MSG / Umami

[goto10]

MSG - Monosodium Glutamate, I've never really given this stuff much thought - I was always aware that it was in some takeaway food and also aware that a lot of products stamp "No MSG!" on their packaging - so I guess I've always viewed MSG as something to be avoided without really thinking about why.
Anyway - in recent months I've been cooking a fair bit of Chinese style food, some foods I could _never_ quite catch the certain je ne sais quoi of (takeaway/restaurant taste, egg fried rice, chow mein being the easy & obvious ones) - so after some Googling, I bought some MSG and started using it - bingo, I can now get the taste pretty much exactly the same as the restaurants (it's _so_ much better, the Chinese refer to the taste as umami, one of the five basic tastes - sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness & umami)
I've since looked into it some more, the bad reputation seems mainly down to some bullshit test they did injecting mice with large doses of MSG, you get the usual hysterical posts and people claiming to feel bad side effects from it (which have been debunked using double-blind trials) - but in general I've now lumped it into the Gluten category [Coeliacs excepted] - one of those foods that are almost trendy to avoid or to pretend to be intolerant to, without any real substance behind why.
It also turns out that MSG is in far more foods than you'd realise, so even if you're avoiding it, you're probably eating & enjoying it without noticing any side effects.

Anyone else embrace it, or hysterically reject it?


"... at no time has any official body, governmental or academic, ever found it necessary to warn humans against consuming MSG"

TL:DR - MSG = Makes Stuff Good.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/jul/10/foodanddrink.features3
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/09/umami-fifth-taste
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[chickenstrip]

Chinese? Is it anything to do with bats?

Oh no, wait a minute...MSG...it'll come to me....


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[Ste]

MSG = Macaulay (Culkin) secreting anally.

"It also turns out that Macaulay Culkin is secreting anally in far more foods than you'd realise, so even if you're avoiding it, you're probably eating & enjoying it without noticing any side effects."

[Poseidon]

Funnily enough I did a fair bit of reading on these sorts of things when I was at university and had unrestricted access to most of the scientific journals. I too stopped worrying about MSG in my food after reading how shoddy the original studies were.

Another one is aspartame. I read a meta analysis on its effects, having heard all the "gives you cancer, causes migraines, makes you depressed, causes dementia, turns your liver to fat etc etc". I can't remember the details as it was a few years ago now, but aside from some very very specific individuals who have a particular condition (quick google, it's called Phenylketonuria or PKU for short), it's harmless. Most of the studies suggesting otherwise were lacking in participants, run over very short periods or skewed in some way or another.
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[The Artist]

MSG is great.

Aspartame is probably the most studied food additive and there is still no conclusive evidence it is bad.

[Poseidon]

[stinkwheel]

Aspartame tastes minging though. Pure gives me the bowk.

There are other ways to impart umami into food than MSG. Soy is one, Fish extracts are another as are seaweed products. Mushrooms too, particularly dried ones, shitakes especially.

Miso paste is a classic, I'll often make up a miso soup and use that as the stock for a chinese dish (yes, I know miso is Japanese, but it works really well).

We use it in Western cookery too, we just didn't have a word for it. Sundried tomatoes, dried Cep, Lava seaweed, anchovies, parmesan. Worcester sauce is a big hitting umami source. Make a casserole sauce using rehydrated dried cep (use the liquid too) and a couple of anchovies in the mix.

I have a pot of seasalt with dried lava in it that I use in dry rubs on meat. Omnomnom.
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[Kawasaki Jimbo]

WHO seems to be bad for this insofar as they'll over-report risks. Pump a rat full of whatever and it will die just before it bursts, but there's no correlation with real life. Too conservative. Everything will kill you eventually.

[Poseidon]

[ThunderGuts]

I anecdotally find MSG laden Chinese food gives me palpitations. That said it could also be that the Chinese takeaway laces their food with loads of salt (or something else) that actually causes it. Either way it means I tend to avoid it (not hard as I cook most stuff from scratch anyway).
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[stinkwheel]

[Fisty]

I like MSG, I have a bag of it. I find just a pinch in gravy is amazing.
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[Peanut_Butter]

I suddenly want a Chinese...

Back on topic! Everyone loves my mum's gravy from her Sunday Roast, it has MSG in it. We have a family friend that believes he's allergic to MSG and therefore avoids take aways yet he's never had the reaction with mums cooking...

[Fisty]

[Riejufixing]

[Peanut_Butter]

[Fisty]

[wr6133]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

I love MSG, it just doesn't love me. I get thumping headaches with it.
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[hellkat]

[Lord Percy]

When I was in Chyinah it was everywhere, a bog standard to most meals. Like salt but even more ubiquitous. Honestly, it took me a good couple of years to get used to it; I did feel like it was 'cancer sprinkles', which is bollocks really and just goes to show you should research things before getting outraged over them. Tastes great.

I agree with wr6133, it's mainly used in restaurants and takeaways. In my experience (Sichuan food), home cooking is more about what kind of oil you mix everything with.

For that extra dose of authenticity, try hacking a chicken to bits with a meat cleaver and boiling it all for an hour. Apparently if you do it that way it adds to the flavour. You can then double up on your authenticity by having a collection of spat out bone shards next to your plate.

[ThunderGuts]

[MCN]

MSG simply Asian Salt.
Sodium group with all the stuff that entails.
I use as I do Table salt.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[wr6133]

[Lord Percy]