The Uncomplicated Way David Chang Fixes Over-Seasoned Food

It happens: You've poured too much salt into the pot simmering on the stove or the lid of your paprika somehow fell off as you began to shake the flavorful powder over your mixing bowl. But fear not. Your recipe is not doomed if you happened to mistakenly over-season tonight's dinner. Culinary mishaps happen to even professional chefs, and we have experts like Chef David Chang to help set us off in the correct direction to the flavor town you originally intended to reach.

While you can always add ingredients to recipes, you can't necessarily remove them while experimenting in your kitchen, Chang explained to House & Home. Ideally, a chef will season and taste as food cooks, then adjust spices and add seasonings to meet the unique demands of each dish. Yet for those instances in which dousings of salt and seasonings have gotten a bit over-exuberant, Chang recommends doubling down on the recipe by making even more of the intended dish. With more volume added to the pot, any extra seasonings that found their way into the culinary undertaking at hand won't seem quite as powerful.

Doubling your recipe may result in more food than you intended to serve, but you can always store extra helpings and make use of the leftover ingredients in a later meal. For stews, sauces, and broth-based recipes, adding more liquid can also help disperse any overbearing flavors. Pouring more liquid into whatever is cooking on the stove can alleviate the impact of an over-seasoned — and ruined — dish.

As you attempt to course-correct and readjust your recipe, remember to taste as you go so that you don't mistakenly serve a bland meal. Once the ingredients cook down, you'll be relieved to taste softer flavors. If doubling the recipe and adding water hasn't helped your over-salted soup, add a raw, peeled potato to the pot and let the ingredients simmer until the potato is cooked through. Persistence beats resistance in an over-seasoned instance, and if adding ingredients works for Chang, it can work for you, too.