Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

“An exhaustively researched treatise on the four pillars of successful cooking.” (New York Times Book Review)

Archive note: These notes were published in 2018. Claims and figures concerning Nosrat’s cooking and salt advice reflect the book and the review period; they have not been updated here.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat is a book about the elements of good cooking. The book teaches the fundamentals, which you can use later in all your cooking. So, throw out the recipes and become a chef yourself. That is the bold claim, and I think Samin follows through. Here are my notes on the book.

Salt

Tasting is one of the most important things you do in the kitchen. Salt can keep dishes from tasting flat, and it can come from salt itself or ingredients such as cheese, olives and capers. It is sodium chloride, an essential mineral, and the notes point out that even rock salt comes from ancient bodies of water. Its primary role in cooking is to amplify flavour. The notes advise not worrying too much about adding salt to home-cooked meals unless a doctor says otherwise. Salt has its own taste and also enhances the flavour of other ingredients.

The notes distinguish table salt, which is dense and often iodised (giving it a metallic taste); kosher salt, described here as very pure and available in different sizes; and sea salt, with expensive fleur de sel reserved for dishes where its flavour stands out.

 

• We can perceive 5 tastes: saltiness, sourness, bitterness, sweetness, and umami (savouriness)
• Aroma is what our nose perceives (thousands of chemicals)
• Flavour lies on the intersection of taste, aroma, and sensory elements like texture, sound, appearance, and temperature
• Salt affects both taste and flavour
• Anything that heightens flavour is a seasoning
  • Season (salt) food from within

 

• Salt reduces our perception of bitterness (even better than sugar does)
• Salt enhances sweetness

 

• Salt moves through food via osmosis and diffusion
  • Osmosis: the movement of water in and out of a cell wall (towards the saltier side)
  • Diffusion: the movement of salt through a cell wall until it’s evenly distributed (this is a slower process)
• Salt meats in advance, to give it plenty of time to diffuse
• Salt seafood only 15 minutes before prepping
• Salt doesn’t dissolve in fat, but luckily most fats contain some water
• Add a pinch of salt to eggs you will scramble, etc
  • Lightly season water for poaching eggs
  • Season eggs cooked in the shell or fried in a pan just before serving
• Salt assists in weakening pectin (an undigestible carbohydrate) in vegetables
  • (in general) Salt vegetables before cooking them
  • Toss vegetables with salt and olive oil before roasting
  • Salt blancing water generously before adding vegetables
  • Add salt into the pan for sautéing
  • Season vegetables with large, watery, cells (e.g. tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines) 15 minutes before grilling/roasting
  • Salt mushrooms only when they are already starting to become brown
• Salt legumes and beans when you soak or cook them
• Salt bread dough early (it’s low in water, so it dissolves slowly)

 

• When cooking food in water, add enough salt
  • Because of the need for equilibrium, nutrients will stay in the greens
  • This will enhance flavour (duh) and make greens look greener
  • It also allows for quicker cooking (weakened pectins)
  • Salt water for cooking so that it tastes like sea water (i.e. a lot)
  • Taste the water to make sure it’s highly seasoned before you add any food
  • Cooking food in salted water is one of the simplest ways to season from within
• Measuring salt is done by taste
  • And with experience
  • And probably more than you’re used to
  • Take about 1% of weight for vegetables and grains
  • And 2% salinity for water for cooking

 

• Salt doesn’t necessarily mean you need to use pepper too
  • And if you do, grind it just before you use pepper
• Salt can be used in conjunction with sugar
  • E.g. with a lovely dessert
• If you add too much salt, then:
  • Dilute, add unseasoned ingredients
  • Halve, and put away the rest for later
  • Balance, with acid or fat
  • Select, other things to balance the saltiness
  • Transform, into something that work with more salt
  • Admin defeat…
• Stir, taste, adjust
• Ask yourself: When? How much? In what form?

 

Fat

• Where oilive oil comes from has a huge effect on how it tastes
  • Oil from hot, dry, hilly areas is spicy
  • From coastal climates is milder in flavour