Salt Should Be Illegal In All Cooking….
One Year Ago:Pecan Tart
Seriously? Salt legislation…this is what a New York City Assemblyman finds important? You think I’m joking? Read this article and come back and tell me what you think.
Waiting….
Waiting….
Waiting….
Ok now you have read the article and can get as fired up about it as I am. I’m not going to say I don’t agree on some levels with the Assemblyman. I get that a lot of foods, especially processed, contain HUGE amounts of salt. Sure I think we all know that, BUT to go as far as to say that all food should be made without salt is stretching it. You ever had chicken stock with no salt….think….dirty dish water. I understand that he is fighting to keep American’s healthy, and I applaud that, but I think he should have taken a cooking class before he pushed for this legislation. American’s are unhealthy but I think there are better ways to deal with the obesity epidemic than to ban salt and fine “up to $1,000 for each individual addition of salt by restaurant staff, whether before, during or after cooking.”
How do you all feel about this?
On that note. If this bill passes and you own a restaurant or bakery in NYC don’t make this cake. You will be fined $1,000.
Lemon Lemon Loaf:
Lemon Cake
1 1/2 C. cake flour
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 1/4 C. sugar
8 large eggs – room temperature
1/4 C. grated lemon zest (from about 4 lemons)
1/4 C. fresh lemon juice
2 C. unsalted butter – melted and cooled
1/2 C. sour cream – room temperature
2 t. pure vanilla extract
Lemon Syrup
1/3 C. fresh lemon juice
1/3 C. sugar
Lemon Glaze (Optional)
2 C. confectioners’ sugar – sifted (more if needed)
4 to 6 T. fresh lemon juice
Make Lemon Cakes
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the sides and bottom of two 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom with parchment paper and spray the paper.
Sift both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a food processor and pulse until combined. With the motor running, drizzle the butter in through the feed tube. Add the sour cream and vanilla and pulse until combined. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
Sprinkle the flour mixture, one third at a time, folding gently after each addition until just combined. Do not overmix.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes, rotate the pans, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F., and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile Make the Lemon Syrup
In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and invert the loaves onto the pan. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the loaves.
Brush the tops and sides of the loaves with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cakes cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
(The soaked but unglazed loaves will keep, wrapped in two layers of plastic wrap and frozen, for up to 6 weeks.)
If You Like, Make The Lemon Glaze
In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and 4 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. If the mixture is too stiff, add up to another 2 tablespoons lemon juice and whisk again, adding small amounts of lemon juice and/or confectioners’ sugar until you get the right consistency. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.
The glazed loaves will keep for up to 3 days, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, at room temperature.
Source: Epicurious
Wow, what an article. Interesting. He seems to be pushing a personal agenda. . . I like where it said he must not prepare food for himself.. . and he eats ham, cheese, and bread. He’s not looking very well educated. It’s kind of a travesty that you are allowed to propose laws at all without looking into the ramifications huh?
Oh, dear, if this passes in virginia the restaurant we just went to would have to close for sure
Love your lemon cake, yum!
Um….WHAT?!?! Absolutely ridiculous. Sure, we’d solve the obesity problem by banning salt from restaurant foods–but only because people would stop eating out. Think of how devastating that would be for the restaurant industry! Maybe restaurants could place a special symbol by menu items that are lower sodium selections? At least that way people could make informed choices.
It’s silly…do we have to legislate everything!?! Is sugar on his agenda next?
Your lemon bread looks delicious…a perfect way to usher in spring!
You pretty much know where I stand on the subject of salt because I’ve written about it plenty of times. That said, it’s an absolute waste time (and probably taxpayer funds in there somewhere) to try to legislate..a spice.
Good grief, it that passed through, imagine the precedent it would set. If it does pass through, I’m going to send the esteemed assemblyman an entire case of low sodium V-8 juice and see how delicious it’s NOT.
LOL
this is HUGE talk around NYC – I think it is the stupidest thing I have ever heard -
almost ranks up there with banning bake sales in the schools!
I think Ortiz is very much ignorant of how this would affect the food, and that it really is unneccessary. People eating out obviously know that salt is going in their food and if they are watching their salt intake, the can ask for a dish to be prepared without it. If you’re gonna ban salt, why not fat and sugar as well? His logic is illogical. This is getting into a territory where there would be too much governmental control and I can see us foodies revolting! But I really really highly doubt that this would ever go through. It’s a joke.
And that bread looks amazing.
That guy is an idiot. How on earth did he get elected.
Your lemon cake looks divine.
Mimi
omg..what a article..great cake looks divine
sweetlife
I remember reading that article. Really ridiculous. Now I’d like two lemon cakes.
ridiculous. completely and totally ridiculous. as someone who abuses salt on a regular basis, i can’t believe they’re actually considering this!
lovely cake, by the way. i’m not crazy about lemon, but it looks great!
Crazy times, huh? Why do we seem to have lost all our commonsense?
Nothing crazy about this cake, though – except crazy good!
This man should not even be in office! What a dumb ass. Lemon, lemon and more lemon, so yummy. I love sweet and tart together.
Lol, I remember in one of Ina Garten’s shows when she compared unsalted chicken stock to dirty dishwater!
(So true!) Your Lemon Lemon Loaf looks incredible…I’m picturing it with some yogurt and fresh berries and wishing I had a piece right now! 
That’s probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve read in a loooong time (the article, not your post:)). Lemon cake sounds so good!
People can be utterly insane….seriously! LOVE lemons though…..love them, and these lemon cakes sound wonderfully tasty. I’m bookmarking this…can’t wait to try them! YUM!!
I heard about that! Ridiculous, can’t possibly pass!
As for the lemon loaf, it looks amazing!!
I cant even imagine that.
…But I’m all over that lemon cake!
The salt thing is ridiculous…
the cake is gorgeous and I’m sure very delicious!
Lemon syrup and a lemon glaze! I need to get me some lemons!
The NY salt legislation does sound pretty silly. But, hey, I’m from Florida where we focus on more important things like screwing up Presidential elections. My laser-like focus here is on your lemon loaf, which looks sensational.
I’m with you Brandy – the salt fine idea is stoopid. Love your lemon loaves though – they look delicious.
I get really sick and tired of people telling us that everything is bad for us and we should only eat carrots LOL. Here in the UK, Subway doesn’t put salt in the subs anymore, you have to put it on yourself in packets. … so dumb!
The lemon loafs look scrumptious. I guess if we cant have salt we will have sugar no?
*kisses* HH
The suggestion is clearly preposterous and were I for one second convinced of this individual’s sincerity, I would naturally be forced to presume that they have no palate and are incapable of the sense known as taste. Salt is an essential requirement in almost every recipe and although an excess is of course extremely bad for our health, we equally require salt in order to live.
I instead believe that this is simply a publicity stunt, devised by essentially an extremely astute individual who was in no doubt regarding the outcry they would initiate.
Noble idea, but they should be looking hard at the large corporations using excessive amounts in food processing. Targeting small business is not the way forward. Good cooking requires a modest amount of seasoning in the cooking process. I love lemon cake.
Ugh… Sometimes people don’t really think… That legislation is CRAZY. A little bit of salt isn’t a bad thing. And a lot of food is tasteless without it. They need to read more of Michael Pollan’s books… I’m reading In Defense of Food right now, and it’s the first thing I thought of when I read that article.
Ok. I’m done now… and that cake looks amazing, by the way.