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Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

First of all, surface salt doesn't taste nearly as good as food that is salted throughout. Every chef knows this. Not to mention that salting foods before cooking changes their texture as well. This is why a steak that is salted an hour before grilling is far more flavorful and has a better texture than one cooked without salt, but salted at the table. And it's not a subtle difference, either -- we're talking night-and-day.

And dessert basically goes the same way -- I honestly can't even imagine what something like a cherry pie would be if it were cooked without sugar, and then you were expected to dump sugar on top. But it would not be good.

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That might be true, but it takes toooo much salt. So I prefer to salt after cooking, right before eating because it requires way less and gives roughly the same effect.

The reason a chef "knows this" is because if you judged their food with or without salt, the salt one would win, so in the end they're required to add waaay to much salt, when the tongue just needs those surface crystals.

Healthier to salt after, and therefore cook your own food.

> gives roughly the same effect

It does not, and that can (and has been!) be empirically shown. Salt gets into the food and changes both chemical properties and how it responds to cooking. Pre-seasoned meats, for example, are more tender.

If you prefer to salt at the table, by all means, eat your food however you like it, but it is simply false to claim that there's no difference or "chefs just add too much salt".

> Healthier to salt after

It's not. Unless you have hypertension or some other medical condition around salt, there's no reason to restrict your salt intake.

For the average person, the level of salt in restaurant food has no unhealthy effects whatsoever. Amounts in excess of your daily requirement are simply excreted in urine.

Just because low sodium is an effective treatment for certain conditions does not mean it should be the default option.

Many athletes especially in very hot climates need high sodium, sometimes up to 8 grams a day.

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