Eli5: Why does it take so little salt to season eggs vs something like potatoes where you need to add way more?

Question

Eli5: Why does it take so little salt to season eggs vs something like potatoes where you need to add way more?

In: 37

Answer 1

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.