Qu'est-ce que c'est? Umami

By L. Stolpman in Food on Nov 20, 2009 3:40PM

Umami (pronounced 'Oo-MAH-mee') seems to be mentioned everywhere lately. It was featured in an episode of Top Chef this season as well as The Next Iron Chef in which the contestants had to make dishes that contained a lot of umami.

Wondering what it is? Umamiinfo.com defines 'umami' as "a pleasant savory taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. As the taste of umami itself is subtle and blends well with other tastes to expand and round out flavours, most people don't recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role making food taste delicious." Umami is a mixture of these elements (glutamate, inosinate, and guanylate). Sometimes, the taste is described as 'earthy' or 'meaty'. What's difficult about identifying the taste is that it there isn't a substance in which it is clearly isolated like there may be for the other taste receptors: Salty, Sour, Bitter, and Sweet.

What kinds of food are said to have umami? Some examples include:

• Seafood: Tuna, Squid, Oysters, Crab, Prawns.
• Meat: Beef, Chicken (especially the bones), Pork.
• Vegetables: Chinese Cabbage, Mushrooms, Tuffles, Carrots
• soy sauce (Kikkoman even advertises its soy sauce as having umami).

What do you think? Do you recognizes umami?