Is there too much salt in the restaurant’s food? This is what famous chefs answer.
The amount of salt in the food speaks at regular intervals. Adobe Stock / AOP
When talking about overly salty food, the restaurant chef is often criticized. The salt debate reignited again when Iltalehti’s editor highlighted the saltiness of restaurant food in his perspective article.
Iltalehti asked what long-time professionals, restaurateurs and chefs think about this Kari “Kape” Aihinen, Pekka Terävä and Arto Rastas.
Kape Aihinen calls himself Finland’s best-known salt advocate. Despite this playful title, Aihinen does not feel that he oversalts restaurant dishes.
– We rarely get customer feedback about overly salty food. Dear people, there must be salt in the food, says Aihinen.
He urges that everyone can try eating unsalted crayfish or unsalted mushroom stew or unsalted steak.
Kape Aihinen was working at restaurant Robusto on Saturday. He says he finished 800 servings, but didn’t get any of the selected amount of salt. Arttu Timonen
If there was feedback, the customer would receive a new dose. However, the topic reminds us that there is no such thing as completely salt-free food. He wants every portion to taste as good as possible.
– I do it as if it were the last dose of my life. I put the maximum amount of salt in it, which is not too much, but not too little either.
Aihinen states that everyone has their own taste world. If you don’t put any salt in your home food, then of course the restaurant food will taste very salty.
However, there has been no discussion about reducing salt in Aihine’s restaurants. He says that nowadays restaurants use a lot of things like parmesan, soy and miso paste, which already contain salt. Boiling and fresh herbs also give a strong taste.
Aihinen tells an example from a few years ago Capture in the kitchen – descriptions.
They were staying with a family from Vantaa, where the food was not seasoned with salt. The family’s mother was a health education teacher who said she distributed “the salt of life doesn’t come from a jar” cards.
They did a blind test where the family tasted the same food, but one had salt, the other didn’t. Ahinen laughs that the salt won the test one hundred and zero. After the filming, the mother of the family wondered to Aihine what she is doing with all her cards now.
– In restaurants, no one oversalts on purpose. The customer is the most important thing to us.
According to Aihinen, if you want low-salt food, you should send a message to the restaurant in advance.
In addition, Aihinen reminds of hidden salt.
– Is the majority of the food ingredients, in which case the amount of hidden salt is of course large, or do you make the food yourself, in which case you know very precisely what the total amount of salt is.
Pekka Terävä is one of the founders of Olo Collection. Their restaurants include Olo, Emo and Ego. Rosa Bröijer
Pekka Terävä says that there are rarely comments about the saltiness of restaurant food. He has noticed that sometimes the customer might confuse a strong and intense taste with the taste of salt.
– The biggest factor in this salt debate is that sometimes porridges and vells get mixed up. For example, boiled lobster broth has no salt at all, but a large audience still feels that it is salty.
Sometimes it is difficult for the customer to understand the difference between the boiled broth and the saltiness. Teräva clarifies that instead of being salty, the lobster broth is rich and strong.
But he admits that there are differences in the cuisines of different countries. Terävä states that Nordic kitchens use more salt and acids than, for example, Spanish or Italian kitchens.
Arto Rastaa has restaurants in Tampere and Helsinki, among others. He is also one of the owners of the Helsinki Culinary Institute. Elle Laitila
Arto Rastas comments that the amount of salt is an eternal question, whether it is a restaurant or a home kitchen.
– From time to time customers tell us about the saltiness, but also about the lack of saltiness. I don’t think this is a “hot” topic at all, Rastas replies.
According to him, more attention is paid to salt and the taste of food is built on other than just salt.
– Bringing the raw ingredients’ own taste is much more skillful than adding salt so that the gums itch, says Rastas.
Although the restaurant uses salt broths especially for salting in advance, so that the amount of salt is constant and easier to control, the momentary salting is still on the shoulders of every chef and there can be mistakes.
Rastas do not feel that salty food is a major topic of discussion.
– We focus on making good and tasty food, where salt does not play the main role, but the raw materials themselves, Rastas sums up.