Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's writings, here she
is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of MSG.

China's true dash of flavor
Fuchsia Dunlop
Thursday, February 22, 2007

The Chinese Year of the Pig began on Sunday, filling local Chinatowns
with people in search of a festive meal. Yet despite the enduring
popularity of Chinese food, many still see it as strictly a down-market
cuisine, more the stuff of cheap takeout than one of the world's great
culinary cultures.

In the old days of chop suey and egg foo yung, this reputation may have
been justified. But now that fine and authentic Chinese dining is
available in much of the world (if you know where to look for it), why
do so many people still think of it as junky?

Looming large as an explanation is the use of monosodium glutamate, or
MSG, in Chinese kitchens. For restaurant chefs and Chinese home cooks,
MSG is a ubiquitous seasoning, considered as "normal" as salt, soy sauce
and vinegar.

Yet for many people, the fine white powder is a sinister food additive,
tainted by association with industrialized food production and the
garish, over-the- top flavors of packaged snacks.

And ever since 1968, when The New England Journal of Medicine used the
headline "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" over a letter from a doctor
complaining that Chinese restaurant food gave him numbness in his neck
and palpitations, it has also been fingered with medical suspicion.

While around a third of Americans say they believe that MSG makes them
ill, reputable medical studies have shown that only a tiny proportion of
people truly react to it, and then only when it is administered in large
oral doses on an empty stomach.

In the absence of medical evidence of any harmful physiological effects
of MSG, the fact that the Chinese use it while people not of Chinese
descent generally don't creates a serious cultural barrier to the
mainstream appreciation of Chinese food. Isn't it time, perhaps, to cast
off our prejudices and take a cool, steady look at MSG?

MSG is not, of course, a traditional Chinese seasoning. It was
discovered in 1908 by a Japanese scientist, Kikunae Ikeda, who was
trying to pinpoint the source of the intense deliciousness of broth made
from kombu seaweed.

In his laboratory, he isolated the natural glutamates in the seaweed,
and to their marvelous taste he gave the name "umami," derived from the
Japanese word for "delicious." His work led directly to the industrial
manufacture in Japan and then worldwide of monosodium glutamate.

Still, MSG was long considered simply to be a flavor enhancer, with
little or no taste of its own. In recent years, however, there has been
growing acceptance of the existence of a so-called fifth taste — an
addition to the traditional quartet of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter —
known through an emerging consensus by Ikeda's term, umami.

Our tongues, biologists have shown, have distinct receptors that pick up
on the taste of MSG and a wider family of umami compounds, and some of
our brain cells respond specifically to umami.

The umami taste comes from the building blocks of proteins, amino acids
and nucleotides, which include not only glutamates but also inosinates
and guanylates.

These delicious molecules appear when animal and vegetable proteins
break down, for example in the ripening of Parmigiano cheese or
prosciutto di Parma.

Industrially made MSG is a chemically "neat" form of one of the umami
compounds that delight our taste buds when they occur naturally in
cheese, ham and seaweed, just as salt is a "neat" form of the saltiness
of seawater and white sugar of the sweetness of sugar cane. Is it any
worse for us than refined salt and sugar?

Western chefs, food writers and consumers are only now cottoning onto
the existence of umami and its power as a culinary concept. In China,
however, it has long been part of the daily vocabulary of the kitchen.
Chinese chefs talk often of "xian wei" — their term for umami.

They use many ingredients that are naturally rich in it — Yunnan ham,
dried scallops, and shiitake mushrooms — to enhance the flavors of their
stocks and sauces (just as an Italian cook might use grated Parmigiano
or truffles to enhance the umami taste of a dish of pasta).

They talk of "ti xian wei" ("bringing out the umami") in their cooking
through the judicious application of salt, sugar, chicken fat and,
nowadays, MSG.

Bad Chinese chefs, of course, just use MSG as a substitute for good
ingredients and properly made stocks, just as bad American food
companies cook up snack foods made from fat and carbohydrates laced with
salt and sugar.

But top Chinese chefs also use it, to refine and elevate flavors. There
may be no need to add MSG to a delicate soup made from chicken, ham and
dried scallops. But in some culinary contexts, it works wonders: A
little MSG mixed with salt and sesame oil can lift the flavor of a
simple bamboo shoot salad, or add a dash of ecstasy to a stir-fry of pea
shoots and garlic. If you didn't know it was MSG, you would simply find
it delicious.

In the past, I was as closed- minded on the subject of MSG as the
purists and hypochondriacs.

