If you already know what Umami is I want you to write in the comments of this blog post that you're a big smarty pants, then give yourself a hefty pat on the back. I for one was absolutely clueless the word existed until arriving at school, and even then it took a couple of months.
The long and the short of it for you who don't feel like clicking the link above is Umami is a basic taste that can be picked up on the tongue. I'm guessing most of you are like me and grew up on the bitter, salty, sweet, sour basics of taste...but apparently the Japanese have recognized Umami (aka savory) since 1908.
Amino acids are the key. They house glutamic acids which, apparently, have unique but consistent flavor profiles. The guy who discovered Umami figured out that foods like meat, cheese, mushrooms and other protein-heavy foods are high in these glutamic acids, and different combinations of these acids can produce a different basic taste sensation on the tongue.
Hence Umami was born, and the poor kids in Mr. Honkers fifth grade Biology class now have to learn a Japanese word that's a bit more difficult to spell than say...sweet, or sour.
So the focus in this cycle of food in Contemporary Cuisine is the Umami flavor profiles. I'm OK with that because meat, mushrooms and cheese happen to be frequent visitors to my stomach.
The pasta dish was refreshing...which I guess is how one would describe a pasta dish that sauce is absent from. It was literally as the title reads-- shrimp, asparagus, prosciutto and pasta.Clean flavors, but I wanted to add some cream and reduce it down for some kind of binding sauce.
As Chef was quick to point out though, the cream would dull some of those flavors in the dish, thus making the whole idea of preparing an Umami meal a fruitless effort.
Touché.
In order for a dish like the Mushroom Parmentier to carry the moniker "Parmentier" it has to involve potatoes in some way. Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, and physician in Napoleon's army, was one of the first vocal advocates of eating potatoes instead of just feeding it to animals as their primary food source.
Hey, I like potatoes-- nice job, man. You deserve the right to have dishes named after you.
As you can see, it's a casserole-esque dish. Layer of potato, layer of sauteed and flavorful mushrooms, layer of potato, top with cheese and parsley, bake -- serve. It's delicious.
What makes the ketchup on the "Bomb" Burgers Umami is the addition of traditional Asian ingredients like anchovies and fish sauce. At the end of the day it's a really flavorful (homemade!) ketchup, and it went very well on the fries and the burgers.
The burgers were simply ground chuck, minced garlic, fish sauce, some fresh ground pepper, salt and a little bit of sugar. They were garnished with traditional fixin's such as onion, tomatoes and lettuce (or in this case, micro greens).
Honestly the burger wasn't the star. I've made better burgers (as simple as my version of a bacon burger...topped with caramelized onions...a good piece of provolone che-- OK WOW! I'm making one of those this week. I just talked myself into that. SO GOOD!).
But the buns...the buns would take any burger to the next level. I don't know 100 percent what was all on the "Everything Buns," but I will make a mental note tomorrow when I make the burger and stop back in to pass it onto you, the loving masses. So tasty!
Oh, and the fries-- your typical fry cut topped with fresh grated Parmesan cheese, parsley and some truffle oil when they came out of the fryer.
The interesting side note with the fries is the simple matter of making tasty fries. Those in the know should know that you blanch the potatoes (which have been tossed in corn starch) in a low temperature...say 300-325 degrees...until they turn a light brown. You then line them up on a sheet tray and refrigerate them for a while before returning them to the fryer, this time at a toasty 375 degrees.
As Chef explained today-- when you blanch the potatoes they shrink a little bit. The cornstarch "layer" maintains its original shape, however, supported by small "branches" of starch from the potato. When you fry the fries the second time, that outer, starch/cornstarch layer becomes super crispy, as opposed to soggy and unimpressive.
Think Burger King fries vs. McDonald's fries...if that makes it easier. Burger King obviously coats their fries with some type of starch to achieves that unique crispy outer layer.
You learn something new everyday.
The super new thing for me today came when I was (again!) deveining shrimp. You devein the intestine from the top of the shrimp because no one wants to be chomping on what we colorfully call "the poop vein" in the kitchen. You can usually see the grayish poop vein through the opaque shrimp flesh after the shrimp is peeled.
Well today I saw what I suspected was an ENORMOUS poop vein, easily 4-5 times the size of one I've ever seen. I showed it to Chef and his response was, "Cut that out, set it aside and call me back over... ...you and I are going to eat it."
"Uhh...wait...what?"
Chef cooked the suspected poop vein up in a little bit of water on a spoon over a burner, and it quickly turned pink. That's right-- shrimp eggs...not the intestinal tract. We both ate half and, low and behold, it tasted INTENSELY of shrimp. Think of the most flavorful shrimp you've ever had, this had an even more...well...shrimpy...taste. Delicious.
Shrimp eggs-- cross it of the "Things I Thought I'd Never Eat" list.
Whew. What a book. And now I have to go to work. Hope you enjoyed...
