Salt in poaching liquid

[paulraphael]

Is there any conventional wisdom on the ideal salt content for poaching liquid? I've seen recipes that don't include any, but I'd worry that this would leach juices out of the uncooked meat (osmosis and whatnot).

Thoughts?

[Peter the eater]

Is there any conventional wisdom on the ideal salt content for poaching liquid? I've seen recipes that don't include any, but I'd worry that this would leach juices out of the uncooked meat (osmosis and whatnot).

Thoughts?

←

Good question -- beats me.

Ideal salt levels probably varies depending on the food being poached. The biggest effect of a saline liquid would likely be to make the food taste salty. There's certainly a tradition of using seawater to cook seafood, but having had lobster both ways it doesn't really matter for me. Besides, my tap water is cleaner than the beach water across the street.

For starchy foods there is some science to support salting the cooking liquid.

Unlike poaching, brining meat with salty water works best at low temperatures over long time. It takes hours or days, not minutes, to plump up the cells.

[Soupcon]

You need salt in the poaching liquid as you need to achieve equilibrium in saline content between the salt already in the chicken and the poaching liquid, otherwise you leach the natural salt content of the chicken flesh into the poaching liquid until equilibrium has been reached. No salt food is not very palatable and if poaching with no salt in the liquid you probably will find the eaters adding excess salt to their food at the table. Try poaching chicken breast in saline and non saline solutions and compare yourself. I bet you prefer the breast poached in the saline solution every time.

[paulraphael]

You need salt in the poaching liquid as you need to achieve equilibrium in saline content between the salt already in the chicken and the poaching liquid, otherwise you leach the natural salt content of the chicken flesh into the poaching liquid until equilibrium has been reached.

Yeah, that's my assumption. I'm wondering if there's a standard starting point for salt %.

Many poaching recipes I've seen omit salt, and this seems like an oversight.

[Soupcon]

Not being a vet but being familiar with IV solutions for humans - a 0.9% solution is normal for IV infusion and is = to the saline & found in human blood. I'll bet that chickens are not much different. So probably at least a 1% solution by weight as weight is the most accurate measurement as different salts occupy different volumes when measured by weight. Trying different solutions by percentage will give you the one you like the best as in the long run it is all a matter of taste.

[Peter the eater]

Trying different solutions by percentage will give you the one you like the best as in the long run it is all a matter of taste.

That's the best way -- run a test in your own kitchen with your own stuff. So you're talking about poaching meat not dumplings? There must be a chart somewhere.

A higher salt content will also raise the dielectric constant of the solution which would inhibit the extraction of hydrophobic compounds, such as flavorful fats.

[Shalmanese]

Are you planning to use the poaching liquid in any way after the food has poached? If not, I tend to go with the standard "as salty as the sea" (3%) which I also use for pasta water. If so, I tend to go to taste and keep it slightly undersalted (1%) to account for the reduction and ability to add more salt later.

[paulraphael]

Hervé This answered this one. There's are a whole slew of experiments testing various wives tales about how to use salt when cooking meat. The conventional wisdom is all based on ideas about osmosis, and it all falls flat. Apparently the presence of salt in poaching liquid makes no difference at all, at least in regard to the juiciness of the meat.

The reason turns out to be simple. Osmosis is the diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane. But plant and animal cells aren't covered with semi-permeable membranes. Plant cells are covered with cell walls, and meat cells are covered with collagen. While these are both ever so slightly permeable, allowing a bit of osmosis to occur, once the cooking gets underway they break down and become completely permeable. So osmosis doesn't happen; cells take on or lose fluids (and salt) like sponges.

Based on this, Shalmanese made the winning point. Since I plan to use the poaching liquid to make stock, I'm not going to add salt.