On Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 8:52:54 AM UTC-10, Ophelia wrote:
> "dsi1" wrote in message
> ...
>
> On Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 2:19:48 AM UTC-10, Gary wrote:
> > dsi1 wrote:
> > >
> > > Asian cooks have an advantage over Western cooks because they make most
> > > of their dishes with the idea of maximizing umami. I don't know how much
> > > Western cooks are able to utilize this basic taste. It might be that
> > > umami is an abstract concept to most cooks.
> >
> > I'm still trying to figure out just exactly what umami is.
> > I would love to hear everyone's definition of this taste.
> > Please do.
>
> The simplest way to find out, hopefully, is to get a bag of MSG and use it
> and study what it does with food. I think my daughter must have thrown out
> my bag of MSG cause it's nowhere to be found. OTOH, I've found that I don't
> need it because I have several ingredients rich in the stuff.
>
> 1) Shoyu
> 2) Chinese salted black beans
> 3) Miso paste
> 4) Japanese mayo
> 5) Fish sauce
> 6) Salted anchovy
> 7) Korean gochujang
> 8) Oyster sauce
> 9) Dried mushroom
> 10) Katsuobushi
> 11) Kim chee
> 12) Cheese, especially Parmesan
>
> Mostly you get umami from fermented foods.
>
> ==
>
> I have a bag of MSG I got from a Chinese shop in Glasgow. They didn't know
> what I wanted at first but they got it in the end))
>
> I don't really know what I am doing with it, but I put a couple of pinches
> into things))

If you have some bland food like potato salad you can add some MSG to it. I'd use about twice the amount as you use salt. Dish out two portions and add MSG to one. Then feed it to your hubby/guinea pig and ask him which tastes better. Don't add it to oatmeal though!