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#Post#: 15418--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: NFPwife
Date: October 4, 2018, 9:02 pm
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--- Quote from: Mary Sunshine Rain link ---
>
> [quote author=Two Ravens link=topic=720.msg15390#msg15390
date=1538688250]
> Right, but that doesn’t change the fact that you have no idea
how salty a dish is before you taste it. The same with adding
hot sauce or pepper to anything. How do you know it needs
anything before you taste?
>
--- End Quote ---
From past experience.
[/quote]
In my specific example, it was past experience. I eat this dish
regularly in this city and prefer salt on it. I often forget to
ask, then I'm sitting and don't bother going up for it. I'd had
it the day before and it was fresh in my mind to get the salt.
Also, I'd had oatmeal for breakfast and wraps were ordered in
for a team lunch; I hadn't added salt or a salty condiment to
either meal. I knew this would be my last meal of the day so I
was more aware and alert to needing to add salt. (Or I'd have to
drink a pinch of salt in water back at the hotel - blech.)
I love spicy food, too. I don't add hot sauce to everything, but
if there's a dish I'm going to eat with hot sauce there's no
need to taste it before adding hot sauce. I'll add a bit of
sauce and then taste, but, as a PP suggested, it seems like
wasting a bite because if it's appropriate for general
consumption, it's not going to be spicy enough for me.
At restaurants with hot sauce bars, I get all my little souffle
cups of sauce ready before the food arrives. I taste and test
what I like with tortilla chips and then add my faves to bites
of food as I eat. I wouldn't dream of a "naked bite" when
there's an abundance of sauce.
#Post#: 15423--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: lmyrs
Date: October 5, 2018, 1:25 am
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I trust that the enthusiasm to disregard established etiquette
rules within this thread apply to all established etiquette
rules.
#Post#: 15428--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: Two Ravens
Date: October 5, 2018, 6:18 am
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Thanks for the responses. I never add salt to my food (and
couldn’t care less if anyone else does). I was just curious.
#Post#: 15430--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: Rose Red
Date: October 5, 2018, 7:03 am
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--- Quote from: lmyrs link ---
>
> I trust that the enthusiasm to disregard established etiquette
rules within this thread apply to all established etiquette
rules.
>
--- End Quote ---
My personal etiquette rule is try to be nice or polite to the
other person. And there are exceptions to every rule. For
example:
It's polite to taste before salting your friend's food. It's not
necessary to taste when you pay at a restaurant, especially at
fast or casual places.
Etiquette says it's rude to wear sneakers at a formal wedding.
My opinion is that exceptions should be made for
health/disability reasons.
Etiquette are guidelines, not laws. Individual people and
circumstances matter. Personally, I think it's ridiculous to
make absolute statements. That's like saying "Well, you think
it's ok to break the law by jaywalking on an empty street. So
you must think it's ok to break all the laws in the book."
#Post#: 15431--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: NFPwife
Date: October 5, 2018, 7:09 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: lmyrs link ---
>
> I trust that the enthusiasm to disregard established etiquette
rules within this thread apply to all established etiquette
rules.
>
--- End Quote ---
I don't disregard the established etiquette rule when being
hosted, but, I think the dynamic changes when I'm a customer. In
my mind, this is now a business transaction and not an etiquette
matter.
In my example the person knew I didn't taste because it was fast
casual (and the article that's been linked said the rule doesn't
apply to fast casual), but in other circumstances the server has
no idea if I've tasted or not.
At places with hot sauce bars, the staff often stop and chat
with me around what I'm choosing; they're not offended that I
have hot sauce ready before the food is out. That's kind of the
point and attraction there. (And an opportunity to upsell)
#Post#: 15432--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: Aleko
Date: October 5, 2018, 7:18 am
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--- Quote ---
> I trust that the enthusiasm to disregard established etiquette
rules within this thread apply to all established etiquette
rules.
--- End Quote ---
First off, I don't think this is anything like as established an
'etiquette rule' as all that. Just because some people on the
internet say so, doesn't mean it's true - think of all the
wedding-planning sites that confidently state 'it's OK to ask on
the invitation for money as a wedding present' or 'the groom's
family pay for the drinks and music at the reception'.
Secondly, the original question and virtually all of the answers
were about wanting salt at a commercial establishment, not a
private home. At a home-cooked dinner it may annoy your host (as
well as being obviously silly) if they see you grab the salt and
sprinkle it all over their lovingly-prepared paella / boeuf
bourguignon / omelette without even trying it to see if it is
seasoned right, and that is why it is improper.
