I’ve heard the word ‘umami’ over the last few years, and recently looked it up. This is what I learned:
You know how our taste buds have receptors for sweet, salty, bitter and sour? There’s now a fifth basic taste: umami (ōō-mä’mē, like you mommy without the ‘y’ in you).
“… in 1996, a team of University of Miami researchers studying taste perception … discovered separate taste receptor cells in the tongue for detecting umami. “Up until our research, the predominate wisdom in the scientific community was that umami [first identified in 1908] … was just a combination of the other four qualities [salty, sweet, bitter, sour],” explained Dr. Stephen Roper, the University of Miami physiology and biophysics professor who helped zero in on the taste along with Nirupa Chaudhari, the team’s lead researcher.”
“Umami is a Japanese word meaning “savory” … and applies to the sensation of savoriness, specifically to the detection of the natural amino acid, glutamatic acid or glutamates common in meat, cheese, mushrooms, anchovies and other protein-heavy foods. The action of umami receptors explains why foods treated with monosodium glutamate (MSG) often taste “heartier”.
“Glutamate has a long history in cooking, appearing in Asian foods such as soy sauce and fish sauce; in Italian food in Parmesan cheese and anchovies. It is the taste of Marmite in the UK, of Golden Mountain sauce in Thailand, of Maggi Sauce worldwide, of Goya Sazón on the Latin islands of the Caribbean, of Salsa Lizano in Costa Rica and of Kewpie mayonnaise in Japan.”
Naturally occurring glutamates in potatoes are concentrated by deep frying, making potato chips addictive. Caesar salad, featuring both anchovies and Parmesan, is a glutamate feast. And so is my favorite ingredient, fish sauce (nuoc mam, if you’re Vietnamese). Adding a dash of fish sauce to salad dressing, stews, soups or anything savory adds a layer of complexity and depth of flavor. It makes a dish noticeably better, but you don’t know why. And since fish sauce is made from fermented (i.e. rotted) fish, it’s not something I ever mention, but I see now that I’ve been adding umami. Ah, umami (with apologies to Li Bai)(a poet of the Tang Dynasty formerly known as Li Po)
Leeks, cream, and fish sauce, my three favorite ingredients.
I could live without leeks, and maybe even cream.
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