Pelzel - Umami bomb: 75 vegetarian recipes that explode with flavor

UMAMI BOMB

vegetarian recipes that explode with flavor

raquel pelzel

workman publishing new york

To Mom

You pronounce it "ooooh-mommy."

Contents

Umami

\ -'m-m \

A taste sensation that is meaty or savory and is produced by several amino acids and nucleotides (such as glutamate and aspartate).

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

A strong taste that is not sweet, sour, salty, or bitter and that is often referred to as the fifth taste.

Cambridge English Dictionary

Good luck with Umami. I didnt understand a word in this... but what I did get was interesting.

Lauren Sayre (my mom)

in reference to the article Umami Taste Receptor Functions as an Amino Acid Sensor via Gs Subunit in N1E-115 Neuroblastoma Cells by Yoshikage Muroi and Toshiaki Ishii (I do not know why she was reading the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry.)

Im always experimenting in my kitchenwith flavors, ideas, new recipes, odd obsessions (let me tell you about that time I tried to barbecue peanuts... ). Because I dont eat very much beef, poultry, or pork (hardly any, really), Im always interested in ways to make my vegetables taste extra, deeply, boldly, intensely, fantastically, rich-savory-comforting-eyes-roll-back-in-your-head awesome. I believe that if we could make our veggies taste extra great, everyone would eat more of them! And if we all ate more veggies, wed improve the health of our bodies and our planet (Im sure I dont need to tell you that raising livestock is an enormous contributor to carbon emissions, soil degradation, and drought).

So I started experimenting with all things umami. Umami is that special something that makes food taste better than good, more like amazing. Addictive. Cant-stop-eating-it incredible. Its why a simple dish of spaghetti marinara with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is so satisfying, why miso soup is so comforting, and why smoked salt makes everything that much better. Umami is known as the fifth taste (the first four are sweet, salty, bitter, and sour) and was discovered by a Japanese fellow named Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 when he got curious as to why dashithat simple broth made from kombu (dried kelp seaweed) and katsuobushi (dried, fermented, and smoked fish, also known as bonito flakes) and sometimes little dried sardines, tootasted so deeply delicious.

I quickly realized that I have always been obsessed with umami; I just didnt know it. Its why a sprinkle of Parm on just about anything heightens that dishs flavor; its why grilled smoky mushrooms taste so good. Umami is a deeply satisfying taste, and lucky for us, umami is everywhereits in tomatoes and soy sauce, fresh and dried mushrooms, aged cheese, nutritional yeast (if youre not sure what this is, be prepared to have your mind blown), and miso, just to name a few (its also in ). If you eat a mostly plant-based diet, or even if you dont but youd like to add more vegetables to your everyday routine, then you really need to pay attention to all the ways you can add umami to your beans, greens, and everything in between.

You can get super technical when talking about umami in terms of molecules and cellular composition, but heres a very simple explanation: Umami is what happens when proteins break down and amino acids and ribonucleotides are left to get crazy in your mouth. There are a few different kinds of aminos that contribute to umami, with glutamate being the most known (its the G in MSG, aka monosodium glutamate, the manufactured form of umami) and common to cheese, miso, soy sauce, kombu, and tomatoes. When foods are fermented, preserved, aged, or even just browned or roasted, their proteins break down and the glutamate is activated, heightening the umami taste. For example, a fresh tomato has fewer glutamates than sun-dried or roasted tomatoes, and aged Parmigiano-Reggiano or aged Gouda cheese has way more than, say, fresh mozzarella.

Disodium guanylate (or just guanylate) and disodium inosinate (or just inosinate) are the ribonucleotide components of amino acidsguanylate is found in mushrooms, and inosinate is found in animal proteins (beef, chicken, and fish). When used synergistically, for example glutamate + inosinate (think: soy sauce + sushi), the umami factor increases significantly. When several glutamate-rich ingredients are used together, the umami increases too, like tomatoes + cheese, or miso + nutritional yeast.

So how do you change your life and eat more vegetables and be satisfied and happy and at peace with the world? (I can help you with the first few bits, but you may have to dip into some other self-care genres to conquer that last part.) You cook more umami-rich food and marry umami ingredients together!

(theres umami in that, too!)

Umami's meaty side

Bacon. Chicken fat. Anchovies. Although umami comes in many plant-based forms, it is often associated with animal products. I believe that the secret to eating more meat-free meals is to make vegetables and dishes that dont rely on meat really sing. Adding caramelized onions and smoked salt to a veggie burger gives me just as much satisfaction as eating a grass-fed beef burger mightminus the environmental guilt. For me, eating clean and green is as much about sustainability and making an impact on our environment as it is about animal welfare.

If Im cooking fish or shellfish, I do so only occasionally, and I always buy it from reliable, sustainably driven purveyors. Im not a vegetarian or vegan. I eat a mostly pescatarian diet and include fish in my rotation about once a week; this is why Ive included a few fish and shellfish recipes (see the ). You dont need to tattoo an eating plan across your foreheadand the way you eat can shift according to the seasons or how your body feels. I just encourage you to make healthy choices and think about the environmental impact of those choices.

Its long been known that raising livestock has far more negative implications on the environment than raising lentils and cabbage. Using umami to make my vegetables super interesting and intensely flavorful is how I never get bored of eating them, and how I use my wallet to cast a vote for environmental change and make a difference each and every day. Adding a little crispy-rendered bacon or using duck fat to roast potatoes will definitely offer umami, too. How often you want to incorporate these tactics into your cooking is up to you... but my hope is that by using this book, you find more flavor in vegetables and fewer reasons to lean on meat.

Umami Bomb: How To Use this Book

Heres where this book comes in. Each chapter is devoted to an umami ingredient: aged cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano and Gouda cheeses are two types that are the highest in umami, so I focus on them, though I also call for other aged cheeses like Cheddar and Pecorino Romano), soy sauce, tomatoes, mushrooms, caramelized onions, miso, smoke, and nutritional yeast. Ill explain what gives the ingredient its umami characteristic and then offer plenty of recipes to tap into that magic. There are loads of vegan options (marked with a