But people who cook for money don't have the same rights. OK,
they may consider themselves artists; but even artists don't get
to dictate what the client does with the artwork once they have
bought it. (If the King of France had bought the Virgin of the
Rocks from Leonardo da Vinci and promptly hung it in his private
lavatory on a purple-painted wall, it wouldn't have been for Leo
to object.) Like the bridal couples who want to ask for money
gifts and are insisting that's OK, some top chefs are trying to
claim the right to deny customers the right to tweak the
seasoning, as though these people were not customers in a
restaurant but guests in the chef's own home. They are
forgetting that correct restaurant etiquette requires them to
serve what the customer wants. If a customer orders your
world-famous poulet de Bresse au demi-deuil with ketchup and
Diet Coke, the proper procedure is to decant the desired
accompaniments into the finest crystal containers, serve them
with the utmost courtesy, then go back to the kitchen and have a
good satisfying sneer with your colleagues about the ignorant
morons at Table 5.
#Post#: 15433--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: Soop
Date: October 5, 2018, 7:25 am
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--- Quote from: Hmmm link ---
>
> And what about being served a plate of eggs. I've never had a
poached or fried eggs pre-seasoned when it arrived at the table.
>
> Yes, there are restaurants who do not put S&P on the table.
Usually very high end ones. But even they will bring you a salt
bowl if you ask (and some will bring you a selection of salts).
In those places I'm fine with asking if I really need it.
>
> But for moderate or casual restaurants where there is not a
named chef in the kitchen, just put the darn salt on the table.
DH and I left a brunch place a couple of weeks ago that did the
"we source everything local and do not have a microwave"
announcement. We started with an appetizer. It needed salt and
we realized we had no salt on the table. I looked around to
realize the other tables had no salt or pepper. Our waitress
didn't return to check on us for 10 min. So we just asked for
the bill. She asked if everything was ok and we said the coffee
was only luke warm,the biscuits were cold the the gravy needed
seasoning. She said she could have brought us some. I said, but
then the gravy would have been cold too.
>
--- End Quote ---
You are right about eggs. There may be seasoning on the outside,
but the cook/chef can't get the salt into the yolk while
cooking. Runny eggs will always need salt for me. No pre-tasting
necessary.
And if you know that you like your food salty, it is not wrong
to preemptively make sure you have salt at the table. Wait staff
might be busy and not do a check in and then you're left waiting
while your food gets cold.
I'm a former chef and my husband is a chef. Neither of us care
if someone wants to season our food. I'm less accepting about
drenching my food in hot sauce, because it can really impair
your taste buds, but in the end, whatever. When cooking for
holiday dinners with my family, I'm pretty sure some of them
don't taste my food, because they are hoovering it up so fast it
barely touches their tongues. Certainly makes for a silent
dinner.
#Post#: 15434--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: Two Ravens
Date: October 5, 2018, 8:01 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Aleko link ---
>
>
> First off, I don't think this is anything like as established
an 'etiquette rule' as all that. Just because some people on the
internet say so, doesn't mean it's true - think of all the
wedding-planning sites that confidently state 'it's OK to ask on
the invitation for money as a wedding present' or 'the groom's
family pay for the drinks and music at the reception'.
>
--- End Quote ---
While, again, I couldn’t care less what people do, it is
incorrect to dismiss this as a rule by “people on the internet.”
It’s been around since at least the 1940’s.
#Post#: 15435--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: gramma dishes
Date: October 5, 2018, 8:09 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Soop link ---
>
>
> I'm a former chef and my husband is a chef. Neither of us care
if someone wants to season our food. I'm less accepting about
drenching my food in hot sauce, because it can really impair
your taste buds, but in the end, whatever. When cooking for
holiday dinners with my family, I'm pretty sure some of them
don't taste my food, because they are hoovering it up so fast it
barely touches their tongues. Certainly makes for a silent
dinner.
>
--- End Quote ---
But oh what a compliment is that! ;)
#Post#: 15436--------------------------------------------------
Re: How In-salt-ing
DIR By: Hmmm
Date: October 5, 2018, 8:31 am
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: Two Ravens link ---
>
> [quote author=Aleko link=topic=720.msg15432#msg15432
date=1538741885]
>
> First off, I don't think this is anything like as established
an 'etiquette rule' as all that. Just because some people on the
internet say so, doesn't mean it's true - think of all the
wedding-planning sites that confidently state 'it's OK to ask on
the invitation for money as a wedding present' or 'the groom's
family pay for the drinks and music at the reception'.
>
--- End Quote ---
While, again, I couldn’t care less what people do, it is
incorrect to dismiss this as a rule by “people on the internet.”
It’s been around since at least the 1940’s.
[/quote]
Can you provide a different source that states the rule applies
in all situations? Because the source you linked to previously
only gave 2 instances where it was impolite to season prior to
tasting:
1. When dining at a white table cloth restaurant with no salt on
the table.
2. When eating a home prepared meal.
However, I have never found a rule that states when a solo diner
is eating at a fast casual spot that they must taste their food
prior to salting it.
I have also never found a rule that states I must taste my
scrambled eggs whether served at home or in a restaurant prior
to adding salt or pepper to them.
I have also never found rule that states I must taste my salad
prior to adding salt or pepper.
Do you really believe the rule always applies?
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