CANTIKA.COM, Jakarta - Soup is one of the most sought-after types of soup during the rainy season. The cold weather is perfect to be accompanied by a comforting, warm bowl of soup. However, even the simplest soup recipes can fail. A pinch of extra salt or boiling the soup for too long can instantly change the perfect savory taste into overly salty.
For those who are not professional chefs, tasting at each cooking stage can sometimes be confusing. The good news is, overly salty soup is one of the easiest cooking mistakes to fix.
To sort out which advice is truly effective, here are the professional chef's suggestions for fixing the taste. If your soup has become too salty, here are some ways to restore its taste without having to start from scratch.
Preventing Overly Salty Soup from the Start
Before your soup becomes too salty, the safest step is to season slowly.
"I prefer to taste it while cooking, adding salt little by little," said Chris Nguyen, executive head chef of Constellation Culinary Group quoted from Real Simple. "However, we all know that mistakes can happen and adjustments need to be made."
Soups often become overly salty because they are seasoned too early and too often, without considering that the liquid will shrink during the cooking process. This risk increases if the recipe uses high-sodium ingredients such as ready-made broth, canned tomatoes, or processed meat.
Nguyen suggests getting used to tasting the soup at every stage. If the salty taste starts to feel too strong early on, stop adding salt and balance the next steps with unseasoned ingredients so that the flavors can blend over cooking time.
Fixing Overly Salty Soup
1. Add Milk or Creamy Ingredients
For creamy soups like New England clam chowder or potato leek soup, soft-textured ingredients can be a lifesaver.
"Cow's milk or plant-based milk can be added to creamy soups to reduce the saltiness," explained Nguyen. "Soy milk has a sweet taste, and oat milk has a richer taste than traditional cow's milk."
Add one to two tablespoons towards the end of cooking, stir, and taste before adding more to prevent the soup from becoming too thin.
2. Try Acidic Ingredients
Overly salty tomato soup or French onion soup can be balanced with a bit of acidity.
"Sometimes adding lemon or vinegar can reduce the saltiness of the soup, creating a better flavor balance," said Nguyen.
Start with about teaspoon, then taste. Add little by little until it tastes right to your palate.
3. Dilute with Broth
This method is most effective for brothy soups like beef soup or vegetable soup.
"Add water, broth, or unseasoned broth to your soup," said Nguyen. "This will create an excess of liquid compared to the soup's ingredients or other components."
Once the saltiness is balanced, the excess liquid can be strained to return the soup to the desired thickness ratio.
4. Increase the Quantity (Chef's Favorite Method)
If time and ingredients allow, this is the safest method. "This is my number one choice! Just make more soup (of the same kind)," said Nguyen. "If time allows, this is the best way to maintain the quality of your product."
Cook a second batch without extra salt, then mix it with the overly salty soup. The newly seasoned batch will reduce the salt concentration without altering the original texture or taste of the soup.
Overly salty soup is not the end of everything. With milk, acidic ingredients, dilution, or making a new soup, you can save the taste without having to discard your cooking. The key remains the same, slowly adjusting the taste and always tasting it.
REAL SIMPLE
Read: 10 Best Meat Soups in Indonesia That Are Worth Trying
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