Do Chefs Salt Dishes From So High Just Because It Looks Cool?

It's a scene anyone who's ever watched a cooking show will instantly recognize: just before serving a dish, the chef dramatically throws their arm over their head to dust the artfully presented plate with flaky finishing salt from way up high. While there's no denying that this chef-y seasoning method looks super cool, you may have wondered if there's an actual purpose for salting dishes from a considerable altitude. It turns out that it's not just for show — much like tossing pizza dough around, there's actually a surprisingly simple logic behind this flavorful flourish.

Sprinkling salt too close to a dish often results in uneven clumps of seasoning, translating into an unpleasant mix of extremely salty and tragically bland bites. Salting from high up, in contrast, allows the seasoning to gently rain down like a salty snow, resulting in a much more even flavor distribution. What's more, the up high seasoning trick doesn't just apply to salt — it also works with any other spices and seasonings that might be sprinkled over food, such as pepper, paprika, herbs, or even homemade Doritos seasoning powder.

Now that you understand why seasoning dishes from up high is important, you can try out this extremely cool seasoning method for yourself. However, that doesn't mean you should start throwing any and all seasonings around your kitchen from an altitude of several feet with the flamboyance of Salt Bae (a chef who has left many people salty). 

First of all, the only seasonings that truly benefit from being added from up high are those that won't be mixed into a dish in another way. For example, this method is perfect for seasoning a steak immediately before grilling or adding a final dusting of paprika to deviled eggs. On the other hand, you could salt a pot of soup from up high if you want, but since salt should be added to soup early on and can easily be stirred in, the only tangible effect it will have is that you may end up with salt all over your stovetop.

Speaking of spillage, when it comes to how high to sprinkle your seasoning from, the sweet spot is around 12 inches above the dish. This height allows for maximum dispersion and minimum overflow. Sprinkling from more than a foot above the food is unnecessary, and may result in the seasoning raining down a bit too broadly over everything but the food. If you're looking for other smart ways to prevent unevenly distributed seasonings, try this simple trick to avoid clumpy spices.