Do you bring your own salt?

[cdh]

As to containers, it sounds like you would like something fancy to tote the salt around in... you might look into antique snuffboxes. They were the height of fashion in their day... and were designed accordingly.

[Nyleve Baar]

I had dinner not too long ago at a supposedly casual Italian restaurant where there was no salt on the table. At first, I thought it was a mistake. But when I asked the waiter, he very audibly informed me that THE CHEF HAS ALREADY SALTED THE FOOD but IF YOU INSIST I'll see if I can find you a salt shaker. I found it pretentious and rude and I will never eat in that restaurant again. I might understand if this were the Type of Restaurant where One Does Not Question. But fercripesakes it was pizza and pasta. Give me a break.

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Dang -- you're not getting what you need at the "fancy schmancy" places and now your neighborhood trattoria is giving you a hard time about the salt. Tough Spring!

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You're SOOOO right. I guess I just can't go out anymore. Better stay home with my cozy little salt pot that I can use at a moment's notice, and my good old home cookin'. No - wait. Don't let my husband read this.

[shelora]

Hey, I've got a line on some glass vials via a science shop, they have either corks or plastic screw tops. This could just be the thing for my private revolution.

Will report back.

s

[jgm]

I have exactly the opposite problem. Restaurant food is too salty for me. And I find myself apologizing and explaining to the waitstaff that for the past 4 or 5 years, everything has tasted very salty. I have no idea why, but it's a problem. So far, I've not had anyone complain about my requests to go easy on the salt, but it's probably coming.

The bottom line is: scientifically, we know that not all people have the same sense of smell. Some people can smell certain chemicals and others can't. Anecdotally, I know that various friends can taste certain things in food that I can't (and vice versa), so I think it's a pretty safe assumption that the sense of taste varies from person to person.

For a chef to become insulted over the issue of salt is extremely arrogant. Especially if that chef's taste buds are compromised because he or she smokes--and I know several who do.

[chefzadi]

To answer the original question: plastic baggie.

The problem with salt in restaurants sort of reminds me of the problem with kids in restaurants. I've heard of it, but have never experienced it. Maybe I don't get out much. .. (I'll sit back and wait for the response from someone who assumes I really mean that. )

[Genny]

However a chef who is insulted by something like this has a fragile ego or a monumental one. I'm sure someone here can mention some famous chefs of yester year emphatically against customers salting food. But I've never heard of customers being refused salt untill recently or being lectured by a server about how the chef has perfectly seasoned everything.

The whole thing is really comical from my point of view.

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or a MONUMENTALly fragile ego??

My friend salts every*friggin* thing. She was over the other night and just for her I put out an old fashioned salt cellar with a tiny glass spoon. She was so pleased! She said she would try the meal without salt first just so she wouldn't insult my cooking...I'm not insulted, I've seen the woman salt salad, pasta with bolognese, and even a sandwich with salami! Some people just do, face it we all have different tastes, preferences, tolerances. Any chef that thinks his palette should be enough for everyone needs to go back to culinary school.

[Pan]

I've decided that when I dine out, I want to bring my own sea salt. Very rarely is salt available at restaurants these days and instead of trying to track down the waiter to ask and then be interrogated by the chef - which happened the other night - I just want to add salt when I deem it necessary.

The problem is what should I carry it in? Are there attractive salt boxes or containers that would discreetly fit in my purse, so I could carry a couple of tablespoons of my favorite sea salt?

Does anyone else do this?

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Not me! I'm sometimes amazed by the lengths to which some people (maybe we food-obsessed eGullet Society members in particular) will go. I find it unimaginable to bring my own salt to a restaurant, but in all seriousness, whatever floats your boat is fine with me. I'm with jgm, though: I almost never add salt to anything I'm served, except for the Korean soup that has no salt in it whatsoever and is meant to be salted by each customer to his/her taste.

[shelora]

Purchased a wonderful 4 1/2 " test tube, very slender, $1.75 and .20 cents for the cork.

Filled it with salt and it fits perfectly in the side pouch of my purse along with my pens and business cards.

Can hardly wait to try it out.

s

[Bond Girl]

If yoou fill it with good salt, you will never regret it!

[Really Nice!]

As a gift I got a nifty little wood box that measures 3.5 × .75 × 1; about the same dimensions as a BIC lighter. You twist it 90 degrees and the salt of your choice comes out. It fits perfectly in your pocket, purse, whatever.

I got it as a gift from a friend. The inscription on the box says:

Natural sea salt from the coast of Brittany, France. Order online at napastyle.com or call 1-866-766-6272.

I searched napastyle.com and couldn't find the 'model' I have.

[shelora]

If yoou fill it with good salt, you will never regret it!