When I started cooking and writing about Chinese food more than a decade
ago, I decided not to use MSG. I wanted to stick up for proper
ingredients and traditional cooking methods, and help to rehabilitate
the reputation of Chinese cuisine by showing that it didn't require this
reviled additive.

But these days I'm not so sure. The scientific evidence for umami is
persuasive, and as a concept it makes sense of a great deal of
traditional culinary theory.

I see brilliant chefs in China making subtle and skillful use of MSG.
And if some outstanding Western chefs — like Heston Blumenthal, whose
Fat Duck restaurant in England has three Michelin stars — are willing to
risk ridicule and experiment with its culinary potential, perhaps it's
time I should as well.

Intellectual curiosity is, tradition has it, a hallmark of the Year of
the Pig.

Fuchsia Dunlop is the author of "Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook."


From http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/...n/eddunlop.php

On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:55:32 -0600, Steve Wertz
> wrote:

>On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:54:47 -0500, ian wrote:
>
>> Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's writings, here she
>> is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of MSG.
>
>Good article. What, exactly, did you find wrong with it?
>
>-sw

do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use of msg? i
usually use it when it's called for (more often, of course, in
japanese recipes) and don't if it's not. should i be jamming it into
meat loaf? (i just bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate,
several lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of ac'cent.)

your pal,
blake

blake murphy > wrote:
> Steve Wertz > wrote:
> >On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:54:47 -0500, ian wrote:
> >
> >> Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's writings, here
> >> she is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of MSG.
> >
> >Good article. What, exactly, did you find wrong with it?
> >
> do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use of msg? i
> usually use it when it's called for (more often, of course, in
> japanese recipes) and don't if it's not. should i be jamming it into
> meat loaf? (i just bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate,
> several lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of ac'cent.)

Thai food is so strong that we use very little MSG. On the other hand, we
just bought 5 Lbs of Prague Powder # 1; enough to cure a ton of sausage!

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !
~Semper Fi~ www.delphiayachtsusa.com

On Feb 24, 9:20 am, blake murphy > wrote:
> do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use of msg? i
> usually use it when it's called for (more often, of course, in
> japanese recipes) and don't if it's not. should i be jamming it into
> meat loaf? (i just bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate,
> several lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of ac'cent.)
>
> your pal,
> blake


I can tell if it is overused (as in cheap fast food) as I can feel it
in my mouth for quite a while after I have eaten the food. As others
have said over use of salt or anything else is just as bad.

I do use it occasionally in Asian food, especially in broths and long
cooked meats. As long as you use it subtly and don't put it in
everything I see no problem.

David

On Feb 24, 6:14 am, "
> wrote:

> I can tell if it is overused (as in cheap fast food) as I can feel it
> in my mouth for quite a while after I have eaten the food.

That's also because there MSG is used to cover the poor quality of the
ingredients. Whenever I read the composition of a commercial meat-
broth, I do get a headache, too - Where's the meat? ;-)

> As others have said over use of salt or anything else is just as bad.

Yes! Quality shows and must not be hidden.

> I do use it occasionally in Asian food, especially in broths and long
> cooked meats.

Well - the better part of the delicious taste of a long-cooked broth
is MSG. It's a natural and essential part of our body-chemistry.

> As long as you use it subtly and don't put it in everything I see no problem.

And that's exactly the point. That's why I don't ever add MSG to our
food, but I do make broth from good , fresh ingredients. We (and our
guests) don't ever miss anything, tastewise. And we don't eat on and
on and on because of "umami" ...

Excellent article, btw.

Bye, Sanne.

On 24 Feb 2007 00:32:02 -0800, "sanne" > wrote:

>And that's exactly the point. That's why I don't ever add MSG to our
>We (and our
>guests) don't ever miss anything, tastewise.

You don't know that since you don't add it.

>And we don't eat on and on and on because of "umami" ...
Like umpteen million Chinese?
------------
There are no atheists in foxholes
or in Fenway Park in an extra inning
game.
____

Cape Cod Bob

Delete the two "spam"s for email

On Feb 25, 7:17 am, Cape Cod Bob >
wrote:

> >That's why I don't ever add MSG to our
> >We (and our
> >guests) don't ever miss anything, tastewise.
>
> You don't know that since you don't add it.

I don't. My mother did. I do know.

> >And we don't eat on and on and on because of "umami" ...
>
> Like umpteen million Chinese?

Yes, overweight is really a problem there nowadays.

Bye, Sanne.

