How to Make Umami Part 1: Oil + Salt + Time
This week I'm clearing my fridge, driving upstate, and kicking off a 4 part series on creating umami. I'm also listing a few articles on how racism looks in food media.
This week I finally returned to the mountains for an open ended stay. Like many New York City transplants, I struggled with the option of fleeing the city when the coronavirus was closing in and public life began closing down. I packed a suitcase and booked a car, but ultimately decided the risk of spreading the virus to my family and their community was too high.
More than two months later, I’m certain waiting was the right thing to do. I’ve quarantined since March and there’s a lot more data available now than there was in the chaos at the beginning. The county where my parents live has had fewer than 100 cases, and none in over a week. We’re still social distancing, wearing masks, and diligently washing our hands, but the wide open spaces and company of loved ones make that much easier to manage as the weather warms up and New York City remains under lockdown. The prospect of cooking for my family feels like a dream compared to only cooking for myself for such a long stretch.
What I’m Cooking
With my planned departure, this week was a little more about eating than it was about cooking. Over the last few months I’ve only eaten my own food, save for three times including a New York pizza this week, since it may be awhile before I have it again. Highlights in my kitchen were:
Fridge Clearing Beef Tacos
A Big Pot of Vegetable Stock made from all of the scraps I’ve been saving in the freezer for the last 2 ½ months.
A spicy play on eggs benedict using the last of my Umami Bean Burgers.
Crispy Baked BBQ Chickpeas (See my recipe here.)
Big Salad, family style.
Last week I introduced big flavors with my recipe for Umami Vegan Bean Burgers. (If you tested the recipe, let me know in the comments!) This week will begin a four part series on How to Make Umami so you can transform any dish.
Umami Maker #1: Oil + Salt + Time
This is especially true for mushrooms, tomatoes, eggplant and fennel, but broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, carrots and even radishes will benefit from an olive oil bath, with a big pinch of salt. Umami occurs when the amino acid, glutamate is present. It’s found naturally at high levels in animal proteins and dairy, but many vegetables also contain glutamates. They just take a little time and attention to bring it to the surface.
Garlic is arguably one of the only vegetables that you can burn; nearly all others will develop a more complex flavor profile given more cooking time. The easiest indicator of flavor development in roasted vegetables is color. The deeper the golds and browns the more flavorful each bite will be. As the natural sugars break down and caramelize the spectrum of flavor is elongated.
I typically roast at 400F, and usually don’t take anything out before 20 minutes have passed. Give things a stir at least once during cooking or turn your tray around midway to expose each side to the hot spots in your oven. After cooking in other peoples’ homes for more than a year, I know that no two ovens are the same. Get to know yours and you’ll be able to manipulate your food with greater authority. Caramelization can also be done on the stovetop using a similar approach.
Aroma is another sign that your vegetables are transforming. When you begin to smell what you’re cooking you can begin checking for doneness. The best way to check is to taste. If you take a bite and aren’t sure if it’s done, it’s not. Put it back into the oven. If you immediately reach for another bite, it’s done.
Oil is important in this equation because it transfers heat, adds moisture, and contributes to flavor. Nutritionally, it aids in the digestion and absorption of important fat soluble vitamins like A,D,E and K, which your body can’t access without dietary fat.
Salt is a controversial topic. If you’re talking to a chef the directive is always “ADD MORE.” If you’re talking to a nutritionist most often you’ll hear, “ADD LESS.” As a member of both parties, I’m a practitioner of gradually adding salt to bring out the flavors in food and tasting as I go along. Salt opens the palate so you can really taste what you’re eating. Food shouldn’t taste salty, it should taste like itself. Salt makes a carrot taste more like a carrot and brings out the complexity of a bolognese, weaving all of the ingredients together to create layers of flavor.
Having worked in a couple of restaurant kitchens and witnessing the handfuls of salt being tossed into everything, I don’t encourage that for everyday home cooking. Salt is singularly why restaurant food has so much more flavor than home cooked food, but it’s also one of the reasons why we don’t want to eat restaurant food every day. That much salt exhausts the palate, but a good home cook will know their way around a salt well.
If you’re someone who sprinkles salt on top of your food only after it’s on your plate, try adding a ¼- ½ teaspoon in the earlier part of cooking instead. Taste before adding it, and then again after to compare. Play with this process until you start to notice a difference.
The biggest concern regarding salt is it’s reported effects on blood pressure. For the last decade anyone in America who is diagnosed with hypertension will be given information on the DASH diet. The guidelines promote reducing sodium intake, while increasing other micronutrients like potassium and magnesium by eating more whole grains, fruits and vegetables. There are clear benefits for people with, or at risk of developing heart disease, but the benefits may be attributed more to the increase of nutrient dense foods like fruits and vegetables than they are to the reduction of salt.
Like most things in life, this is all about finding what the right balance is for you.
Food News
This week, the news has been dominated by the protests and demonstrations across the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The killing followed the senseless murders of two other black Americans, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, in the last few months, and countless others over the years. These types of murders don’t happen in a vacuum, but are the result of long-term, systemic and institutionalized racism in the U.S. The food world is not exempt from playing a part in perpetuating the narratives that uphold white supremacist ideals. I’ve listed a few articles that start to pull back that curtain. Please share more articles and resources in the comments.
It’s Not Obesity. It’s Slavery. by Sabrina Strings about the origins of health inequalities among black Americans.
Stewed Awakening by Navneet Alang about Alison Roman and the whitewashing of cultural cuisine by food media.
In Bad Taste by Shailee Koranne is a shorter take, on the same subject.
What Happens When a Brown Chef Cooks White Food? by Khushbu Shah a 2017 article about the different expectations placed on non-white chefs with the same culinary education and experience as white chefs.
To help the families of George, Ahmaud and Breonna you can donate to
Cooking Tips Round Up
Freeze vegetable scraps like the ends of onions, carrot peels, and celery butts to use in stock later.
Roasting or caramelizing vegetables on the stove top with oil and salt for a long time will develop more intense flavors.
Stir or rotate your tray in the oven to cook food evenly.
When you start to smell the food cooking you can start to check it for doneness.
Dark golden browns indicate more complex flavors.
If you take a bite to check for doneness and immediately reach for another bite, it’s done!
Add salt in the earlier stages of cooking and continue to taste and adjust for more satisfying meals.
Thank You!
I know there are a lot of places on the internet that you can spend your time, so thank you for choosing to spend it with me. If you try any of the recipes please share what you think! Let me know what you loved (or didn’t!) and how you made it your own. Give me a tag on Instagram. I’m open to all feedback about the newsletter so I can make this the best experience for you.
Absolutely love this. So true! 😄
“The best way to check is to taste. If you take a bite and aren’t sure if it’s done, it’s not. Put it back into the oven. If you immediately reach for another bite, it’s done.”