To keep salt's savor, add gradually, taste, let fingers do the seasoning.

Byline: HOLLY HERRICK

Today's topic: Surveying salt

Salt is one of the most important seasoning elements in cooking. Without it (or a salt substitute), food would taste flat-out flat.

Nothing could bring a piece of poached chicken, cooked without salt, to life. At the same time, too much salt is a sure way to kill a dish, no matter how meticulously you've worked to make it perfect.

Salt, therefore, needs to be treated with respect. One way to do that is to use it in gradual stages (except never until the end when preparing stocks or other ingredients that will be used in reduction sauces, or while soaking or during the early stages of …