Oh yes, my friend. I brought back 10 kilos from Las Salinas on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Beautiful irregular grains, crispy, good meltability, slightly citrusy-sweet. It's amazing stuff.

[Shalmanese]

Not me! I'm sometimes amazed by the lengths to which some people (maybe we food-obsessed eGullet Society members in particular) will go. I find it unimaginable to bring my own salt to a restaurant, but in all seriousness, whatever floats your boat is fine with me. I'm with jgm, though: I almost never add salt to anything I'm served, except for the Korean soup that has no salt in it whatsoever and is meant to be salted by each customer to his/her taste.

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Nah, that's just your typical borderline OCD. Obsessed is when you start bringing a range of salts so that you can pair your salt with your food. After all, it would be terribly gauche to put Jurassic salt on sea food because you left the Hawaiian red at home.

[touaregsand]

I hardly ever add salt at the table to my food except in cases where the diner is supposed like the Korean soups that Pan mentioned.

So to those who salt food at the table, what do you salt? How often do you find yourself needing to add salt to food when dining out? How many restaurants have you dined at that resist giving customers salt?

Carrying around salt sort of seems like carrying around a life vest on dry land. I just don't get it.

[ronnie_suburban]

I can't remember ever once feeling like I wanted to add salt to food at a restaurant where salt wasn't already on the table. Perhaps I'm just lucky in that regard.

OTOH, I like the idea of carrying my own since I prefer both kosher and sea salt to the iodized table salt that's usually offered.

I have been known to hoard (in my glove compartment, desk drawer at work, etc.) a couple packets of fine-grind fast food salt because it adheres to french fries so much better than the larger grain salts.

=R=

[NulloModo]

So to those who salt food at the table, what do you salt? How often do you find yourself needing to add salt to food when dining out? How many restaurants have you dined at that resist giving customers salt?

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I salt lots of things at the table. Sides of vegetables usually need it, certain composed salads, steaks (they usually need a fresh grind of pepper too), burgers, french fries, really, anything other than desserts is usually enhanced by a bit more salt, at least to my tongue. Also certain things are enhanced by salty condiments, such as sashimi which begs for some soy sauce, or mexican rice and beans which needs some vinegary salty picante sauce. I've never had a restaurant resist giving me salt, but I've also never eaten anywhere where there wasn't salt or an appropriate salty condiment already present on the table. I don't think I could particularly want to eat anywhere pretentious enough not to put the basics out on the table either.

[moosnsqrl]

I've had this problem more in LA and environs than anywhere else. I found a small set of S&P grinders at Sur la Table that work well. I keep them in a soft-sided, zippered eyeglass case (which also has a belt clip for those who don't carry purses). They're stainless steel finish and I don't leave home without them.

I've been doing this for a couple of years and those friends I dine regularly with will ask for them if they happen to get served a course before I've gotten them out. It's just easier than ruining a meal arguing with chef or server and I always have the salt & pepper I want for the occasion. If I know I'm going Asian, I dump out the telicherry and fill with white, same with different sea salts.

[Behemoth]

I can't remember eating out at a place that undersalted rather than oversalted. C'mon, admit it, y'all have control issues

Edited May 12, 2005 by Behemoth (log)

[Grub]

I can't remember eating out at a place that undersalted rather than oversalted. C'mon, admit it, y'all have control issues

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I know this is said in jest, but there's a LOT of truth to it... Having control of one's life (whether in significant, or as in this seemingly insignificant way) makes people happy. This salt issue is just a variant of Mongolian BBQ Syndrome -- the satisfaction people feel from being able to completely control what goes into a meal, makes them chow down on gruel that they'd otherwise revolt against, had they been served it off a straight menu. It's a total control issue. I don't mean to insult anyone by saying this -- I only realized this, because I used to create some pretty nasty plates myself... I think more bad dishes have been eaten in Mongolian BBQs around the world, than in all other restaurants combined -- and the customers were perfectly happy, too.

By adding something to a meal, you ARE effectively criticizing the cook. (Whether the cook takes offence or not, is an entirely different issue. Eating sushi, I've broken more rules of culinary etiquette than Jeffrey Dahmer, but I've yet had anyone admonish me for it -- of course, that's a cultural issue, but so is MBS). Whether you're adding salt, pepper, or garlic -- or thickening up the sauce with some cornstarch doesn't really matter. You're effectively saying that this meal isn't to your liking, but your modifications will make it so. And that is perfectly fine, as long as you're willing to stand up and say that most restaurants do not salt their meals properly (as opposed to just bringing salt along, because of a "control issue.")

