You know that burst of flavour you experience when you take a bite of certain savoury foods such as meat, fish, mushrooms or miso? That sensation of “whoa, that is just delicious”?
In all likelihood, you are tasting umami.
Umami, which translates to “delicious savoury taste”, was identified as a distinct flavour in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda. It’s now recognised as the fifth taste, joining sweet, salty, bitter and sour.
The concept of this fifth taste has been embraced in the East for a long time, before it had an official name. But it’s still a relatively new idea to many home cooks in the West.
If you’ve ever wondered why sprinkling Parmesan on your pasta made it just so much more satisfying, why the exterior of a roasted pork shoulder has so much flavour, why miso soup tastes so luxurious, why bacon is so freaking delicious, why an anchovy-based Caesar salad dressing makes you want to wriggle with joy, why caramelised onions have so much depth – the answer is umami.
Umami flavour comes from glutamate, a common amino acid or protein building block found in many foods. The most familiar is monosodium glutamate, or MSG. In the United States, it was once believed that MSG wasn’t good for you, but it’s now generally recognised as a safe addition to food. Many Asian chefs have worked to reintroduce MSG into daily cooking.
Foods rich with umami flavour include:
Aged cheeses: Blue cheese, gouda and cheddar are some of the most umami-packed cheeses due to the breakdown of proteins that takes places during the ageing process. Parmesan cheese is widely recognised as an “umami bomb”.
Tomato products: The more cooked down, the more concentrated the umami – think tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes and ketchup.
Mushrooms: In particular, shiitake, oyster and portobello mushrooms. Also, make use of dried mushrooms.
Meat and meat broths: Roasted and grilled meats are examples of umami richness. A roasted chicken, pan-seared steak. Cured meats like prosciutto and bacon are also umami powerhouses. So are ramen, udon soup and other foods made with rich savoury broths.
Fish and seafood: Especially varieties like sea urchin, shrimp and scallops. You will also find high levels of umami flavour in fish and fish broths, especially little oily fish like sardines and anchovies.
Bonito flakes: These tissue-thin, fluffy shards of cooked and dry-smoked tuna are used as the base of dashi, a seasoning blend at the base of much Japanese cooking. Dashi also usually includes shiitake mushrooms and kombu (seaweed).
Soy sauce or shoyu: One of the pillars of umami flavour in Asian cooking. Fermentation breaks down the proteins in the soybeans and wheat used to make soy sauce into amino acids, glutamic acid in particular. Tamari is a gluten-free version of this condiment.
Fish sauce: This is another source of umami, used often in South-East Asian cooking. The basic ingredients are anchovies and salt. The salt pulls out the liquid from the fish and creates a dark, potent amber sauce. This is one of the reasons that Thai, Vietnamese and Filipino food, to name a few, taste so distinctively and pungently savoury.
Vegetarians and vegans might think that elusive fifth taste is hard to achieve without meat or other animal products, but there is much good news! The following are some options for vegans.
Seaweed: Another big source of umami (and not coincidentally the other main ingredient in dashi).
Yeast enhancers and spreads: Umami is the leading flavour note of Marmite and nutritional yeast.
Miso paste: Made from fermented soybeans, miso paste is high in umami. It doesn’t matter whether you are using white miso, brown rice miso, red miso or yellow miso.
Now that you know what you’re tasting, you’ll be looking for ways to incorporate more of this fifth dates into your cooking. It’s truly as easy as knowing what ingredients to reach for! – By KATIE WORKMAN/AP
