Why is salt and pepper used in almost every dish ?

[RustlessPotato]

Greetings escapist !

While pretending i didn't have exams and was about to cook this question popped in my head. Is there a particular reason why Salt and Pepper are used in every dish ? I think it has to do because of the old days where pepper was a luxury product exported from the middle east. Salt has always been important, Romans were sometimes payed in salt. (The french word for income is Salaire)

That's what the word on the road is anyhow, take it for what it is. So please, tell me what you guys think, maybe there's a chemical explanation?

I shall give you 3, no 5 internets !

 

[RustlessPotato]

Because, and don't tell anyone, but i'm not really a potato.

I AM AN ONION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't eat pepper but salt is fucking delicious, that's why.

You are a potato, chips and crisps are made from potato. Why are you asking this???

 

[Lucem712]

I heard they bring out the food's flavour, during the cooking process at least.

Now, I'm the opposite of people who salt everything before they even taste it, I don't salt or pepper anythin'(Unless, I'm cooking)...So, take that with a grain of...salt.

 

[CODE-D]

Pepper sucks, that is all.
Oh and if salt fucks pepper you get magenta, which I dont approve of.

 

[DANEgerous]

Salt is actually more or less required to make good food, it is hot actually there to make food taste salty it oddly make food taste more like itself granting it a better depth of flavor.

If a chef tells you something is over or under seasoned they are almost defiantly talking about salt not that you have to much of any other seasoning for to chefs seasoning food means adding salt and it is a core element of cooking.

Pepper is this way but to a far lesser extent, it generally is applied the same way as salt but far more extensively to protein.

 

[Psykoma]

They're delicious is why.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Salt is pretty much essential if you don't want your food to taste like shit. Pepper is an acquired taste and not necessarily for everyone.

The issue with salt is A) people use the wrong salt, and B) people use too much of the wrong salt, declare what they're eating "too salty", and go on anti-salt crusades. Most people don't season properly.

Long story short...if you don't use any salt while you're cooking, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Suicidejim]

Immediately thought of this:


Anyway, salt's a mainstay for various reasons that are listed above, not so sure why pepper became the eternal companion to salt though. I'm an auto-salter, I'll salt whatever the hell you put in front of me, regardless of the dish or how much salt is already in it. Probably pepper it too.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Salt is the most basic seasoning agent.

The right amount will bring out the best flavour in everything.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Because it pretty much goes with most food? Like you don't see people put ketchup into a soap or mustard onto a roast chicken, that what diping sauce are for.

 

[gazumped]

Pepper isn't used in *every* dish, otherwise I (and others, I'm sure) would never be able to eat at restaurants...

I don't add salt to food when I'm cooking either ('cause it's bad for you if you have too much!) although I will add a bit of salty stock when I make soup because otherwise it's just boiled, undrained vegetables...

 

[Heronblade]

Speaking as an amateur, but somewhat talented, cook, both salt and standard black pepper are badly overused.

They're very good at bringing flavor out of a dish that would otherwise have next to none, and salt has some interesting chemical effects in baking, stews, etc (effects that can easily be either harmful or useful). But for general flavoring with someone that knows what they're doing, in most dishes, they're best off used as a secondary addition to other spices, or even left alone entirely.

Let me put it this way, of the spices mentioned by Mcintyre in the video above, only "five spice" and cumin stay in my cupboard for any length of time, with salt and black pepper being overlooked about as often as the others.

 

[Saladfork]

I'll put pepper on pretty much anything I put cheese in, but besides that I don't use it much.

Salt, on the other hand, goes on most of my meat, so I use that a bit more frequently.

 

[Vicarious Reality]

Chili is far superior to salt or pepper
I put chili on everything

Pizza
Sandwiches
Macaronies
Rice
Other chilis

 

[DarkRyter]

Alright, Salt.

It's the only rock we eat. We require sodium in certain amounts. Maintain a saline balance and whatnot. It reacts with the nerve sensors on your tongue to make food taste... foodier.

Pepper. Historically, it's the most readily available spice in the world. It's also one of the cheapest. Historically, it's been around for like, forever. And in many places and time periods, it was pretty much the only spice.

Why they're together? They're both cheap and available. They taste pretty good together.

 

[TheFunPolice]

Pretty certain it's mainly because they taste pretty good on most things, but you know, I'm the worst cook I know with absolutely zero percent knowledge on food. All I know is: Some things taste good, somethings taste bad, that pretty much sums up my view on food

 

[Raven's Nest]

Greetings escapist !

While pretending i didn't have exams and was about to cook this question popped in my head. Is there a particular reason why Salt and Pepper are used in every dish ? I think it has to do because of the old days where pepper was a luxury product exported from the middle east. Salt has always been important, Romans were sometimes payed in salt. (The french word for income is Salaire)

That's what the word on the road is anyhow, take it for what it is. So please, tell me what you guys think, maybe there's a chemical explanation?

I shall give you 3, no 5 internets !

My thoughts have already been discussed but I thought I'd say of the Roman's being paid in salt thing. That is where the expression "a man whose worth his salt" comes from.

 

[Powereaver]

In most upper class restaurants they dont give you salt and pepper to go with your food because the food should be properly seasoned before it hits the table.. its a slap in the face to the cooking staff when you ask for salt and pepper on the food so im told.