By JULIETTE ROSSANT
 Earth, wind, fire, water, these elements we know, but what of the Fifth Element? Sweet, sour, bitter, and salty, these tastes we know, but what of the Fifth Taste?
For those unversed in the ways of the Zen kitchen, know you that there is indeed a fifth taste, the way of Umami.
To learn the arts of Umami, cast your eyes page by page on The Fifth Taste: Cooking with Umami (Universe Publishing 2005) by husband and wife team David and Anna Kasabian. Learn you the nature of Umami, its history; find the secrets of how one may taste and bring this wondrous flavor into your very own cooking.
Umami was first coined in 1907 by Dr. Kikunae Ikeda after he contemplated the flavor of a bowl of Ichiban Dashi soup, recipe on page 15. He isolated monosodium glutamate (MSG) which lead to mass production of the food aditive. We have two messages about MSG. First, there's probably nothing to fear, really. Second, why bother? If you're looking for umami, why not go for the real thing in quality unprocessed foods? There are plenty to be had, and MSG is, after all, an industrially produced chemical, bereft of the myriad other tastes, aromas, nutrients, sights, smiles, memories, and other satisfying sensations that natural umami transports along with it. (p. 19) The purpose of the cookbook is to introduce a number of recipes from the authors and celebrity chefs that have enhanced umami flavor.
Dr. Ikeda and colleagues went on to isolate other compounds, short chains of proteins or amino acids. These kind of proteins occur naturally in many foods like mushrooms, wine, tea, and things like beef broth and give them a beefy, meaty taste.
The Fifth Taste goes over the main catagories of ingredients, pointing out which foods, whether raw or cooked have umami. The Kasabians provide of helpful box of essential ingredients for the umami pantry (p. 33) which includes things like soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, canned tomatoes, and dried shitake mushrooms.
The recipes highlight which ingredients add umami flavor, like chicken thighs, smoked ham, mushrooms, and white wine in Coq au Vin Nouveau (p. 36-7). The Umami Poolish Bread (p. 44) has a poolish pre-fermentation mixture (like a sour dough) and requires mixing but no kneeding. The flour, gluten, and yeast all have umami, but are enhanced by the pre-fermentation process.
The celebrity chef recipes from 25 chefs are all mostly hearty, meaty dishes, some quite elaborate and others quite simple. It is no surprise that Asian and Asian-inspired dishes have many Umami-rich ingredients, like two from Nobu Matsuhisa: Cilantro Soup with Monkfish (p. 88) made with Nobu's Dashi (p. 89). Kombu, dried bonito flakes, as well as sake, soy sauce and monkfish create a strong Umami taste. There is also a Umami-rich recipe from Jimmy Schmidt for Portobello and Chanterelle Mushroom Cylinder (pp. 140-1) that includes white truffle oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano and plenty of umami-full mushrooms.
What is surprising is that umami is in non-Asian dishes like Jody Adam's Braised Duck Legs with Mushrooms and Caper-Vinegar Sauce (pp. 56-7) or Norman Van Aken's Pan-Roasted Cumin-Rubbed Breast of Chicken, with Plaintain-Foie Gras "Mofongo" on My Very Black Bean Sauce (pp. 178-181) The umami comes from ingredients like chicken breasts, cornmeal and black beans. Don't forget to check out recipes from Daniel Boulud and the Too Hot Tamales, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.
The book doesn't ignore all the other reasons these recipes would make good food, but it does highlight why we crave umami and if we can encourage that craving, perhaps we can avoid craving too much sweet and fatty food. Our unconscious psychological yearning for umami actually supports a complex system of biological needs. We seek amino acids for protein-building, for use as metabolic fuel, and for many other crucial fuctions, and we hit the umami jackpot when we mix them with nucleotides, vital to battling disease. (p. 21) Now that you have learned (more) of Umami's existence, there is only one thing left to do: seek out a copy of this cookbook and start cooking.
Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble
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