"blake murphy" > wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:55:32 -0600, Steve Wertz
> > wrote:
>
> >On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:54:47 -0500, ian wrote:
> >
> >> Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's writings, here she
> >> is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of MSG.
> >
> >Good article. What, exactly, did you find wrong with it?
> >
> >-sw
>
> do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use of msg? i
> usually use it when it's called for (more often, of course, in
> japanese recipes) and don't if it's not. should i be jamming it into
> meat loaf? (i just bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate,
> several lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of ac'cent.)
>
> your pal,
> blake
>

I've been making Japanese food for a couple decades and have never used msg.
None of my
relatives in Japan do either. During the 1960s when I was a little kid, a
bottle of "ajinomoto"
was always found on the table next to the soy sauce. I havent seen any for
quite some time
even though I know it still exists and is sold in stores. I look at quite a
number of recipes in
Japanese magazines and books and never find Ajinomoto (msg) listed as a
recipe ingredient.
Take my word for it, you don't need msg to make good Japanese dishes. The
whole idea of
ajinomoto (msg) was to reproduce the "umami" that comes from amino acids. If
you use
traditional dashi ingredients like Konbu, it comes naturally.
Musashi

On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 20:24:37 GMT, "Musashi" >
wrote:

>
>"blake murphy" > wrote in message
.. .
>> On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:55:32 -0600, Steve Wertz
>> > wrote:
>>
>> >On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:54:47 -0500, ian wrote:
>> >
>> >> Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's writings, here she
>> >> is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of MSG.
>> >
>> >Good article. What, exactly, did you find wrong with it?
>> >
>> >-sw
>>
>> do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use of msg? i
>> usually use it when it's called for (more often, of course, in
>> japanese recipes) and don't if it's not. should i be jamming it into
>> meat loaf? (i just bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate,
>> several lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of ac'cent.)
>>
>> your pal,
>> blake
>>
>
>I've been making Japanese food for a couple decades and have never used msg.
>None of my
>relatives in Japan do either. During the 1960s when I was a little kid, a
>bottle of "ajinomoto"
>was always found on the table next to the soy sauce. I havent seen any for
>quite some time
>even though I know it still exists and is sold in stores. I look at quite a
>number of recipes in
>Japanese magazines and books and never find Ajinomoto (msg) listed as a
>recipe ingredient.
>Take my word for it, you don't need msg to make good Japanese dishes. The
>whole idea of
>ajinomoto (msg) was to reproduce the "umami" that comes from amino acids. If
>you use
>traditional dashi ingredients like Konbu, it comes naturally.
>Musashi
>
msg is a little easier for me to get a hold of than konbu. (i'm a
sissy - what can i say? when i use dashi, i make the powdered stuff
from a jar.)

your pal,
blake

blake wrote on Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:52:15 GMT:

??>> "blake murphy" > wrote in message
??>> ...
??>>> On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:55:32 -0600, Steve Wertz
??>>> > wrote:
??>>>
??>>>> On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:54:47 -0500, ian wrote:
??>>>>
??>>>>> Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's
??>>>>> writings, here she is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of
??>>>>> MSG.
??>>>>
??>>>> Good article. What, exactly, did you find wrong with
??>>>> it?
??>>>>
??>>>> -sw
??>>>
??>>> do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use
??>>> of msg? i usually use it when it's called for (more
??>>> often, of course, in japanese recipes) and don't if it's
??>>> not. should i be jamming it into meat loaf? (i just
??>>> bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate, several
??>>> lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of
??>>> ac'cent.)
??>>>
??>>> your pal,
??>>> blake
??>>>
??>> I've been making Japanese food for a couple decades and
??>> have never used msg. None of my relatives in Japan do
??>> either. During the 1960s when I was a little kid, a bottle
??>> of "ajinomoto" was always found on the table next to the
??>> soy sauce. I havent seen any for quite some time even
??>> though I know it still exists and is sold in stores. I
??>> look at quite a number of recipes in Japanese magazines
??>> and books and never find Ajinomoto (msg) listed as
??>> a recipe ingredient. Take my word for it, you don't need
??>> msg to make good Japanese dishes. The whole idea
??>> of ajinomoto (msg) was to reproduce the "umami" that comes
??>> from amino acids. If you use traditional dashi ingredients
??>> like Konbu, it comes naturally. Musashi
??>>
bm> msg is a little easier for me to get a hold of than konbu.
bm> (i'm a sissy - what can i say? when i use dashi, i make
bm> the powdered stuff from a jar.)

