Umami - the secret, coveted and long-sought after holy grail of food science. First conceived of in 1908 by Japanese scientist and food lover, Kikunae Ikeda, the fifth taste was ignored by scientists the world round. You see, since Aristotle, western science has settled on 4 basic tastes: salty, sweet, sour and bitter. You've probably even seen the maps of the tongue (which wasn't exactly true as seen in the old days) Several chefs have long pointed to another, unrecognized taste, one central to the best dishes in cookingdom. It is what makes demi glace, soy sauce and ketchup taste so good. Ikeda studied this and settled on a taste that responded specifically to glumate. He than invented - you guessed it - mono sodium glutamate (MSG). That's why MSG in things tastes so good.
Well science has come to their collective senses and recognized taste receptors that taste glutamate. The taste sense is called umami. It's the savory or meaty taste. It's why we love parmesan and roquefort cheese, soy sauce, grapes, tomato sauce and even broccoli and mushrooms. The addition of salt makes it taste even better - hence the central love of complicated meat sauces (with a touch of salt), or even why salt makes tomato taste better.
Now there are several other 'sensations' we feel - but not outright taste:
- Temperature
- Coolness: like minty and spearmint
- Spiciness: relating to capsicum
- Numbness: that tongue numbing sensation of Sichuan peppers
- Fat: receptors are seen in rats, suspected in humans
- Kokumi: the Japanese belief in 'mouthfeel'
- Astringency: a rough sensation - like unripe bananas
- Metallic: yes metal tasting...or at least faked
You gotta love cooking - especially when the artist (ie. chef) improves science. Tomorrow we'll put this to work with my meal of pepper - vinegar pork chops. Yum
HRP
1 comment:
Yum, yum. That's interesting. I really like terriyaki sauce. Now I know why.
Thanks for the info Potop. I always thought they just put crack cocaine in it.
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