To Salt or Not to Salt

I am not the stereotypical woman. When I get upset, I don’t crave cake, cookies, and ice cream. Instead, I rummage through the refrigerator for cheese and bread. I scavenge through my pantry for chips and Cheez-Its. I gorge on movie popcorn with tons of butter. For dessert, I would rather have a cheese platter than chocolate cake!!!! Needless to say, I like my food salty.

Now, you would think that my craving preferences would have nothing to do with how I cook. Oh, no!!!!! I learned very fast the way I like food is not always the way other people like food. Though strangely, my brother likes food as salty as I do. My poor mom would slave away in the kitchen for hours only to have her children fighting over who could use the salt first every night.

This is a small problem that leads to over seasoned foods and unhappy guests. I tried not adding salt but that leads to unseasoned foods, unhappy guest, and an empty salt shaker. I am a fan of moderation. I put little salt in my cooking. However, I ask everyone who enters my kitchen to taste test everything. I am getting better with my sodium quotient but not perfect. Every once and awhile, I create something inedible to the average person. Please don’t ask my friends about the Asian Salmon catastrophes of 2005.

I do wonder if people who like extremely spicy foods have the same problem of over seasoning. I definitely have been to a few parties where the food was to hot for me to handle.

Overall, I learned that everyone has a different palate with different preferences and dislikes. The trick to create satisfying food is knowing who I am cooking for. If I cook for my brother, then I add copious amounts of salt. If I am cooking for a large party go with moderation. And if I cook for my Grandfather I always use ketchup…..That is another story for another blog!!!

I guess everyone has a demon in their pantry ….mine just happens to sit in cute little shakers on my dining room table!!!