Salt Free Cooking Tips

If you take #103 Table Tasty salt substitute and #117 Bravado chili seasoning at about a 50/50 combination. It will give you a Dorito like flavor but salt free. Sprinkle on unsalted corn chips, unsalted potato chips, unsalted nuts, potatoes, eggs, popcorn. Even in sour cream as a dip. I beat some into eggs when I'm making a Spanish Omlette and I love this mix in deviled eggs, and when I make tacos. It really does make a good salt free taco seasoning.

If you mix about 1 1/2 teaspoons of #103 Table Tasty salt flavor in a cup of water, or to taste. You will have a quick, tasty, salt free vegetable broth.

Zesty Lemon & Herb seasoning (#104) is delicious in Tuna Salad. It's got lemon and dill weed in it to help give it a little of that dill pickle tang. It's better than pickles. Trader Joe's has a very good no salt added canned white albacore tuna. If you buy fresh tuna, don't panic. It is very dark in color, almost like beef, but it turns light in color when you cook it.

If you warm, (not too hot) a very good extra virgin olive oil (I use a microwave about 30 seconds) in a dish with #106 Gusto Garlic & Herb Pepper. It will give you a wonderful tasting dipping oil, like they give you in many of the Italian restaurants for your bread. You could also add a little Balsamic vinegar on the edge of the oil. You could also use Supreme Garlic and Herb if you don't like pepper.

Flavored vinegars are a great way to add flavor to your food without salt. Tarragon is one of the saltiest tasting herbs, also one of the most expensive. I use Tarragon vinegar a lot. Rice wine vinegar is very popular as it doesn't have a strong vinegar taste like most vinegars. Make sure you use the Unseasoned Rice Vinegar as the Seasoned Rice vinegar has salt and sugar.

This is more of a health tip than a flavor tip. To skim off that last bit of fat off the top of a hot pot of soup, try this. Place a lettuce leaf or two on top of the hot soup. Take the lettuce leaf out with tongs and the oil will cling to the lettuce leaf. This can also be done pretty well with a paper towel.  There are also kitchen utensils called fat skimmers, available.

You can also refrigerate your dish, especially if it is a soup or stew, and after it is cold, you can just lift off the fat which comes to the top and discard. 

Always keep fresh lemons and or limes around. You won't believe the difference they can make. Your tongue has trouble distinguishing between salt and sour as you pucker up with either. By adding a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end of your cooking or even at the table, you'll find many dishes brighten up with a hint of saltiness. You may have noticed that many Mexican dishes, especially soups have a squeeze of lime at the table. Just take a little of your food to the side and try a little squeeze of fresh lemon or lime and test and see what the taste difference would be, before you add it to your whole plate.

Invest in a pepper grinder. The difference in flavor between fresh ground pepper and regular store bought, is huge.

Browning your food well (carmelizing), will add a lot of flavor.  I think browning more slowly on a medium or medium low heat  instead of a quick sear on a high heat will add the most flavor in most recipes. Make sure your brown your meats with Gusto when making soups or stews, pot roasts or even for the crock pot. The broth has a really good flavor and color. You are not using canned broths or bouillon cubes (not even the low sodium ones, as they are usually still too high in sodium and many have potassium added), so you must learn how to flavor the broths naturally, and browning or caramelizing adds a lot of flavor.

Use the little browned bits on the bottom of your pan.  It's called fond.  Deglaze the pan by adding liquid (water, wine, juice, tomatoes, milk) to release those browned bits. by scraping them off the bottom (usually with a spoon) and those little bits add a ton of flavor. Don't let them burn.

A crock pot is your friend. You will get incredible flavor. Again this is about letting the food cook over a long time to allow the flavors to mingle and permeate the food. Generally, it works like this, low temperature is 10 to 12 hours and high temperature is 6 to 8 hours. Put the food in the crock pot in the morning and come home to a delicous meal. When you buy a crock pot, I recommend getting one with a removeable crock as it is much easier to clean. If you don't have a removeable liner try using those oven cooking bags inside the crock as it makes clean up easier.  

Boiling your food, or boiling food too long, especially soups and sauces, can start killing the flavor; simmering is usually better.  A simmer is not boiling. A simmer is bringing food to the boiling point, just to where is starts to bubble and then turn the heat down. This gentle cooking helps preserve and enhance flavor.

Instead of using bread crumbs or cracker crumbs (they are usually very high in sodium) try using oats like in our Meatloaf Masterpiece recipe.  Old fashioned whole grain rolled oats is a good filler and it's high in fiber and low in sodium. 

A pressure cooker is a great way to cook quickly and add lots of flavor. Cooking in a pressure cooker, adds flavor just like you had been cooking all day.  It's a great way to cook tougher cuts of meat (as they are usually more flavorful). These tougher cuts will cook up tender, in minutes. This is a great way to cook soups and stews, for maximum flavor.  I have used a pressure cooker for years (one that says can't explode).

It's usually better to by products that say "no salt added" rather than products that say "reduced sodium".  Reduced sodium products may still be too high in sodium for a low sodium diet.  Reduced sodium products just have to be a certain percentage lower than their regular product. Many times that does not make it a low sodium product.  That is why it still may be too high in sodium for a low sodium diet. 

Watch on the nutritional labels, the serving size.  The sodium level may not look too bad, until you look at the serving size.  The sodium level stated may be for a half cup, when actually you know that your serving size is a cup.  Or it may state a tablespoon, when you are actually using 3 tablespoons. 

Also, those of you who are watching your potassium, be aware that many low sodium products are made with potassium chloride (salt substitute).  The doctors may tell you no salt substitutes but they may forget to tell you to watch for the salt substitutes (potassium chloride) in many low sodium products, even many seasonings (not ours).  We use no potassium chloride in any of our seasonings.

Cooking tips are added often, so check back.