Remedy Oversalted Cooking

A little too heavy-handed with the salt container and dinner has to be on the table soon? This article provides a few quick fixes to help you out in a hurry.

Steps

 * 1)  Fix oversalted soup. Soup can taste terrible if salt dominates the rest of the flavours. If salt is drowning your soup, add a little sugar to counterbalance it. The next step may also be of help for stew, and see further "Tips".
 * 2)  Fix oversalted stew. A salty stew tests the toughest diner. Quickly peel some potatoes and slice them into rounds. Add these to the stew to lighten the salt a little. The raw potatoes will absorb the salt as they cook briefly (until they look translucent) and then you can remove them (fish them out with a slotted spoon). The remaining stew should be less salty. Another quick fix is to add a few spoons of milk to the stew.
 * 3)  Fix oversalted vegetables. No asking what are you doing salting veggies?! Again, the same fix applies if the veggies are in water or broth as for the stew. If they are steamed or stir-fried, you will probably need to start again, although you can try rinsing steamed veggies if the oversalting is merely because the diner sprinkled too much salt on.

Tips

 * If your recipe lets you get away with a little dilution, add some water to help dissipate the saltiness. Sometimes the addition of a different type of liquid, such as orange juice, olive oil or milk will also be possible. It all depends on the recipe and type of food that you are cooking.
 * Sometimes draining the dish might help. Again be guided by the recipe.
 * It might be possible to add another seasoning to counteract the salt. Be careful, however, to not include a salty seasoning! Try herbs and spices instead.

Warnings

 * Salt in excessive amounts is health-threatening. See your health professional if you are unable to cut down on the use of excessive salt in your cooking and eating habits.
 * Adding salt to a meal is considered by many to be an insult to the chef; leave it off when you dine out unless you've got amazing chutzpah.

Things You'll Need

 * Potato
 * Sugar
 * Slotted spoon

Related Tips and Steps

 * How to Eat Less Salt
 * How to Create Salt Dough
 * How to Turn Salt Water Into Drinking Water
 * How to Use Flaky Sea Salt