TIME TRAVELING IN THE KITCHEN

The kitchen is an inspiring place for a cook to time travel.  There are more discoveries than those leftovers in the back of the refrigerator. One good example is in the saltshaker on the counter.  

Recovering salt crystals from briny salt flats and chiseling it from veins in rock was one of man’s first occupations. The oldest salt operation on record in Añana Spain is still active after 7000 years, but who’s counting?  Far from being a relic, Añana’s artisanal salt attracts Michelin chefs from San Sebastian who own their own salt ‘era’ there. (Our Basque Tour will visit for a tasting in September.) 

Massive amounts of salt were once needed to preserve perishable foods by coating them to dry or ferment.  When dried food was later soaked to remove salt, the salt that remained was more than we would consider healthful today.  It is thought the daily diet in the Middle Ages contained as much as 40 grams of salt. Today’s recommended consumption is 2.5 grams.  

This dependance on salt lives on in the form of the condiments found in most kitchen.  The Chinese were producing soy sauce 2000 years ago.  About that time the Romans were making garum by allowing salted anchovies to rot in the sun and straining off the juices. Vietnamese nuoc mam, a fermented fish sauce, is a modern version of garum and a staple in southeast Asia. 

Why do we continue to be dependant on salt?  A Japanese chemist, Kikunae Ikedi, found the answer in 1908 when he searched for the reason why his daily bowl of dashi was so satisfying.  He discovered a flavor that he named, umami, in the seaweed used to make dashi. Umami translates as ‘deliciousness’ and is now considered the ‘fifth flavor’ after salty, sour, bitter and sweet. Umami contains the amino acid, glutamate, for which we have receptors on our tongue and that rapidly registers as pleasure in our brain 

It then comes as a surprise glutamate salt is absent from American kitchens, including my own. This salt, MSG (Monosodium glutamate), entered the marketplace the year following the discovery of umami, and rapidly became a staple ingredient in Asian cuisines, but western countries have been slow to accept it during the last century. It is still regarded with suspicion in the States and must be listed as an ingredient on all processed food labels no matter the amount involved. Rest assured, there are also many foods that contain glutamate as part of their natural chemistry. They include mushrooms, ripe tomatoes, broccoli, peas, aged cheese and eggs. 

I recently prepared Vietnamese Chicken and Ginger following a recipe that appeared in Le Monde. It is ready in 30 minutes and deliverers a delightful umami experience.