European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                You re rn5ht, by Solly Roa Salt pres Kot steel up shovelling into a Supply of Road Salt in Michigan for Crews to dump on icy Winter highways. Lived to be the first written reference. Roman soldiers received part of their pay in Salari us or Salt hence the word salary. Ergo a Lazy Soldier is not Worth his Salt. Salt was used to Mumm Ify the egyptian dead. Salt taxes were nearly Universal in the ancient world and India paid one to the British As recently As 1947. Such a tax in France was one of the causes of the French revolution. The chinese Long ago drilled Wells up to 3,000 feet to pump Salt brine using lengths of Bamboo for casings. The american indians mined Salt in the Southwest and English colonists in the new world evaporated sea water for Salt to preserve fish and  Are Salt mountains in the near East and Africa and the world s largest Salt mine is at Wieliczka Poland. In the old Days the expression Back to the Salt mines was no joke. Criminals were pressed into mining Salt in Romania and elsewhere and death was the imme Diate penalty for failure to obey a  mines also Are a Good place to store valuables. One Kansas mine has been used As a repository for re cords by 15,000 enterprises including the City of los an Geles. In world War ii the nazis stored Art treasures in Salt  there Are proposals for salting away nuclear wastes in Salt mines but environmentalists protested that earthquakes might allow storage areas to leak. And Salt remains a Center of controversy but like any thing on Earth it is not Salt itself that is so Good or bad. But the Way Man uses it. A matter of taste by Craig Claiborne new York times everal times Over the years i have been taken to task for specifying Salt to taste in recipes rather than a specific amount. The latest such criticism is from Owen Stratton of Wellesley mass. You Are often vague he writes unnecessarily vague i think about the amount of Salt to use. For instance in your excellent recipe for roast Chicken with Rosemary you say to Sprinkle the Chicken inside and out with Salt and Pepper to taste i know that i am being cautious about the roast Chicken recipe since nothing fatal will happen if somebody uses More Salt than you would use but it is a Good example of How you overwork the expression to taste another example is in your recipe for Chicken liver Pate in which you Tell your followers to add Salt to taste to a mixture of cooked Chicken livers raw pork Etc. It would be helpful to anyone who had never made a Pate if you told him that the Only Way to Tell whether it is properly seasoned is to Cook a bit of it and taste it. Some such advice is particularly important since the seasoning is critical in a Pate. When i use one of your recipes that is vague on the Salt question i have Learned to record the amount of Salt i put in it and adjust that if necessary the next time around. But i do think that you could help your readers if you would give them the Benefit of your experience on the Salt ques Tion could you not for instance recognize differing tastes in Salt by stating a Range from the minimum Quantity you think Nec Essary to the maximum you believe to be tolerable a Good Deal of thought has gone into this business of specifics where Salt is concerned and somehow it has seemed saner to follow the track i have used Over the years. In the first place a tolerance for Salt varies widely from individual to individual. One Man s lightly salted can be an other Man s brine. I am also Well aware that most medical authorities in this Day and age advise a Good Deal of caution on the intake of  second Point is that in my own Kitchen we use Kosher Salt if for no other reason than because i like the feel of it. The tactile sensation is Nice. But a Teaspoon of Kosher Salt will not contribute the same salinity As a Teaspoon of Fine grained Salt. Stratton is absolutely Correct of course. I certainly do not recommend tasting raw pork to determine whether More Salt is needed or not. The proper thing to do is to Fry a very Small Batch of the pork mixture whatever it is to determine if there is sufficient  ended his letter on a positive note and added that we Are particularly fond of the recipe for Mil Anaise sauce in the new York times Cookbook. The sauce is admirable on pasta but i wonder whether you have Ever tried it on rare Hamburg ers. The combination is delicious for those who wish to try the sauce on rare hamburgers Here it is Mil Anaise sauce 4 ounces Salt pork diced /8 cup chopped onion /4 cloves garlic minced a cup finely chopped Carrot 1 Bay Leaf Pinch of thyme /2 cup chopped Parsley 4 cups italian Plum tomatoes crushed 1 can Tomato paste 1 quart Chicken Broth Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper to taste 3 Tablespoons butter 1 cup mushrooms sliced 1 cup cubed cooked Ham preferably pro sciutto. 1. Cook the diced Salt pork Over Moder ate heat stirring occasionally until it is rendered of fat. Add the onion garlic Carrot Bay Leaf and thyme and saute until the onion is transparent. 2. Add the Parsley tomatoes Tomato paste and Chicken Broth and simmer uncovered one hour or until the mixture reaches the desired thickness. Remove the Bay Leaf and season to taste with Salt and Pepper. 3. Melt the butter in a Skillet and Cook the mushrooms and Ham in it until the mushrooms Are wilted. Combine with the Tomato sauce. Yield 5 to6 cups. Sunday october 16, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 11