How can healthy food taste good? Part 2

Umami....

Umami?.... Ooo MAH mee.

Umami is defined as the taste of foods that are pungent or aromatic, like mushrooms or cheese or roasted chicken. It is sometimes described as "savory," but it is much more complex.

The umami taste buds have long been recognized by the Japanese, but only recently seriously considered by other scientists. The feeling of Western researchers had been that there were only the four other taste buds, sweet, sour, bitter and salty. The perception of savory foods was simply felt to be the combination of two or more of the taste buds being activated.

Knowing about this fifth taste bud is critical for you in cooking healthy. Emphasizing and enhancing umami flavors makes it much easier to successfully create great tasting healthy recipes. Because umami flavors seem to convey a feeling of comfort, focusing on those flavors helps me create dishes that are emotionally as well as physically satisfying. For instance, roasting mushrooms until they are browned to the point of being caramelized intensifies their rich umami flavor. This can be done with very little added fat, so recipes can be lush and satisfying with fewer fat and calories.

Similarly, using the great quality parmesans or other aged cheeses may be higher in fat, but the better quality cheese has a more intense umami flavor—so you can use less in a particular recipe. Just one ounce of a good quality parmesan adds a lovely, complex, mellow umami flavor that’s also salty and slightly sweet.

As you are looking at recipes, cooking meals and eating dinner think about the all of the flavors in the dish. How can they be enhanced? By paying attention to the balance of all five flavors you can understand the importance that each of the taste buds plays in how satisfying your food is.

Umami foods

Mushrooms
Beef
Pork
Lamb
Eggs
Caramelizing foods like onions enhances the umami flavor
Garlic (especially Roasted Garlic)
Roasted nuts
Soy sauce (use low sodium soy sauce)
Tuna
Tomatoes
Truffles (the fungus, not the chocolate)
Clams
Oysters
Shrimp
Cheese, with aged cheeses being more savory
Parmigiano-reggiano
Pecorino Romano
Dried mushrooms (like porcini) ground into a powder is essentially pure umami flavor.