About Umami

Umami was discovered by a Japanese researcher one hundred years ago. Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University recognized that certain foods like asparagus, tomatoes, meat and cheese all shared a common taste. It's a bit hard to put your finger on, though it's often described as "savory." I think it's easier to think of it as the taste that makes your mouth water. It also has a distinctive mouth feel, it lends a fullness or roundness.

One of the first things I learned at a recent Umami Symposium is that while taste and flavor are often used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Flavor is determined by taste and smell. There are only five tastes--sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. Just as sweetness is imparted by sugar, umami is imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods. It is also manufactured in monosodium glutamate. It is added or occurs naturally in products with hydrolyzed soy protein and autolyzed yeast such as Marmite, Vegemite, Maggi, and Kewpie mayonnaise. It also exists in most cheese flavored snack foods.

I'm not going to talk about the myths surrounding MSG in particular "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome," but I will say that I particularly like cooking with the naturally occurring sources of umami. Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, dashi broth, fish sauce, bouillon, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms and even potatoes are all sources of umami. Mixing and matching is fine. I sometimes add Asian fish sauce to chili and while not perceptible, I find it helps to round out the flavor.

Scientists and chefs alike are interested in umami. While the isolated glutamate does not taste very good on it's own, research shows that it enhances the taste of many foods which is why umami was considered a "flavor enhancer" for so long before being recognized as a taste. It makes food taste better and can be used in making healthy foods more palatable for people who have a decrease in their ability to taste due to health or age.

One of the symposium panelists, author and scientist Harold McGee mentioned that the chef Heston Blumenthal found the flavor of umami to be stronger in the seeds and surrounding juice of tomatoes than in the pulp. Coincidentally, he pointed out that Ferran Adria had created a dish using the seeds and surrounding liquid instead of the tomato flesh or pulp. The dish served at El Bulli was Blood Orange Foam with Tomato Seeds and Sorbet. Even if you aren't thinking about umami, you might be using it to make dishes taste good. In case you missed it, check out the amazing lunch served at the symposium, prepared by chef Kunio Tokuoka, chef Hiro Sone and chef Thomas Keller.

If you'd like to learn more about umami, register with the Umami Information Center. You'll receive both newsletters and a free copy of a book called "Umami The World" which overs both the science and culinary aspects from both a Western and Eastern perspective.

Umami Symposium

I've never understood how there could be only four tastes--sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. It just didn't and still doesn't make sense. But there is a fifth taste which is particularly intriguing, it's called umami. I recently attended an Umami Symposium called New Frontiers of Taste and learned even more about this mysterious flavor.

The following was the menu served at the symposium after a panel discussion. It was an event sponsored by the Umami Information Center which is funded by a variety of food and ingredient companies. And yes, the first course was served by candlelight that came from a daikon wrapped tea light!


Chef Kunio Tokuoka
Appetizers
Kombu Broth-Simmered Beef Shabu-shabu
with Red Pepper Dipping Sauce

Seared Japanese Spiny Lobster with Tosa Vinegar Gelée,
Fried Rice Grains, Ginger and Bonito

Broth-Simmered Onions with Chicken and Pickled Plum Gelée,
Seaweed, Shiso and Sesame

Cubed Potato Frites with Salt-pickled Vegetables

Steamed Savory Egg Custard with Japanese Pepper Leaf Bud,
Smoked Chicken Mousse and Parmesan


Chef Hiro Sone
Salad
Ginger-Poached Georgia Shrimp
and Watermelon Salad with Lemongrass Vinaigrette

Chef Thomas Keller
Entrée
Rib-Eye of Elysian Fields Farm Lamb “Cuit sous Vide”
with “Confit Byaldi,” Roasted Fennel and Pickled Shallot Sauce
So what is umami? Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you more...

In the meantime, head over to GlamDish for a chance to win a pasta prize package.

It's July and I'm Freezing

First let me say this is not a post about the weather in San Francisco. I am currently working on a new recipe development project that involves freezing. My assignment is to create recipes that can be prepared in multiple individual portions, then frozen and cooked before serving. Each recipe is like a fun little puzzle to try and solve.

The real challenge is finding things that actually benefit from this treatment. If you read the widely circulated recipe for chocolate chip cookies in the New York Times recently, then you know that letting cookie dough rest, makes for a better cookie. I have it on good authority that freezing gnocchi dough also improves the final product. In the past I've frozen things like crepes and dumplings very successfully.