Judging by the amounts and varieties on the shelves of my
favorite Japanese grocery, Japanese people use prepared dried
stocks too! You can even find Hon Dashi in my favorite *Chinese*
supermarket: Kam Sen in Rockville, MD. Kam Sen does not let
ethnic correctness stand in the way of pleasing the customers;
they've got Phillipino and Vietnamese stuff too and I usually
buy miso imported from Japan there. The only Japanese condiment
that I have not found there is Tonkatsu sauce.

By the way, did you know that Pakistanis call MSG Chinese Salt?

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 13:58:24 -0500, "James Silverton"
<not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not> wrote:

> blake wrote on Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:52:15 GMT:
>
> ??>> "blake murphy" > wrote in message
> ??>> ...
> ??>>> On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:55:32 -0600, Steve Wertz
> ??>>> > wrote:
> ??>>>
> ??>>>> On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:54:47 -0500, ian wrote:
> ??>>>>
> ??>>>>> Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's
> ??>>>>> writings, here she is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of
> ??>>>>> MSG.
> ??>>>>
> ??>>>> Good article. What, exactly, did you find wrong with
> ??>>>> it?
> ??>>>>
> ??>>>> -sw
> ??>>>
> ??>>> do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use
> ??>>> of msg? i usually use it when it's called for (more
> ??>>> often, of course, in japanese recipes) and don't if it's
> ??>>> not. should i be jamming it into meat loaf? (i just
> ??>>> bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate, several
> ??>>> lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of
> ??>>> ac'cent.)
> ??>>>
> ??>>> your pal,
> ??>>> blake
> ??>>>
> ??>> I've been making Japanese food for a couple decades and
> ??>> have never used msg. None of my relatives in Japan do
> ??>> either. During the 1960s when I was a little kid, a bottle
> ??>> of "ajinomoto" was always found on the table next to the
> ??>> soy sauce. I havent seen any for quite some time even
> ??>> though I know it still exists and is sold in stores. I
> ??>> look at quite a number of recipes in Japanese magazines
> ??>> and books and never find Ajinomoto (msg) listed as
> ??>> a recipe ingredient. Take my word for it, you don't need
> ??>> msg to make good Japanese dishes. The whole idea
> ??>> of ajinomoto (msg) was to reproduce the "umami" that comes
> ??>> from amino acids. If you use traditional dashi ingredients
> ??>> like Konbu, it comes naturally. Musashi
> ??>>
> bm> msg is a little easier for me to get a hold of than konbu.
> bm> (i'm a sissy - what can i say? when i use dashi, i make
> bm> the powdered stuff from a jar.)
>
>Judging by the amounts and varieties on the shelves of my
>favorite Japanese grocery, Japanese people use prepared dried
>stocks too! You can even find Hon Dashi in my favorite *Chinese*
>supermarket: Kam Sen in Rockville, MD. Kam Sen does not let
>ethnic correctness stand in the way of pleasing the customers;
>they've got Phillipino and Vietnamese stuff too and I usually
>buy miso imported from Japan there. The only Japanese condiment
>that I have not found there is Tonkatsu sauce.
>
>By the way, did you know that Pakistanis call MSG Chinese Salt?
>
>James Silverton
>Potomac, Maryland

i will have to check out kam sen, since it's not far from me (silver
spring, md.) lotsa stuff, hey? any idea if it's near a metro stop?

your pal,
blake

"blake murphy" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 20:24:37 GMT, "Musashi" >
> wrote:
>
> >
> >"blake murphy" > wrote in message
> .. .
> >> On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:55:32 -0600, Steve Wertz
> >> > wrote:
> >>
> >> >On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:54:47 -0500, ian wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's writings, here
she
> >> >> is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of MSG.
> >> >
> >> >Good article. What, exactly, did you find wrong with it?
> >> >
> >> >-sw
> >>
> >> do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use of msg? i
> >> usually use it when it's called for (more often, of course, in
> >> japanese recipes) and don't if it's not. should i be jamming it into
> >> meat loaf? (i just bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate,
> >> several lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of ac'cent.)
> >>
> >> your pal,
> >> blake
> >>
> >
> >I've been making Japanese food for a couple decades and have never used
msg.
> >None of my
> >relatives in Japan do either. During the 1960s when I was a little kid, a
> >bottle of "ajinomoto"
> >was always found on the table next to the soy sauce. I havent seen any
for
> >quite some time
> >even though I know it still exists and is sold in stores. I look at quite
a
> >number of recipes in
> >Japanese magazines and books and never find Ajinomoto (msg) listed as a
> >recipe ingredient.
> >Take my word for it, you don't need msg to make good Japanese dishes. The
> >whole idea of
> >ajinomoto (msg) was to reproduce the "umami" that comes from amino acids.
If
> >you use
> >traditional dashi ingredients like Konbu, it comes naturally.
> >Musashi
> >
> msg is a little easier for me to get a hold of than konbu. (i'm a
> sissy - what can i say? when i use dashi, i make the powdered stuff
> from a jar.)
>

