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Umami: The 5th flavor

Umami may not be as well known as sweet, salty, bitter or sour, but the “pleasant, savory taste” is essential to understanding well-balanced flavor.

Linguini with asparagus and mushrooms

Ribeye Steak with Asparagus

Chateaubriand steak

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Umami fun facts

One of the most universal umami ingredients is stock, whether it be dashi stock, beef stock, chicken stock or a vegetable stock made with mushrooms.
Tests have shown that glutamate, one of the amino acids responsible for umami flavor, is present in both human breast milk and amniotic fluid.
The guts of a tomato, including the seeds, are higher in umami than the outer flesh, causing some to question whether seeds should be omitted when making tomato sauce.
The concentration of glutamate — and umami — increases in a food as it ripens.
Umami is not just for savory dishes. Desserts and cocktails can have an umami taste if they are made with creative variations on ingredients such as Parmesan cheese, soy beans, tomatoes, green tea and carrots.
Some scientists speculate that umami may be tied to protein content in foods.

Source: Umami Information Center; starchefs.com

Vichyssoise

Serves 6 to 8

The flavor of this classic chilled French soup is boosted by the umami in the chicken stock.

4 Tbsp. butter

4-5 cups sliced leeks, white and pale green parts only (from about 4 large leeks)

1 medium onion, chopped or sliced

2 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped

6 cups chicken stock

2 tsp. kosher salt (more to taste)

1⁄2 cup sour cream

1⁄2 cup heavy whipping cream

Chopped fresh chives for garnish

1. In a large (6-quart) pot, heat the butter over medium-high heat until it just begins to brown.

2. Immediately add sliced leeks and onions. Stir to coat with the butter. Cook for several minutes, reducing the heat to medium if necessary, until the leeks and onions are translucent and wilted.

3. Add chopped potatoes, stock, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Cook, partially covered for 30-40 minutes, until the potatoes are completely cooked through. Remove from heat.

4. Using an immersion blender or the blender, puree until completely smooth (if using blender, only fill 1⁄3 of the way full at a time and hold the top down tightly while blending to avoid having hot liquid explode all over you and your kitchen). If desired, run the soup through a sieve to make it even smoother.

5. Cool completely, then stir in sour cream and whipping cream. Chill in the refrigerator and serve just below room temperature. Salt to taste and garnish with chives.

Source: Simpyrecipes.com

Baked Parmesan Tomatoes

Serves 4

4 tomatoes, halved horizontally

1⁄4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano

1⁄4 tsp. salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

4 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Place tomatoes cut-side up on a baking sheet. Top with Parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil and bake until the tomatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Source: Eatingwell.com

Soy-glazed Shiitake Mushrooms

Serves 8

3 cups dried shiitake mushrooms (about 3 oz.)

1⁄3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 cup water

1⁄2 tsp. sesame seeds

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Combine mushrooms, soy sauce, brown sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover pan and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are soft and all of the liquid has been absorbed (about 15 minutes).

2. Let mushrooms cool slightly, then slice thinly. Serve sprinkled with sesame seeds and black pepper.

Source: Bon Appetit

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Lindsey Nair | 981-3343

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Let’s pretend for a moment that we are contestants on “Jeopardy!”

The category is “The human body” and the answer Alex reads is “The five distinct flavors detected by human taste buds.”

This is easy, you might think, because we learned this in grade school. You can even picture the diagram of the human tongue labeled with the flavors picked up by each region of the organ.

You frantically buzz in and answer: “What are sweet, salty, bitter, sour and … Wait, five?”

Don’t feel badly if you cannot complete the answer — some culinary professionals may not even know that the fifth flavor is called “umami.” But it’s worth grasping the concept of umami because it is essential to understanding well-balanced flavor.

Without delving too deeply into the complex chemistry of umami, I will explain what it is and how you can employ your newfound knowledge in the kitchen.

‘Pleasant’ discovery

Around the turn of the century, a Japanese scientist named Kikunae Ikeda realized that kelp, a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, possessed a dimension of flavor that could not be categorized under the four common tastes.

Ikeda set out to isolate the source and, in 1908, determined it was produced by amino acids, most notably glutamic acid (glutamate), an amino acid that is present in large quantities in the human body.

He named the flavor umami, which means “pleasant, savory taste.” Other adjectives often used to describe umami are “meaty” or “mouth-watering.”

Based on his research, Ikeda invented monosodium glutamate, or MSG, which is used as a seasoning to give dishes an umami flavor. Although MSG is still heavily used in many food products, particularly Asian dishes and processed foodstuffs, it has been shunned by many as a chemical that can cause headaches and other physical ailments.

If you don’t like MSG, don’t get hung up on its connection to umami. There are plenty of natural ingredients that are rich in umami flavor, including meat, tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms and seafood. In fact, if an umami ingredient is called for in a recipe but is left out, the finished product will likely not taste as well-rounded as it should.

For example, when I first started making pad Thai, I ignored the fact that authentic recipes call for fish sauce. As a result, my pad Thai always tasted as if something was missing.

It turns out that fermented foods and seafood are rich in umami. When I added the fish sauce, the dish did not taste a bit fishy, but it did taste fuller and richer because it had that essential element of umami.

Cooking with umami

Although Ikeda’s research is now more than 100 years old, it has only been within the past few decades that the concept of umami has strongly taken hold in culinary circles.

The Umami Information Center, an organization devoted entirely to educating the public about umami, was not founded until 1982, nearly 75 years after Ikeda’s work.

At the Culinary Institute of Virginia Western, students learn about umami fairly early in the program, but director James Zeisler Sr. said he doesn’t remember being taught about umami when he was in culinary school.

“I wonder how people described things like meat and mushrooms before we came up with umami,” he said.

Today, he said, “I would hope any culinarian you ask would know what umami is.”

Some are more than aware. In California, a restaurant called Umami Burger, which has four locations, is built around the concept of “the perfect mouthful.” It sells burgers topped with ingredients including shiitake mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, truffles and Parmesan, a cheese with intense umami flavor.

Other ingredients rich in umami include soy beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, Chinese cabbage, carrots, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce.

Experimenting with umami in cooking can be complex and sophisticated, but it can also be as simple as knowing what foods bring the flavor and seeking recipes that highlight those foods — or, even better, combining more than one umami source in one dish. I’ve snagged a couple of easy recipes that harness the fifth flavor, and I’ll share them here.

Now if you’re on “Jeopardy!” and you’re asked about the five flavors detected by human taste buds, you’ll be able to answer appropriately. And if you win a bunch of money, you know where to find me.

On the blog

Find tips to boost flavor in recipes without adding salt at blogs.roanoke.com/fridgemagnet.

Saturday, September 14, 2013