So far my list of completed recipes consists of chicken apple sausage patties, chocolate chip cookies, jerk-rubbed chicken wings, and sesame ginger beef and I plan to try using ice cube trays and muffin tins to make individual portions. Ideas I am pursuing include herb biscuits, calzones, meat pies, puff pastry turnovers, pesto and variations, stuffed mushrooms, gnocchi, spaetzle, ravioli, dumplings, spanakopita, blintzes, meatballs, stuffed peppers, crepes, and veggie burgers.

But I'd like to hear from you. Is there anything you freeze in individual portions for serving another time? Links to posts, recipes or pictures would be great too. I look forward to your comments!

San Francisco Food Blogger Meet Up

This year the BlogHer conference is being held in San Francisco and many food bloggers will be coming to town. I'm excited to attend and get a chance to meet other bloggers. But attending the conference isn't the only way to meet up with food bloggers.

Local food bloggers and food blogger conference attendees are invited to meet at the Americano patio at the Hotel Vitale this coming Sunday July 20th at 1 pm. It's just a block or so from the Ferry Plaza at the foot of Market street along the Embarcadero. No RSVP necessary and you can order a drink or food, as you wish. Since it's attached to a hotel you can also check your bags or get a cab to the airport.

I hope to see you there!

What: San Francisco Food Blogger Meet Up

Where: Patio at Americano @ the Hotel Vitale, 8 Mission St, San Francisco

When: Sunday July 20th, from 1 pm till whenever

See photos and more from this event:
Cookie Madness

Bunrabs

Kitchen gadget Girl

Kalyn's Kitchen

Lunch in a Box

A Sneak Peek at the Clock Bar

It hasn't opened yet, but I'm already excited about the Clock Bar at the Westin St. Francis. Union Square could use a cool rendezvous and I love the romantic tradition of couples meeting under the circa 1907 clock tower in the lobby. I like that the bar is looking to focus on traditional cocktails such as the Pisco Sour and Pimm's Cup and I get a kick out of the coasters printed up with old fashioned bar tricks.


Speaking with Marco Dionysos, the head bartender, I learned that they'll avoid molecular gastronomy but utilize the restaurant kitchen to make fruit purees, homemade grenadine with hibiscus and more. Of course I'm curious about the food. I do know they'll be doing nibbles like charcuterie, truffled popcorn and steamed mussels. As soon as I get a chance to try it I'll report back.

The Clock Bar officially opens Tuesday, July 15th.

Clock Bar in the lobby of The Westin St. Francis hotel
335 Powell Street @ Geary
San Francisco

New Flavors for Appetizers: My First Cookbook

I've hinted at it for a long time but finally I can tell you about writing my first cookbook, New Flavors for Appetizers. Since it is now up on Amazon.com it's feels more real than ever. Here's how it all happened. The end of August last year I met with one of the senior editors at Weldon Owen, a publishing house that does lots of branded books. I learned about a new line of Williams-Sonoma cookbooks that was going to be launched in November of this year. They were looking to work with new writers and recipe developers, people who were comfortable with a variety of specialty ingredients and could develop fairly easy to execute recipes.

Not long after my first meeting I was offered a work-for-hire contract. So that means I got paid for developing the recipes and some headnotes (the little description that goes with the recipe title). This is unusual since most writers get an advance and then make more money based on how many books are sold. I was confident the book would be gorgeous, because Weldon Owen has been working with Williams-Sonoma on cookbooks for a long time.

The series is called New Flavors and focuses on ingredients that are becoming increasngly common such as wasabi, smoked paprika, cilantro, pomegranate, etc. All the recipes are organized by season and the photography is bolder and a bit more contemporary than in previous books. The cookbook I worked on was all appetizers. There are several other books coming out in the series, but doing appetizers was particularly fun. I can't imagine what it must have been like to do 45 chicken recipes! It may seem unusual, but I was given a list of recipe titles to work on. In some cases I suggested some changes but almost all of the ideas were really solid as is.

There were 45 recipes and only 8 weeks to get the first draft done. But I only had 6 weeks because I was in Japan for two of the weeks. I took copious notes and lots of pictures to help me document the process. Some days I worked on 4 or 5 recipes. Somehow it all came together. I had two more chances to test and make changes as the manuscript moved through copyediting and photography. This was fortunate because some seasonal ingredients were a bit hard to come by. But if you have to do a seasonal cookbook, the Fall in the Bay Area is a pretty good time to do it.

Since I started in the Fall and finished my last round of revisions in the Spring, I have cooked several of the recipes and served them at parties. I'm glad to say they have been very well received. It seems odd to have to ask for permission to reprint recipes I created, but that's how it works when you create recipes for a client. I do hope you will enjoy the book as much I enjoyed coming up with all the recipes. It will be available in Williams-Sonoma stores in September and in bookstores in November. Oh, and the photo on the cover? It's Buckwheat blini with Smoked Salmon and Horseradish Cream.

