Over-salted my sauce at the D.C. food truck festival... what would you do?

I was in D.C. last summer working a busy food truck festival. Around 7 PM, I accidentally dumped too much kosher salt into a big batch of my tomato cream sauce for the pasta special. I tried fixing it by adding extra cream and a little sugar, but it still felt off. Ended up bulking the whole batch with unsalted stock and fresh diced tomatoes to calm it down. Sold out by 9 PM but I'm still wondering if there's a better trick for this - has anyone fixed an over-salted sauce without throwing the whole thing out?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennifer_west29d ago

Six pounds of salt, that's what I accidentally dumped into my chili at the Maryland State Fair back in 2018. Wasn't kosher salt either, it was some fine grain stuff that dissolved right away. I tried adding a whole peeled potato to soak up the salt, which my grandma swore by, but it just made the chili taste like potato and salt. Ended up tossing in three cans of no-salt diced tomatoes and a whole bag of frozen corn, which helped the saltiness blend in better. You know, sometimes I wonder if all these quick fixes we hear about actually work, or if we're just fooling ourselves.

mila_mitchell29d ago

Oh man, that is rough! Six pounds of salt is crazy, I feel for you. I think we've all had those moments where we follow grandma's advice and it just totally backfires. I tried the potato trick once with a too-salty soup and honestly, it just made everything taste like boiled potato water. You're probably right about the quick fixes, sometimes they're just something to do so you feel like you're in control. At least you saved it with the tomatoes and corn, that's smart thinking actually.