Umami, Part II: Culinary Schools and Chefs Learn to Enhance Taste
by Jane Greer
CulinaryEd Columnist
November 19, 2008
Umami: the "Fifth Taste"
In the mid 1990s, scientists proved that the human tongue has taste receptors that can detect not only the four long-accepted main tastes--sweet, sour, salty, and bitter--but also a fifth taste: umami (the Japanese word for "delicious," pronounced oo-MA-mee). Umami gives food a rich, deep, satisfying taste and velvety "mouth feel."
Culinary Schools and Chefs Pursue Umami
Human beings are genetically programmed to love the umami taste. Now that scientists have shown how to achieve it--by using foods high in glutamates and ribonucleotides, such as meat, fish, dairy products, and certain vegetable--chefs, culinary schools, and even food manufacturers are transforming their recipes and techniques.
- Prepare for Higher-Umami Snacks. Large food companies such as Nestle, Frito-Lay, and Campbell's are experimenting with ways to make their foods taste even better by increasing their umami.
- Chefs Use Umami Expertise to Wow Customers. Four-star NYC chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten serves what he calls "umami bombs"--umami-intense dishes such as Parmesan custard with white truffles. And chef Jonathan Pratt's Umami Cafe in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., combines at least three mega-umami foods in every dish.
- Culinary Schools Teach Umami-Enhancing Techniques. Culinary students are learning ways to reduce fat and salt in food without losing flavor--by increasing umami. Often, the solution is as simple as tossing a Parmesan cheese rind into a pot of soup, broiling or baking tomatoes, using a small amount of Worcestershire sauce (which contains anchovies) or other fish sauces, or even adding catsup. Techniques such as fermentation, slow-cooking, drying, ageing, and curing also increase the umami in food.
By learning how to intensify the deep, delicious, satisfying "fifth taste," chefs and culinary students have entered a bold new frontier of flavor.
Sources
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
UmamiCafe.com
Umami Information Center
Wall Street Journal
About the Author
Jane Greer is a freelance writer and editor and is also brave enough to teach English grammar at a community college.
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