Spaghetti with Walnuts and Anchovies: Recipe

Conventional wisdom says a good cookbook is one that allows you to reproduce a given recipe with consistently successful results. Another opinion is that the recipes should be really special, not run-of-the-mill or the best versions of classics. I may be in the minority, but I most appreciate a cookbook that inspires me, gives me good ideas, and points the way. Adventures of an Italian Food Lover is such a cookbook.


Italian food is probably my favorite cuisine. I learned to cook Italian food when I lived in Italy but I've never stopped learning. What I understand best is that Italian cuisine is about balance. It's about just the right amount of sauce and just the right texture to the pasta. It's about high quality ingredients combined, often simply, to create something magical. It's this elegant simplicity and balance of flavors and textures that appeals to me. The perfect combination of ripe tomatoes, luscious mozzarella and basil leaves. No balsamic vinegar, no embellishment. Or melon draped with slices of prosciutto. It's like the well-dressed woman who takes off one thing before she leaves the house. Sophisticated and refined but restrained.

This past weekend I made enchiladas. Roasting and shredding the chicken, making the sauce, stuffing then assembling the enchiladas in baking dishes took the better part of a day. But another meal I made this weekend was equally satisfying and took a fraction of the work and the ingredients. It was Spaghetti with Walnuts and Anchovies, from Adventures of an Italian Food Lover.

It was the second time I made the dish, and I tweaked it a little bit. The combination of ingredients is most important, after that, as with all recipes, find the balance that works for you. Just a few other recipes from the book that I find intriguing include Campari Cocktails with Salami and Figs, Pasta and Bean Salad with Celery Pesto, Leek and Sausage Orzotto, Risotto with Almonds and Broccoli and Baked Cherry Tomatoes.

Spaghetti with Walnuts and Anchovies (adapted from Adventures of an Italian Food Lover)
Serves 2 as a main course, or 4 as a first course

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3-4 filets of oil packed anchovies
2 Tablespoon chopped walnuts
pinch of chili flakes
3 Tablespoons minced parsley
8 ounces spaghetti

Instructions

Heat the olive oil over low heat and cook the garlic until it softens and barely begins to color. Add the anchovies and mash until they dissolve into the oil. Add the walnuts, chili and parsley, stir and remove from the heat. Cook the pasta in boiling water until it is 3/4 of the way done.

Drain the pasta and reserve some cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sauce and cook over high heat, adding about 1/3 cup cooking water. Cook, adding more cooking liquid as needed, until the pasta is al dente.

Enjoy!

Reading up on Campania & Italy

Not to rub it in or anything, but I recently spent 10 glorious days in Italy discovering the charms of the Campania region, home of Naples and the Amalfi coast. But there is so much more to the region than that. I already had a soft spot for Sorrento, but this time around I got to visit the area around Mount Vesuvius, Benevento and the Cilento.

I learned a fair amount about the less well-known areas before I ever left home. I took a lot of books out of the library, but these are the ones I kept by my side and treasure.


If you are going to Italy, and you care about food, you must get Osterie & Locande D'Italia A guide to traditional place to eat and stay in Italy. I can't speak for the places to stay, but some of the best meals I had were places described in amazing detail in this Slow Food book. I yanked out the section on Campania and took it with me. It is by no means comprehensive, but the places it designates are winners and the detail on what to order the stories about the food and places and the people are fantastic.


The next book was my bible, The Food and Wine Guide to Naples and Campania. Carla Capalba is a thorough researcher and lovely writer. She spent years getting to know the people, places and stories behind the food. Her passion for the region comes through and I learned so much from her book I feel like sending her a personal thank you.


Faith Willinger's most recent book, Adventures of an Italian Food Lover with recipes from 254 of my very best friends is a charming book. It's filled with sweet watercolor portraits and of course, Italians and recipes. The section on Southern Italy and the Islands gave me not only names and addresses, but also a great feel for the people and the land. It's a storytelling book with recipes.


Upon my return, I really enjoyed perusing My Love for Naples The Food, The History, The Life is a really dear cookbook told by Anna Teresa Callen who was born and raised in Naples. The title says it all, really. Her recipes are very personal and so are the stories behind them.

While I didn't get his book in time, Arthur Schwartz "The Food Maven" is another aficionado who has not only written about the region but leads classes and tours there. His web site is a gold mine of tips and recommendations.