Demystifying Umami: St. Louis’ Chefs Explain

When it comes to flavor, if you’re more like Emile than Remy (in the clip below) from the film Ratatouille, you’re not alone  Initially, Emile has trouble discerning individual tastes and proceeds to cram food in his maw until Remy instructs him to slow down and savor each bite, beginning his journey toward a sophisticated palate. 

It’s Chris DiMercurio, chef at Vino Nadoz, who equated taste to the popular 2007 animated film; we visited DiMercurio, wondering how he defines and interprets umami. Specifically, we asked how chefs can help the average person understand what umami is, and he directed us to this scene from the film in which fireworks explode in Remy’s head upon combining cheese and strawberries. After talking about umami with eight area chefs—all of whom had something different to say about the ineffable flavor—we figure that visual representation of savory is a great introduction.

A cheat sheet of foods that contain glutamates—the chief component of umami—includes mushrooms, tomatoes, meats (especially those that are cured), cheeses, pickles (really anything that’s fermented), green tea, lactic acid, shellfish, kombu (kelp), dashi (a Japanese cooking stock made with kombu and bonito flakes), and breast milk. Yes, breast milk. According to the Umami Information Center website, our first taste of umami comes from breast milk.  See this page for pictures of a baby’s reactions to sweet, sour, bitter, and umami tastes; the baby’s puckered expressions after sour and bitter come as no surprise, but what the site’s authors emphasize is the similarity between the sweet and umami tastes.  You be the judge. (We think the baby, after tasting umami, looks bored.)

That each chef we spoke with defined umami a bit differently underscores both the fact that it resists a standard definition and was discovered fairly recently—by a Japanese chemist, Kikunae Ikeda, in 1908. According to Harold McGee, in his On Food and Cooking (a reference helpfully supplied to us by Eric Heath from Cleveland-Heath), “Ikeda found that kombu is an especially rich source of monosodium glutamate. He also found that MSG provides a unique, savory taste sensation, different from the standard sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. He named this sensation umami . . . and pointed out that other foods, including meats and cheese, also provide it.” 

After western scientists verified Ikeda’s discovery—western-centrism, to be sure—umami joined sweet, salty, bitter, and sour officially as the fifth taste. For more on the science of taste, including the results of functional MRI studies on brain activity and flavor combinations enhanced by MSG, see John S. Allen’s recently published book, The Omnivorous Mind.

Josh Galliano, another chef who referenced both McGee and film, described umami as “not a taste, but an effect.” Unlike the other chefs we interviewed, however, Galliano admitted to using MSG, what he jokingly referred to as his “dirty little secret.” Monosodium glutamate, or synthetic umami, bears the same makeup as naturally occurring glutamate, the amino acid in umami. Long attached to “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” (CRS), particularly in the 1960’s, MSG was blamed for everything from headaches and nausea to weight gain, diabetes, and seizures. 

Today, most researchers believe that the flavor enhancer is harmless. McGee, for example, notes, “The most unfortunate aspect of the MSG saga is how it has been exploited to provide a cheap, one-dimensional substitute for real and remarkable foods.” One advantage of umami, whether in its naturally occurring or artificial form, is its ability to boost the appetites of the elderly; apparently another negative side effect of aging to look forward to is decreased taste. Future implications of such a study could have dramatic effects on not only the elderly but also those who lose their appetite because of cancer or other diseases.

When defending his use of MSG, Galliano launched into a reference to the 1987 vampire film (one of our favorites) The Lost Boys, in which Keifer Sutherland’s David (left) asks Jason Patric’s Michael, “What, you don’t like rice? Tell me, Michael, how could a billion Chinese people be wrong?”  He continued, “All of my friends make fun of me for it [the MSG, not the movie reference], but I don’t care.”

Kidding aside, Galliano explained that a number of southern Louisiana cookbooks call for MSG, and remembers his grandparents’ cabinets housing Accent. He also pointed us toward the Northbrook, IL-based company Ajinomoto, a manufacturer of an “Umami super seasoning,” which, according to their website, is “made from Iowa corn through a fermentation process . . .  similar to the one used to make yogurt, beer, and soy sauce.” (Both products are below.)

Both Galliano and Jenny Cleveland, the other half of Cleveland-Heath whom we interviewed, defined umami as a combination of flavors that keeps an eater coming back for more. “Having umami prevents food from becoming monotone,” said Galliano, while Cleveland put it this way: “If something is missing, you’re not as excited to take a second bite.” For Cleveland, umami connotes “brown” (caramelization) and is all about balance. 

In a phone interview, conference style, Cleveland and Heath took turns talking about the savory flavor, revealing they “did homework,” an interviewer’s dream. Books were referenced, passages were texted, and balance came up again and again as Heath noted how the formerly unknown flavor has become increasingly popular in the last few years—too popular in some cooks’ dishes.  A dish that’s “too savory, too umami, too rich” needs to be balanced out, according to Heath, perhaps with something contrasting, like acid.    

With a background in Pacific Rim cuisine, Eric Kelly, Executive Chef at Scape, used the Japanese translation for umami—“deliciousness”—in his definition, calling it a “rounded flavor sensation on the tongue.” He also noted that because the term is often applied “too loosely,” it’s difficult for many to understand. Working with chefs like Roy Yamaguchi, Sam Choy, and Dutch O’Neal, Kelly became well acquainted with umami but advised that someone has to taste it to truly understand it. 

The perfect opportunity to do so would be to visit Scape and order the appetizer he created especially for this piece: “Umami!” Said dish (below), offered November 9 through January 1, will be comprised of several ingredients known for their high concentration of glutamates. Basically, it’s a Foie Gras Nigiri with chocolate balsamic kabayaki. Kelly elaborates: “Two predominant ingredients of the kabayaki are kombu and soy sauce which synergize with the L-glutimate provided by the seared fat of the foie.” 

Combined, the ingredients in Kelly’s creation highlight the properties of umami. “There’s a synergy there when you start to combine umami with other flavors,” Kelly said. DiMercurio echoed Kelly as he defined the concept: “It’s more a marrying of ingredients rather than using specific ingredients.” Although the chefs we interviewed didn’t necessarily agree on exactly what umami is, the majority of them brought up the idea of synergy. 

Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two part series. The second installment will be published in Relish presently.