Try to remember the last really nice dinner you had, either at someone's house or at your favorite restaurant.

What is it that stands out in your memory? It could be the bread was great, or the dessert was great. Or even that a side dish was great.

My first dinner at a five-star restaurant was in New York, more than 20 years ago. I had the chateaubriand, but my most vivid memory is of the side dishes: the perfectly steamed veggies and the Duchess potatoes piped around the serving platter.

Until then, I'd never had veggies that weren't cooked to mush, and the teeny bit of extra effort to add an egg yolk to the mashed potatoes and pipe them around the platter made a memory that has lasted to this day.

It didn't take one extra second to make those veggies perfect, and it might have taken one extra minute to add that egg yolk to the potatoes and pipe them around the platter.

Otherwise, it was the same food we eat every day. It was the smallest details that turned that meal from plain to five stars and you can do it, too.

This isn't about how to cook in 30 minutes or less, because many five-star dinners can be made in much less time!

For example, homemade chicken stock can be made while you're in the kitchen doing other chores and it will be much more flavorful than what you buy in the store. It also will contain zero salt, can be the basis for exceptional gravies and sauces, and also can be used as the basis for delicious soups.

So, for our first five-star foray, how about salt? Almost none of your “five-star” recipes will include salt. The average American gets way more than the USDA allowance of salt, which probably contributes to high blood pressure and other problems. And covering the taste of food with a ton of salt is definitely not five star.

On a cooking show I saw, the chef was making a sauced chicken dish served over rice. The sauce was salted four times: once when the onions were sautéed, then with the addition of store-bought chicken stock (outrageously high in sodium), again with the addition of American soy sauce (pretty much pure salt) and then, with the peanut butter that was added, which has salt of its own. Oops! It was five times actually, because then the whole sauce was “seasoned.”

Of course the chicken was salted (both sides) before being grilled, and then the whole thing was served over salted rice. So that's seven times.

Salting food just seems to be something people do without thinking, and is as automatic as putting the food on a plate before eating it.

Cooks can salt recipes, but please try them as they are first, and see how unsalted food can scream plenty of flavors at you! And then, if you do want to use salt, get sea salt, which is actually full of flavor.

Next week: Faubel is back with ways to save money and two elegant rice side dish recipes. If you have a question, comment or suggestion, e-mail Cuisine at rjackimowicz@theworldlink.com.