Fattier Meats Require More Salt To Taste Properly Seasoned

Video: While it’s fair to say that most things should be salted to taste, this in-depth experiment suggests that fattier meats require a lot more salt to avoid being bland.

The folks at Cook’s Illustrated and the America’s Test Kitchen YouTube channel tested five different meats, each with their own range of fat content (as determined by an independent lab). Then after adding increasing amounts of salt to each prepared meat, a group of taste testers decided whether there was enough seasoning or not. The results showed that turkey and pork required the least amount of salt (0.5 per cent salt by weight), while steak and 90 per cent lean ground beef required a little more (0.75 per cent salt by weight). Finally, the more common 80 per cent lean ground beef (20 per cent fat) only tasted properly seasoned at 1 per cent salt by weight. All in all, the fattier the meat the more salt it needed to taste just right. So next time you go to cook a nice cut of meat, remember to consider the meat’s fat content when you season it. You can learn more about the experiment at the link below.

Does Fattier Meat Need More Salt? [Cook’s Illustrated]