Salt

Most bland home cooking is under-salted, not under-spiced. Add salt in small amounts and taste.

A pinch is a unit

A pinch is what you hold between thumb and two fingers, about 0.4 g. Recipes here count one pinch per serving in the nutrition facts. Every extra pinch adds about 150 mg of sodium.

When to salt

• Meat and tofu: before cooking, both sides. It seasons the surface.
• Eggs: right before cooking. Salted long before, they get watery.
• Everything: taste at the end and adjust. This is the step most people skip.

How to taste

Take a small bite. Ask one question: does it taste flat? Flat usually means it needs salt. Add one pinch, stir, taste again. Stop when it tastes like itself, only more.

Too salty?

You can’t take salt out. You can dilute it: add more of the unsalted main ingredient, or serve with something plain (rice, bread, plain yogurt). A squeeze of lemon makes saltiness less noticeable.

Watching your sodium?

Salt to taste at the table instead of in the pan, and measure what you add for a week. Seeing the number helps. See Blood pressure for sodium targets.