Anon needs cooking advice

Alternatively, instead of overloading on salt: for non-bland food:
Get local in-season produce. E.G. Fresh tomatoes vs canned or long distance imports is a night and day difference. Also can be cheaper and you also know that the money is staying local, not feeding some rich fuck's investments.
Mother. Fucking. GARLIC.
Optionally, find a good chili oil.
- Great tips, but starting with the word 'alternatively' sorta suggests that these will work instead of salt...
  
  Yes, what i meant was instead of (overloading on) salt.
  
  Sadly, some people have to limit their salt intake and aren't allowed to any that's not naturally in there. For them, it would be an alternative. Let us be very thankful we are not them. Especially me, because I can't have hot chili anything and not much garlic.
- Agree with all points. To expand on tomatoes...
  local in-season tomatoes > canned tomatoes > all other tomatoes
  Local is for sure the best but canned, which are picked ripe and processed soon after, are better than tomatoes that have had to be shipped. Those were picked before they were ripe.
- And especially if you are cooking the vegetables, don't shy away from vegetables that are a little aged.
  That little drizzle of decay adds flavor.
  
  Seriously, the best most flavorful fruits and veggies are always the ones that are 1 day away from going bad.
- Agreed with everything you say.
  However, adding salt will still make all of your ingredients better.
- Fwiw good quality canned tomatoes can be miles better than buying "fresh" tomatoes for the 8+ months of the year that they aren't actually in season (depending where you live in the world). Growers still grow them, but they're less sweet and less juicy. Canned tomatoes also break down way better for sauces. I agree with your overall point, and almost all of my fruit and veg come from farmers markets, but tomatoes generally don't for both cost and quality purposes.
- Get local in-season produce.
  Ehhhhhh, I'm with you on the economic benefits, but when it comes to sodium intake, good quality canned/frozen veggies are just fine, and there's a lot out there that don't have any added sodium. On top of that, in a lot of culinary cases canned/frozen is better than fresh - I'd never dream of making pizza sauce out of anything other than good quality canned tomatoes, and frozen peas are usually better than fresh.
  Optionally, find a good chili oil.
  Most store bought chili oils are loaded with sodium lol.
- fuck, I forgot to put garlick in my lentils, that's why they were tasting a bit bland
  
  The first recipe I found in a quick search for lentil soup has garlic in it. (And lentils, coriander, cumin, paprika, bay leaves, lemon juice, tomato paste, soup stock, celery, an onion and a carrot.)
  If we're speaking of savoury food, have to say that paprika is another one of those baseline spices that shows up all over the place.
- Yup, by default, I double the garlic in any given recipe. And then sometimes add a bit more. I don't think I've ever regretted adding more garlic.
  You missed one massively important one: butter. Adding fat tends to bring out the flavor more, and a little salt goes a long way in maximizing that effect.
- Mother. Fucking. GARLIC.
  Toss in some onion powder too, a bit of seasoning salt and you won't even miss the salt
  
  a bit of seasoning salt
  Uhhhhh
  won't even miss the salt
  UHHHHH

Salt often tastes different when added during cooking vs after
- Yes, but if you stir it into a warm sauce it will mostly dissolve and it will still substantially improve it compared to no salt at all.
  
  If you forget to salt the pasta water, there's no way of making it taste as if you had. And even if the salt dissolves well in the sauce, it won't permeate whatever chunky things there might be in the sauce as if you'd salted a lit bit every step of the way. But yeah, it'll be ok, even if it won't be as good as it would have been. (I know you didn't say it would be the same, just wanted to add).
- Sauce is a different matter.
  But yeah, if you didn't salt that yeast dough, you aren't going to be making it better right before it goes into the oven.
  Not all foods get the you can salt me whenever pass.
  
  Once i completely forgot the salt in my bread. It was disgustingly bland; like, I couldn't believe a teaspoon of salt would have such a massive effect.
  But I actually salvaged it by putting salt on every slice of toast I made with that loaf.
  It worked out okay!
- Btw, carbonara tastes better if you add the bacon and garlic to the pasta and water instead of the sauce after.
  
  What the fuck? Boiled garlic and bacon?
  Get the pancetta nice and crispy in the pan, add the garlic in the final minute before finishing. Add your pasta (2 minutes under al dente) fresh out of the water into the hot pan with as much carry over liquid as you can to deglaze, toss like your life depends on it (it does.), cut the heat, then add your mixed yolks, parm and fresh black pepper. Allow the carryover heat to thicken the sauce along with vigourous stirring to get the starches emulsified with the egg and cheese. Add more cracked pepper to your taste. Maybe a pinch of crushed chilis. Add pasta water and stir to reach your desired texture.
  Don't fucking boil your bacon and garlic.
  
