worth our salt?

credit for this blog post's inspiration goes to my dad who, over a meal started wondering out loud about the etymology of something he had read about salary being somehow related to salt.

being word lovers, we looked it up and sure enough, the word salary (sel/salarie in French) is derived from the Latin sal or salarium for "wages".

as history goes this is an abbreviation for argentum, or "salt money" referring to Roman soldiers being paid in salt, and also where we get the modern vernacular, "to earn or to be worth your salt".

even if you don't fancy your employer trading your time for this flavor-enhancing mineral, you can still use it to improve your cooking.

it is first in the list of culinary foundations in the book i am currently practicing from, " salt, fat, acid, heat" by samin nostrat.

in the words of james  beard, father of american cookery, "where would we be without salt?"