OK, I can't deny that it is convenient.
Today in Japan, msg is found mostly in processed foods, instant foods, and
convenience store "bentos".
While most people no longer sprinkle it on their food like they used to,
it is still found in many things so it isn't easy to completely avoid.
M

blake murphy wrote:

>
>
> do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use of msg? i
> usually use it when it's called for (more often, of course, in
> japanese recipes) and don't if it's not. should i be jamming it into
> meat loaf? (i just bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate,
> several lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of ac'cent.)
>
> your pal,
> blake

Good to hear from you, pal. It's my secret ingredient, but it's best to
keep it that way. There's much resistance by the majority of folks to
this material. :-) However, it works well in meatload. A local eatery
used to put the stuff in their potato salad but they've stopped using
MSG and now it's just plain old bland PS. Mostly, I use it pretty
liberally so one can go through a pound of the stuff rapidly.

David

dsi1 wrote on Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:21:04 -1000:
d> Good to hear from you, pal. It's my secret ingredient, but
d> it's best to keep it that way. There's much resistance by
d> the majority of folks to this material. :-) However, it
d> works well in meatload. A local eatery used to put the stuff
d> in their potato salad but they've stopped using MSG and now
d> it's just plain old bland PS. Mostly, I use it pretty
d> liberally so one can go through a pound of the stuff
d> rapidly.

I'll give out my dread secret :-) I'm on a low or no-fat diet
and non-fat cream cheese is vastly improved by a sprinkling of
msg.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:10:01 -0500, "James Silverton"
<not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not> wrote:

> dsi1 wrote on Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:21:04 -1000:
> d> Good to hear from you, pal. It's my secret ingredient, but
> d> it's best to keep it that way. There's much resistance by
> d> the majority of folks to this material. :-) However, it
> d> works well in meatload. A local eatery used to put the stuff
> d> in their potato salad but they've stopped using MSG and now
> d> it's just plain old bland PS. Mostly, I use it pretty
> d> liberally so one can go through a pound of the stuff
> d> rapidly.
>
>I'll give out my dread secret :-) I'm on a low or no-fat diet
>and non-fat cream cheese is vastly improved by a sprinkling of
>msg.
>
>James Silverton
>Potomac, Maryland
>

wail with it, bro. don't be surprised if someone tells you cream
cheese isn't traditional, either.

your pal,
blake

James Silverton wrote:
> dsi1 wrote on Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:21:04 -1000:
> d> Good to hear from you, pal. It's my secret ingredient, but
> d> it's best to keep it that way. There's much resistance by
> d> the majority of folks to this material. :-) However, it
> d> works well in meatload. A local eatery used to put the stuff
> d> in their potato salad but they've stopped using MSG and now
> d> it's just plain old bland PS. Mostly, I use it pretty
> d> liberally so one can go through a pound of the stuff
> d> rapidly.
>
> I'll give out my dread secret :-) I'm on a low or no-fat diet and
> non-fat cream cheese is vastly improved by a sprinkling of msg.

Pretty wild stuff. Wonder how it'd do in Koolade? It may be that MSG is
right up there with salt as a flavor enhancer. Anyway, the Japanese will
add a small pinch of salt to freshing up a stale cup of coffee and
darned if that don't work well. I'm gonna have to try some MSG in
coffee. Don't tell anybody...

David

>
> James Silverton
> Potomac, Maryland
>
> E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

Steve Wertz wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:54:47 -0500, ian wrote:
>
>> Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's writings, here she
>> is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of MSG.
>
> Good article. What, exactly, did you find wrong with it?
>
> -sw

I found nothing wrong with it at all. In fact, I found it intriguing. My
attitude to MSG was the same as hers. Many visits in the distant past to
Chinese restaurants resulted in one or more of the diners complaining
afterwards about 'chinese restaurant syndrome', and I sometimes felt a
little brain tingle myself, so I always avoided using it.

I think her approach is fine, however, as it insists on using good
ingredients, and she is not advocating shovelling the stuff into the
food. I intend to try some this weekend with whatever I cook. If it
improves the taste without any bad consequences, I'm all for it.

This site, http://www.msginfo.com/in_the_kitchen_quick.asp, says that a
half teaspoon per pound of meat is sufficient. (The site is run by
Ajinomoto, the big Asian food company).

Ian