  No

The water you boiled the pasta in is not the "pasta sauce".
- pasta tea
  
  I raise you pasta coffee

Srsly?
This reminds me of a roommate my sister had, who asked her what went into a grilled cheese sandwich. She said just two pieces of bread with a slice of cheese between them. She went into the kitchen a few minutes later to find the roommate staring at the uncooked sandwich on a plate. "Something wrong?" she asked. Roommate answered, "Is this supposed to melt the cheese?"
- Sounds like she's qualified to be Trump's next director of the FDA.
  
  Especially if she's a billionaire now lol.
- me

You can also just add and stir in soy sauce. But add in garlic, some onion powder and chili paste for flavor.
- Finding soy sauce was like discovering a cheat code irl. Haven't found a dish yet that isn't improved by some combination of soy sauce, chili sauce, and/or lemon juice
  
  Soy sauce and fermented food in general are full of umami flavor.
  
  I've never liked soy sauce, until I was introduced to Bragg's liquid aminos. That shit tastes the way I always thought soy sauce was supposed to taste.
  It's like, all of the flavor and basically none of the salt.
  Sorry that this sounds like an ad I'm just actually a fan of the shit.

Pro tip: if you want your food to taste saltier but you've already salted it, throw a bit of lemon juice in there. Oftentimes when your mouth tells you it's not salty enough, what it actually needs is a bit of acid
- Same thing if the food tastes too greasy or fatty. Lemon juice isn't a bad go-to for whenever you go "this dish is missing something, but what?"

It won't be quite the same as having salted the pasta and the sauce, while cooking it, but "salvageable", absolutely.
- How is it different from salting after?
  
  Salt does not penetrate as much and just does not add as much flavour
  
  When it comes to something like meat, the biggest thing is that the salt can penetrate into the meat itself, rather than just sit on the surface. Same goes for things like potatoes or pasta.
  Other than that, I couldn't really tell you, on a technical level, but you can be sure it boils down to "chemical reactions."
  If you're curious or skeptical, you can experiment pretty easily. Make a batch of tomato sauce, and seprate it into two portions. Salt one before simmering it for a few hours, and the other one after. Most people will be able to taste the difference.

Where's the MSG?
- The tomatoes
- That's in the salt category.

I usually cook without much salt because you can always add more, but you can never remove it. This way everyone can eat each meal to their liking.
- You could also cut the food with more unsalted food, to fix the balance. Not uncommon in restaurant kitchens.
  
  That's a good idea, I'll save it for occasions when I put too much salt.
- But the salt absorbing into the pasta will be a bit different than being part of the sauce. If it's a common issue that people you're cooking for want less salt, fine I guess. If not, salt the water when you cook pasta.
  
  Yes, pasta is one exception, I always cook it with more salt and no one has complained. I'm usually the one who wants less salty meals.

Salt is one of those things that works even on raw stuff, go wild

you need to add salt to the boiling water, but if you are trying to cut your sodium intake don't do this. also please make pasta sauce from scratch. don't buy pre mixed, just buy plain "passata" and add your own stuff. its a million times better.
- also please make pasta sauce from scratch.
  As someone who frequently makes sauce from scratch, a hunk of ground beef or Italian sausage and a jar of Rao's will absolutely get the job done on a busy weeknight when I can't be bothered with chopping up a bunch of veggies. Plain passata and your own stuff is not "a million times better".
  
  It's literally only better if you have skill and, imo, time. You can't make a good tomato sauce in like 10min from scratch, fight me
  
  what pasta sauce are you making? that's overkill man.
  all you need is
  passata
  olive oil
  garlic
  onions
  oregeno
  buy pre cut frozen onions and pre minced garlic. this is how we italian-Canadians make pasta sauce from home overseas
- I don't remember the exact numbers (and am not a doctor) but the vast majority of the average person's daily sodium intake comes from processed foods, not home cooking.
  
  Yup. Table salt or spice mixes are usually nothing compared to the frozen food that's 30% of your daily intake per serving.
  
  huh. yeah I can see the logic. I've been trying to cut processed foods as much as possible but not there yet.
- So you want the person who can't even cook pasta to do his own sauce?