Salt.
I got to thinking about it seriously the other day when doing those mashed potatoes, and I said, "Don't skimp."
I know some people may be unhappy about my use of salt. Here's the thing... it's not the salt you cook with that's the big mess in our diet. It's the salt in heavily processed foods that's the culprit.
Yes, I eat cheese. Yes, I eat salumi. Yes, I HEAVILY salt pasta water (most of which goes down the drain!). But what I don't generally eat... OK, don't ever eat... are things like frozen dinners, canned soups, fast food, tons of chips, etc. That sort of thing. So because I'm really good about that, I don't worry about salting my food.
I realize this plan may not work for everyone, but it's just like the way I feel about butter. I don't spend all day every day eating butter, so when a recipe calls for butter, guess what?
I use butter.
I have actually been in two salt mines... one, the vast subterranean city beneath my hometown, Detroit... and one just outside of Salzburg, Austria. They fascinate me. So it comes as little shock to me that I'm a salt defender. Simple, correct seasoning (read: salting) of a dish takes it from OK to good or good to great. No, not oversalting, by any means.
There are salts of all kinds: table, Kosher, flaked, sea, smoked, flavored... and many variations inside those categories.
And I love using different kinds for different applications. Though I will say, I don't ever use table salt any more. I like the clean, non-chemical taste of Sea and Kosher. And I even use Kosher for baking... a no-no in much of the cooking world. I'm pretty sure this won't be my last word on the subject of salt!!!