Eli5: Why does it take so little salt to season eggs vs something like potatoes where you need to add way more?
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I would say it say there are a couple factors. One is the mass of the food and the other surface area/density. The more food you have the more salt you need so that the amount of salt you have is equal in the food you season. Secondly the more surface area food has the less salt you need because it’s easier to salt the food. Depending on the surface area and even density of the food, you need to account for that so that food doesn’t taste bland
Largely speaking the amount of salt you need to season something doesn’t really change. It’s mostly experience.
If I’m salting a wilted salad I’ll season each step but it’s got a ton of surface area so I know each gram of salt is going to find its mark.
If I’m salting a tri tip steak, a steak that is notoriously annoying to cook (irregular shape, low fat) I’m going to use more salt to make sure that it has flavor through the whole bite, but I’ll use more on the thicker parts.
Eggs are extremely small, high in fat (amplifies a lot of flavors) and already pretty fucking delicious, whereas beef and veggies can be pretty bland without salt.
I’ll use a gram or two of salt on an egg, maybe 10 grams on a full serving of a wilted salad and maybe 3 grams on each side of a tri tip steak.
That said, I’m using kosher salt and not iodized salt because I’m not a psychopath but also because it’s dramatically easier to measure the amount that I’m pouring.
For potatoes? I once won an award for my pommes frites, and I would use like… maybe 6 grams of salt for a whole bowl of fries, maybe like 3-4 orders worth.
It’s likely more important to make sure your salt is sticking.
Also basically everyone I know has low blood pressure and we don’t really worry about salt since we’re already low on it.
Potatoes are 79% water, and just about taste like it too. They need salt because they need the flavour enhancement.
Eggs are porous, fatty, and actually taste like something, so less of a need. They’re also much smaller than potatoes, so they don’t need as much salt to begin with.
**Nature**: Eggs do have a bit more salt in them naturally.
**Proportion**: Potatoes are usually larger and heavier than eggs. Like an egg couldbe 50g, and a medium/large potato could be 200g. So to taste equally salty, it would need 4x as much salt overall (although not quite 4x added salt, because the egg has some salt naturally).
**Adhesion**: Eggs are almost always wet/sticky, so any added salt will probably stay on them. Some ways of cooking potatoes give them a dry coating, and this might make some salt fall or bounce off (like how there could be salt left at the bottom of a packet of fries).
We don’t put salt on potatoes around here… boiled, baked or scalloped, no salt needed. Pepper or butter or chives or MAYBE cheese…but not salt.
Conversely, if pasta is salted too much. Throw a few wedges of potato and pull them out when saltiness is proper.
Eggs already come with all the nutrients a newborn baby chicken needs, including a certain amount of salt necessary for all animals to function. Potatoes as tubers have a much lower amount of salt in them naturally.
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