HumBug! > wrote:

>Salt HAS NO FLAVOR, it simply enhances whatever flavor it touches.

>Pasta IS bland, which is why it isn't eaten by itself.

>Or, maybe YOU DO just eat a handful of bare pasta.

I see pasta as analogous to bread. Most bread has salt in it,
which makes it taste like the stuff that is in bread -- wheat, yeast.
But some bread is unsalted because it's intended to be eaten
with something salty like salumi or cheese or porchetta. A lot of Italian
bread is unsalted.

If I'm making pasta with red sauce and there is Italian sausage
in the sauce, I'm fine with the only salty ingredient being the sausage.
Or if it is pasta puttinesca, the anchovies/olives will provide
the salt. Pasta Romano, with cheese, oil and pepper, has salt in
the cheese. You usually do not need more than one salt ingredient
in a dish.


S.