Archive for Cooking
Watch Out For MSG – You Might Miss It!
by John Weckerle
While working on my AI-assisted NEPA review project this morning, I listened to The Splendid Table, which featured an author who had written a book on cooking with cooking with instant Ramen. Among the items discussed were the history of ramen, how it is prepared, and how it can be used other than just putting it in hot water.
I opened up a new chat with the AI. Eventually, I asked about monosodium glutamate (MSG), and what I learned was both intriquing and surprising.
MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, an amino acid naturally present in many foods. In 1908, Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda isolated the substance responsible for the distinctive savory taste of kombu seaweed broth. He called the taste umami—roughly “savory” or “delicious.” When dissolved, it separates into sodium and glutamate. Glutamate is a normal dietary substance, and is present in many food sources. Examples include parmesan, tomatoes, mushrooms, soy sauce, anchovies and seaweed. In fact, humans have been concentrating glutamate since long before it was discovered. Examples:
- Japan: kombu, miso, soy sauce
- China: fermented soy products and sauces
- Italy: Parmesan and tomatoes
- Southeast Asia: fish sauce
- Britain: Worcestershire sauce
- Western cooking generally: aged cheese, cured meats, stocks and concentrated meat juices
In 1968, a doctor named Robert Ho Man Kwok wrote a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine describing sensations experienced after eating at Chinese restaurants, naming MSG as one of several potential sources (not as the only possible cause). Some questionable animal experiments involved injecting mice with MSG in quantities far greater than normal consumption, which resulted in neurological disorders. In addition to the high concentration, this sidestepped the digestive process. Subsequent, better-designed studies found no correlation between MSG and any problems, except for minor symptoms reported by individuals who self-identified as MSG-sensitive.
As it turns out, MSG can actually help reduce sodium: MSG contains about 12% sodium by weight (about 130-140 mg per 1/4 teaspoon) compared to table salt’s 39% (roughly 575-600 mg per 1/4 teaspoon) – and with the umami provided by the glutamate.
It’s amazing how bad science can affect beliefs for such a long time. This is very similar to what happened with testing of cyclamates, and of course the so-called study that spurred vaccine hesitancy. I’ve been avoiding/limiting MSG for decades. I’m going to give it a try now.
Update: I bought some MSG and took a tiny taste. What a great flavor! I can’t wait to try cooking with it. Continued research shows that it’s sometimes used in combination with salt, which has its own job to do in affecting how we perceive tastes – suppressing some bitterness and enhancing sweetness and aroma perception. I rarely use salt and only sparingly when I do, as I generally build flavor with spices, but I’ll probably try some recipes with both although I’ll almost certainly will use less salt than most recipes include.
Creeping Socialist Casserole
by John Weckerle
Okay, we admit it, this is not about creeping socialists; it’s a recipe. Ever since your editor read that phrase on the East Mountain Tea Party web site, though, it keeps popping into his head and cracking him up. We want to be clear: this is is one of the most ridiculously paranoid combinations of words we’ve run across in a while, but it’s so ridiculous that it’s kind of funny, and we can imagine that the ghost of Vladimir Lenin is slapping George Soros’s knee over it, too. I guess you could say that the zucchini and yellow squash represent the ultra-left-wing vegetarian peril lurking beneath the veneer of American “sausage,” pepper and onion patriotism – and then take it a step further and take the that the “sausage” is also some cynical, unauthentic, Socialist-Marxist exploitation of our meat heritage. And don’t get me started on the liberal cheddar cheese conspiracy.
At any rate, Sunday found us not wanting any of the food we had ready to eat, and a bunch of summer squash with which to deal, so your editor decided to go off the map and do something unusual. Here’s how it went:
Grow Your Own: What On Earth…
NOTE!!!!: The “sorta-recipe” in this article relies on a frying pan with an oven-safe handle. If you don’t have one, leave a comment and we’ll give you an entirely stove-top alternative.
by John Weckerle
…do we do with all this stuff?
Any of our readers who have had success in growing summer squash – including zucchini and the classic yellow squash – have probably found themselves with a superfluity, as it were, of would-be food. We say “would-be” of course, because it’s not food until you cook it up and eat it, although we do admit that small specimens make a nice raw snack, either in salads or cut into strips with a little ranch dressing. Or balsamic vinaigrette. Or pretty much anything into which one likes to dip one’s vegetables.
Even so, gardeners do occasionally run into surpluses that surpass their capacity for dipping. There is, of course, zucchini bread, and we can speak from experience on the subject of zucchini parmigiana. Anybody who can make eggplant parmigiana can do it with zucchini. We’ll cover that at another time, because if you’re a working person who needs something quick, parmigiana is probably not the thing – but if you want a recipe, let us know. In the meantime, let’s talk frittata.
Wyngette Soup
by John Weckerle
As outlined in Saturday’s article, we are awash in squash, and decided to take the time yesterday to make some wyngette soup (to make wyngette soup, you take whatever vegetables you have on hand, and wyngette). Yesterday’s variety contained onions, garlic, zucchini, carrots, parsnips, celery canned diced tomatoes, lentils, and green bell peppers. Today, we’ll share the “recipe” – such as it is – and some thoughts on wyngette soup making.
The first thing to understand about spontaneous soup making is that any “recipe” is really just a guideline. There’s no real right or wrong way, and if you want to make a change, you’re probably not going to hurt things much: if you don’t like parsnips, leave them out, and if you want more onions, then toss in more onions. So here we go (and remember, quantities are “give or take”): »» Wyngette Soup