[Sca-cooks] OT: Easy low-sodium recipes needed

[marilyn traber 011221]

> <<<
> 
> Ah, I wasn't aware of Mrs Dash being a salt substitute. I'll have to 
>  look at it again.

It's not a salt substitute, per se, Stefan. Salt substitutes often can cause 
as much damage as the sodium chloride they're replacing. Potassium chloride 
can encourage people to get too much potassium in their systems, unless 
they're on particular heart meds (which tend to remove the potassium from 
their systems). Too much potassium can cause or contribute to a whole raft of 
other problems, particularly if saltaholics use it in the vast quantities 
they often use salt in.

Mrs Dash is merely an herb and spice blend which tastes rather good, and 
helps make most foods taste better without the use of salt as most Americans 
(over) use it. It's essentially a baby step towards getting people away from 
salt on everything, and into the proper usage of herbs and spices in their 
own right, but it happens to be pretty good, in all its manifestations. I 
don't use most of its variations- if I want extra garlic or onion, for 
example, in my food, I'm perfectly capable of finding the garlic powder or 
the onion powder- but I often use the original (yellow cap) or the Extra 
Spicy (red cap), and R&M found me a new blend, Southwestern Chipotle, that's 
very tasty. 

It's also useful as one of the 5 or 6 spice blends I stash in my camping 
equipment for adding flavor to my foods without taking along an entire spice 
box.

> Make sure that this is regular wine and NOT "cooking" wine. I 
> believe  the latter actually has a lot of extra salt added to it. As 
> well as  not usually being very good wine.

You're absolutely right. I'd also suggest using a couple of the boxed wines, 
one red, one white. Despite the quantity, which can seem to be a bit much for 
someone who isn't a wine drinker, they're actually more sensible for a non or 
minimal drinker, because the nature os the dispensing cap prevents air from 
getting to the wine (air will change its flavor, and ultimately ruin it), so 
that you can keep it for a long time without refrigeration, and flavor a 
bunch of dishes with it. Wine also helps give a lot of the mouth feel of 
salt, and, for whatever esoteric reason, reduces the salt craving.

> Really? There are *no salt* bouillion cubes? I thought they were  
> required to be half salt. :-) After a suggestion, I think from this  
> list, I've gone to using the condensed broth in jars, instead of the 
>  cubes, myself.

Yes, they're available, although you hafta look for them, and they appear to 
be more expensive than the salted variety, just as garlic powder appears to 
be more expensive than garlic salt. Their big advantages are that they don't 
require refrigeration, and they come in a familiar form that helps encourage 
new users to reach for them. In addition to providing a nice flavor to other 
foods, they also make a nice cup of bouillion ;-)

> Thanks for the info, Phlip. I've been trying to cut back on my salt  
> intake, so these suggestions may be useful.
> 
> Stefan

Well, Stefan, I've been on essentially a low salt diet for years, not because 
I have any medical problems that require it, but because I spent many years 
cooking meals for people who were, and I discovered I liked most foods better 
without a lot of salt.

I think I've told you about what I did to my ex, who was a confirmed 
saltaholic. He was supposed to cut back on salt, so, in addition to my usual 
cooking with minimal salt, I put two shakers on the table (I had 4 grinders 
for various peppers) marked with an "S" and a "P", and told him the "S" stood 
for Salt, and the "P" stood for Pseudo Psalt. I then filled both shakers with 
a 50/50 mixture of salt and pseudo psalt, so that when he grabbed for the 
salt, has actually being virtuous (although he didn't know it) but when he 
was being virtuous, he got some of the salt he thought he craved. Worked out 
fine- he never caught on- and, obviously, I did the cooking with the box of 
salt by the stove.

Phlip