Personally, I think that occasionally, a restaurant meal might not be properly salted. But it might as well be over-salted, as under-salted. So carrying salt around is only going to solve half of those problems. Furthermore, if there really is something wrong with a meal, the amount of salt isn't always going to be the problem -- there could be lots of other things wrong with it -- and again, carrying salt isn't going to resolve those problems.

To salt every meal, is clearly a control issue. It's like going to concerts bringing your own cello, because in your opinion, symphonic orchestra just don't emphasize it enough...

Oh, it needs more cow bell

[Shalmanese]

Of course most restaurants don't salt properly, they haven't cooked for you for many years and got to know your particular salt tolerances so it's impossible for them to salt it properly. They might be able to do a good enough job for 80 or 90% of the people who fall in the middle of the bell curve but, fundamentally, your getting the same meal as everyone else even though your tastebuds differ.

[shelora]

Having control of one's life (whether in significant, or as in this seemingly insignificant way) makes people happy. This salt issue is just a variant of Mongolian BBQ Syndrome -- the satisfaction people feel from being able to completely control what goes into a meal, makes them chow down on gruel that they'd otherwise revolt against, had they been served it off a straight menu. It's a total control issue.

Dear Dr. Grub,

What I was referring to was a dish that needed salt to bring out the flavours, NOT salt every meal with relish. Although I have had the urge to take the chef out and explain how a dish should be cooked, I have repressed that urge.

If that's all it took to gain control of my life, was to add salt to everything, I'd be carrying a sack of it everywhere I went. ........On second thought, ....... oh, never mind.

[Osnav]

Several of my friends carry their own salt and pepper mills.

William Bound has ceramic salt mills that won't corrode.

There are many salts on the market now that all have their individual characteristics. If you want to carry your favorite or a specific one, take Nike's advice: Just Do It.

[Milagai]

I salt lots of things at the table.  Sides of vegetables usually need it, certain composed salads, steaks (they usually need a fresh grind of pepper too), burgers, french fries, really, anything other than desserts is usually enhanced by a bit more salt, at least to my tongue.  Also certain things are enhanced by salty condiments, such as sashimi which begs for some soy sauce, or mexican rice and beans which needs some vinegary salty picante sauce.  I've never had a restaurant resist giving me salt, but I've also never eaten anywhere where there wasn't salt or an appropriate salty condiment already present on the table.  I don't think I could particularly want to eat anywhere pretentious enough not to put the basics out on the table either.

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i read somewhere the famous conductor zubin mehta

travels everywhere with a little glass container of spice

mix (curry powder type) in his pocket as an antidote

to bland food.

not sure whether this story is true or not, but i know

that more than 2 days or so of bland food KILLS me.

spices are addictive, and i really feel ill and out of sorts

unless i get my regular fix.....

not sure how much is psychology and how much

is physiology.

so: do the rest of you add anything or ask for

anything OTHER than salt to yr food?

i was taken once to a foofy french restaurant in DC

which had SERIOUSLY underflavored food, and when

i had the audacity to ask for red pepper, the

waiter snootily informed me that they didn't have any.

(what? not even back in the kitchen?)

definitely if i travel to europe again i'll take

some spice mix, and a tiny bottle of lime / ginger pickle

(a whole other story)

milagai

[touaregsand]

i was taken once to a foofy french restaurant in DC

which had SERIOUSLY underflavored food, and when

i had the audacity to ask for red pepper, the

waiter snootily informed me that they didn't have any.

(what? not even back in the kitchen?)

It's most likely true that they just didn't have it, not even in the back. Hot sauces or hot pepper has little or no use in French cuisine. I've only seen harissa (North African chili paste) used occassionally, in an aioli for instance. But that's about it.

[shelora]

When our Zapotec friends come to visit, I make sure I have a supply of fresh serrano chilies on hand. These will emerge when we are dining out and it is quite entertaining to watch the faces on the wait staff, as our friend bites into a chile pepper during his meal.

It too, am quite addicted to the chilies heat and have requested a side of dried chilies at the restaurants I know have them. Oddly, never problem with asking for chile peppers, so I don't have to concern myself with carrying that around at all times.

[Milagai]

When our Zapotec friends come to visit, I make sure I have a supply of fresh serrano chilies on hand. These will emerge when we are dining out and it is quite entertaining to watch the faces on the wait staff, as our friend bites into a chile pepper during his meal.

It too, am quite addicted to the chilies heat and have requested a side of dried chilies at the restaurants I know have them. Oddly, never problem with asking for chile peppers, so I don't have to concern myself with carrying that around at all times.

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interesting! this is a very indian thing too!

at least home-eating style more than restaurant style.

for many families its quite the thing to have

a small plate of fresh green chilies and salt next

to their dal-roti or dal and rice plate.

milagai