I've been reading and watching content about cooking and when the instructor says, "liberally season with salt", I am left clueless as to how much I should apply. As a complete novice in cooking, I don't know how much is too much, or how little is too little. What do they mean by that ?
How much salt in “liberally season”
saltseasoning
Best Answer
You're not alone in being confused. Here's a few "weasel phrases" that recipe authors use:
In a lot of cases, what these phrases stand for is "I didn't bother to measure this". That means you, as the recipe reader, need to guess.
Salt, though, is kind of a special case. Depending on how much salt you're accustomed to eating, personal tastes vary a lot in terms of how much salt a dish needs. For example, I'm used to cooking for someone on a low-salt diet, so even when I cook for myself I tend to use 1/4 as much salt as, say, Chef John of Food Wishes does.
For that reason, "season to taste" when used to talk specifically about salt added, for flavor, towards the end of the recipe, really means "season to your taste". That is, if you like salt, use a lot; if you don't, use a little. Unfortunately, "a lot" or "a little" are still only meaningful in the context of the recipe. For example, 1tsp of salt is a lot if you're putting it into 1/2 cup of salad dressing, but it's very little if you're adding it to three liters of chili.
So, as a first time cook, my recommendation is to add a very small amount of salt when you first try the recipe, regardless of "liberally season". You can always add more salt at the table if you find it too bland, and next time you make it you'll know how much it needs.