The Potato Ploy

• Adding chopped potato to your stew may help to reduce the saltiness. The principle behind this trick is that the potato will absorb some of the salty liquid of your stew. A potato is not a perfect sponge, but introducing this root vegetable will help soak up some of the salty liquid.

Using the Potato Ploy

• Wash and peel the potato and chop it into large chunks. Peeling the potato will remove the skin barrier, allowing the potato to absorb more water. Chopping it into chunks will increase its surface area, also enabling more salt to be absorbed. Before serving, remove the chunks of potato with a slotted spoon and discard. However, depending on how salty your stew was to begin with, you may need to employ a few other techniques.

Doubling Up

• The most surefire way to reduce the saltiness of your stew is to add more of everything else. If you have more meat, veggies, pasta or grains on hand, add them to the pot to even out the salt load. You could also add more diced potato and keep it in the dish to serve.

Other Tricks

• If your stew is still too salty, you can try adding a little bit of sugar or fat, like oil, to the mix. If possible, serve your stew slightly lukewarm or cool, since salt is more detectable in hot foods than cold. Next time, taste as you go, adding only a small amount of salt at a time. And remember that other ingredients -- like chicken broth, garlic salt or soy sauce -- may add plenty of salt on their own.