I just bought some MSG. When and how should I use it dirty home cooking?

Cafe Society
1

I recently ate at a restaurant that had “No MSG” plastered along with “no frozen ingredients” and “handmade” etc. I remarked to mrs.gnu that it’s a shame monosodium glutamate has gotten such a bad rap since its so tasty and completely harmless.

So I bought some.

Problem is, I don’t know what exactly to do with it. I normally use kosher salt and I don’t measure much.

So where’s the best places to add or substitute MSG? I basically never see it in modern recipes. Any tips, tricks? Specific cuisines it’s better suited for?

2

I am no MSG expert but I like to sprinkle it into stews and casseroles and hashes and in the slow cooker-- anything that’s a melange. Kinda like it was seasoned salt. It reminds me of bay leaves. I don’t know exactly what it does but you sure notice when it isn’t there.

Will love to hear from people who really know how to use it.

3

I don’t have an answer to your question, but fun fact: I’ve heard that some foods, like tomatoes, contain glutamates naturally. When you cook them together with salt, like in a marinara sauce, they combine chemically, so in these cases you’re essentially making homemade MSG.

4

MSG naturally occurs in tomatoes and hard cheeses, which is why pasta is so freaking good. Also mushrooms.

Basically use it any time you want to kick your savory flavors up a notch. It doesn’t replace anything in your recipes - just enhances what’s already there.

Also, try a little bit directly on your tongue. It’s really cool.

5

What do you think the first thing I did when I got home was?

So “flavor enhancer” really id a good description. I better stick to the kosher salt on meat surfaces, but they’re some into sauce, soups, and casseroles?

6

In practice, my GF loves to add Accent (msg) to steamed veggies (no other seasoning).

I’ve heard it’s good to use on anything umami that you want to tart-up (not tart-flavor but to, you know, fancify it).

Various online recipes for “McDonald’s beef seasoning” consist of nothing but MSG, Salt and pepper. I’ve not yet found the correct ratio, but home-made burgers are so delicious it kind of doesn’t matter.

I’ve used it in roasts and have considered it on steaks, but TBH now that I sous vide steaks I’ve kind of got it down to a fine art and don’t need MSG.

It’s still great on veggies tho! For dinner tonight, having steamed broccoli with MSG (nothing else on it) and sous vide fillets (the secret to great steaks is…)

Fish sauce.

7

I sometimes have tinned soup for a quick lunch and if it’s a bit bland then a little MSG improves it. I also found a recipe for making a clone of Jimmy Dean sausage that includes it.

8

I’m just here to ask what dirty home cooking is? Like, you don’t wipe down the counters when you are done?

9

Came to ask about that myself. I guess you could use MSG when making Cajun Dirty Rice, but for most dishes ‘dirty’ is an undesirable adjective.

10

Stir fries, stews, sauces, soups. Also good for stuff like deep frying batter/breading, sprinkled on vegetables, sprinkled on hamburgers along with salt & pepper when you cook 'em up, etc. Any type of “all purpose seasoning” or “seasoning salt” application will do well with a bit of MSG.

That makes it sound like I use it in everything, but I actually don’t. I do use it about once or twice a week in what I cook. Once you get used to it, you can identify the MSG taste, or rather that kind of full, savory feeling it leaves on the middle back of your tongue (or at least that’s what it does to me.) Just taste it straight again, like you did, and really pay attention to the flavor, your tongue, and how the flavor lingers. There’s a bit of saltiness to it, but it’s not the sharp stinging flavor of sodium chloride. It’s that umami flavor, which is deep, savory, meaty, but, when overdone, can be a bit, I dunno, overwhelming tasting. You know, kind of like salt. Overdo it, and everything just tastes salty, but at lower levels, it brings the flavors together while adding a bit of that saltiness we crave. Also gives food a “processed” taste (just because it is used so much in processed food) at higher levels.

I use MSG at lower levels than salt (and you have to balance these two, as both contain sodium, so MSG does add some saltiness to the dish, as well as the umami). Basically, start with a low amount (maybe 1/4-1/2 tsp for a dish for 6-8 people, taste, and build up from there if you need to.) And if you’re using stuff like canned chicken broth or chicken bouillon cubes, you’ve probably already got a good amount of MSG in your dish (though it can go by several different names.) And, yes, you have your glutamates in tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese, seaweed, etc.

Unlike salt, though, the one thing I’ve never tried using it in is in sweets. I have no idea how it would react with that. Salt is pretty typical to add a small amount to sweet dishes. I’ve never tried the same with MSG. In my mind, it doesn’t work, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it does in low doses or some specific applications.

11

I assumed he meant that the MSG will make his cooking ‘dirty’ as in adulterated.

12

Yeah, “dirty cooking” is when I make things like panfried chicken or pork chops, tuna-noodle casserole or nachos…NOT anything sanctioned by the Food Nazis. Although I make them with clean, unadulterated foods in a slow-cook way.

I’ve never bought pure MSG, but a friend got me a jar of GASTROMAT on a trip to Norway, which seems to be mostly sea salt and MSG. I suppose if my diet was high on reindeer meat and plover eggs I would be interested in flavor enhancers, too. When I think of it I give a shot to soups and stews

13

If you were so inclined you could probably successfully sue the restaurant for using “No MSG” as false advertising. Even the more correct “No added MSG” is probably apocryphal. Free glutamate is ubiquitous in almost all foodstuffs added “for flavour”. But no matter

Suggestion, rather than add it directly, because the amounts are so small, make a mix of 9 parts table salt and 1 part MSG and use that blend in the same manner you’d use plain table salt.

14

I have a small jar that’s lasted me for years. I use it when I’ve made a soup or stew that just falls flat. A sprinkle of msg and it becomes much more palatable. It won’t fix bad flavor, but it will boost weak flavor enough to make something more interesting.

15

I don’t think I’ve ever cooked with straight MSG but use it often in flavored powders like Vegeta, Knorr boullion ‘Suiza’ & Goya Sazon. Put some in soups, stews, braising liquid, picadillo, steamed veggies, salsas, stir fry. Some places around here season their french fries with a spice mix that has some sort of MSG component, pretty tasty.

16

Dang it, I looked it over too. That was supposed to be “some” but my phone’s swipe keyboard messed up.

(Although, some misinformed people might consider any use of MSG to be “dirty.”)

17

My favorite steak seasoning mix just took the MSG out, so I’ve been wondering about creating my own mix.

If it’s not too much of a hijack, has anyone made their own mix, besides the 9:1 salt:MSG already mentioned?

ETA: Are you sure it wasn’t supposed to be “during”? That’s what I assumed you meant to type. Some doesn’t make sense to me there.

18

I had an older brother who served as a cook in the US Army during the Vietnam War. After his deployment, he was really proud of his cooking capability, and he offered to cook supper for the family. But first he had to go to the store to get something we didn’t have on hand, the secret ingredient that he learned about in the army: yes, MSG.

19

At the local international market, I see big bags of MSG. 5 pounds and up. I don’t want to think about how that’s used for home cooking. (I’m hoping they’re bought just by restaurants.)

20

I’ve spent time in the Philippines where there are several competing brands of MSG. Here’s a commercial for the premium brand, and as you see they sprinkle it in everything: Ajinomoto TV commercial - YouTube

One woman who I saw cooking wouldn’t just sprinkle MSG, she would put at least a teaspoonful in every dish. I could absolutely imagine people like her using that 5 lb bag of MSG at home–it might take a family of 5 or 6 almost a year to finish it, but I’d say that she was easily using half a pound a month.

If you like potato chips, a sprinkle of MSG on them really perks them up. It’s great on a hard-boiled egg as well.