Of the five different kinds of taste our tongues can recognize, ‘umami’ is the newest – or was at least the last one to be discovered. Almost impossible to define, unlike the other tastes – sweet, sour, bitter and salty – it’s present in all foods that are rich in glutamates, the most common kind of protein.
Meat, aged cheeses (like Italy’s Parmigiano cheese), shellfish, some kinds of fish, mushrooms and milk are all rich in it. It’s impossible to resist: so much so that the Umami Burger restaurant chain, which first started out in Los Angeles, has just announced that it’s opening a branch in New York, and will soon also have a presence in Miami, Las Vegas and Houston.
Its secret? Added ‘umami’ (you can find it sold in tube form, like mayonnaise) in every hamburger, in order to create sandwiches featuring the ‘highest concentration in the world of the fifth taste’, and to make its customers come back time and time again.
These are tough times for chefs and restaurant professionals around the world, but there has never been a better time to seek advice and help around a number of topics affecting hospitality workers. Here's a round-up of some of the most useful resources for chefs.
Mauro Colagreco will be taking the World's Best Restaurant to the Mandala Club in Singapore for a three-month residency, from 14 May to 11 August. Find out more.
Can chocolate go off or go bad? And what do the white bits on old chocolate mean? Here's all you need to know about chocolate expiry dates and whether it's safe to eat chocolate past it's printed date.
In the second of our Beyond the Line series, Fine Dining Lovers speaks to a former student of the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastian, Spain, about his career choices beyond restaurant kitchens.
