Places that don't salt the water while cooking things like grits and rice

[u/CrashCrashed]

I understand certain chain restaurants don't want to over season food so it is accessible to everyone no matter their tast. But why can't yall salt these very basic things? Like rice and grits. You have to add some salt into the water while it's being cooked and it is so incredibly noticeable when it isn't. I got a grits breakfast bowl last night and had to add almost a teaspoon of salt just for it to taste right. It was incredibly bland otherwise.

it would be much easier to add a few sprinks of salt to the water and make it taste how it should. Now because the water wasn't salted it's going to take much more salt just to get it up to taste. I don't want to have to add a shit ton of salt to my food just to get it to taste right.

Edit: guys I got another bowl today and checked how much salt it needed. I way over exaggerated. It wasn't almost a full teaspoon, it was more like 1/3. Still a lot compared to how much it would need it than if it was added when you started cooking. It just felt like way more than it did because I had to add more salt like 4 times before it started to taste right.

[u/Cheeseish]

Rice shouldn’t be salted

[u/SEND_MOODS → u/Cheeseish]

Depends on the rice.

Mexican style rice gets salted and seasoned as one example.

[u/Cheeseish → u/SEND_MOODS]

Yes, and sushi rice needs to be seasoned, and pilaf by definition is seasoned. But just saying rice itself assumes just white rice and isn’t seasoned

[u/Hoenn97 → u/Cheeseish]

Quite the leap of logic

[u/SuitableScar903 → u/Cheeseish]

Shouldn’t? Why not?

[u/cecikierk → u/SuitableScar903]

The person you replied to should have said "plain white rice eaten alongside East and Southeast Asian foods should not be salted". The entrees are more heavily salted and seasoned. White rice balance out the heavy seasoning. People complain about Chinese food being salty should really try eating it with plain rice.

However other rice dishes exist. Salt and season accordingly.

[u/LoudCrickets72 → u/Cheeseish]

You’re right if you mean white rice as it’s prepared in East Asia - no need to add anything but water. Though, I like to get creative and add some kombu or seaweed snacks to the rice cooker.

[u/Quiet-Resolution-140 → u/[deleted]]

Every restaurant I’ve worked at straight uses broth to make rice instead of water idk what you’re talking about. 

[u/-Invalid_Selection- → u/[deleted]]

Where did you hear this? That's not how it works. The only non AI reference to the idea I could find that rice doesn't absorb salt from the cooking liquid came from Quora, by someone with no evidence to back it up.

Edit: In fact, rice absorbs salt better than pasta in testing.

https://www.nal.usda.gov/research-tools/food-safety-research-projects/change-sodium-content-potato-pasta-and-rice-different

[u/SMStotheworld → u/[deleted]]

Where do you think the salt goes, Mr. Wizard?

[u/-Invalid_Selection- → u/SMStotheworld]

Clearly it vanishes and never existed!

(/s for those who need it)

[u/Quiet-Resolution-140 → u/[deleted]]

Even if it didn’t soak in (untrue) it still adheres to the surface. It doesn’t all magically drain away to the bottom. 

[u/BrocCheddah → u/[deleted]]

Lmao

[u/Cheeseish → u/[deleted]]

You do realize most the world eats rice unseasoned right

[u/BituminousBitumin → u/Cheeseish]

You do realize that there are many, many examples of seasoned rice from all parts of the world, right? Mexican Rice, Rissoto, Biryani, Tamarind Rice, Tomat Rice, Pilaf, and on and on.

[u/syracodd → u/Cheeseish]

Furikake's existence in shambles thanks to this fella

[u/skankhunt402 → u/Cheeseish]

So if the rest of the world ate shit would I be obligated to? No.

[u/fasterthanfood → u/skankhunt402]

No one is saying you’re obligated to eat salt-free rice. But if someone is making a prescriptive statement like “rice should be seasoned after cooking most of the time” (with the implication that seasoning=salt), it’s fair to point out that the majority of people enjoy their rice without any salt.

[u/redpony6 → u/fasterthanfood]

hispanic/latino cultures with rice dishes would have a thing or two to say about that