hot pepper flakes--sometimes taste fine on the second day. Other ingredients seem to absorb the excess seasoning over time.

Flavors can enhance each other and/or balance each other--for example, we add a little salt to cake or cookie batter to enhance the sweetness without creating a salty flavor. The suggestions other posters made to add acidity or sweetness (I'd also try a bitter note such as lemon zest) to a rice dish to balance too much salty flavor are good ones, as long as the degree of saltiness is not so extreme as to make the dish inedible. It is also a good general rule to taste for salt as you cook, rather than adding all at the end, and hold back some salt until you take a final taste for seasoning just before serving.

[KCjoe]

If it is a liquid dish you can put a peeled potato in and let it cook. It will absorb a fair amount of salt

[bh1]

Well I’ve noticed with bread that they have added salt and sugar to make it last longer - I’m guessing maybe the salt/sugar counter act each other taste wise???

so maybe add sugar?

I’ve used sugar for sauces that were too salty, and it worked fine.

[PVW]

Dilution is the only thing that has worked for me. It will be difficult with already prepared risotto, but you can try adding some unsalted meat and/or vegetables. Risotto and shrimp is popular. I like risotto with charred red pepper and corn. Risotto with Primavera vegetables would be good. Rissotto and spinach. Many other possibilities. I would cook the additions first and add them to a warmed risotto.

Unless I'm serving it to guests, I wouldn't worry too much about slightly overcooked risotto. I even prefer it a little softer that what I get from professional cooks.

[MP173]

I have also heard that potato will absorb excess salt.

Cannot verify.

ed

[Jeepergeo]

Cooking, if for others especially, is a craft. If a dish is not right it should not be served to others. Perhaps the trash is where it should go.

[rebellovw]

I made Nestle Choc Chip cookies once - and I accidentally doubled the salt.

Really affected the taste - they still all got eaten.

[Teague]

I have also heard that potato will absorb excess salt.

Cannot verify.

ed

It doesn't work unfortunately. Just another example of spin from Big Potato and the potato-industrial complex.

[Beensabu]

I made Nestle Choc Chip cookies once - and I accidentally doubled the salt.

Really affected the taste - they still all got eaten.

Everyone always eats all the cookies unless you accidentally double the baking soda.