You’re an evil genius (and from your username I bet you like Scandinavian liquorice too). Or how about umami haggis?
I tried to start the mushroom ketchup recipe last night. Chopped mushrooms up, covered them in salt, put them in a colander over a bowl in the fridge. In the morning - nothing. Exactly the same as when I left them. Think I might need to find different mushrooms. These were some weird Japanese ones.
No, what happened is that they discovered a new receptor, not a new flavor. They discovered a receptor which does not respond to sweet, salty, sour, or bitter tastes. It responds to umami, which is quite a separate concept from “savory”.
The word has been borrowed because it perfectly describes the phenomenon, whereas “savory”, “salty”, “meaty”, “brothy”, etc. do not.
But isn’t “perceiving a new flavor” the same as “a new flavor”…flavor perceptions being the humanly subjective things they are in the end?
FWIW I think the mushroom ketchup is a good idea…and there’s something in tomatoes that replicates umami too…though its mostly associated with an ill-defined flavor perception from MSG.
Every time I see this thread title my brain says “Umami bommee”
Eh, I don’t know about that. For instance, I personally take full credit for discovering umami, or at least describing the gap in our knowledge of taste mechanics (;)). When I was a kid, and I was learning the ol’ “salty, sweet, sour, and bitter” rule of taste buds, I clearly remember asking my dad “Well, what about a pork chop?” It’s not sweet, bitter, or sour, and it only has a mild salt flavor to it. But there’s something else there. Meatiness. Depth. Something. My dad had to admit he had no idea what it was.
Well, what I was detecting at the time, and I knew was there, but was undescribed, was umami. So there you go. I’m a genius. 
But the point is, it’s not “perceiving a new flavor” in subjective terms. It’s tightly associated with a lock-and-key receptor phenomenon. It’s biologically controlled. We all experience it, and it bypasses subjectivity in the same way that a drop of vinegar on the tongue is not subjectively sour. It’s sour, by definition, unless you happen to be missing those receptors.
I’m glad you’re so easily amused. Yes my profile is correct, I’ve been in japan for 15 contiguous years, and no I don’t tell people to stop using loan words.
My practice regarding loan words is, I think, logical and consistent - don’t use loan words where your own language already has an appropriate word. For example, “kimono” is a perfectly fine loan word to use in English because there is no appropriate equivalent in English. ‘Japanese robe’, for example, would fail to convey the intended meaning because of the expansive English connotations of "robe’ on the one hand, and the narrowness of ‘kimono’ on the other.
Similarly, a "Kabushiki kaisha’ is not an LLC or a Pty Ltd because each of these three corporate entities have markedly different rules regarding formation and continuation. They are not equivalent, so you should use the appropriate nomenclature. Many people fail to do this though and still insist on ‘translating’ Kabushiki Kaisha as LLC (limited liability company), which it is not.
Am I anally retentive? Maybe, but that’s part of my job.
Getting back to the thread…
This umami issue brings out the worst critic in me. I think it’s because it was hailed in the Japanese press as yet another example of cultural superiority of Japanese over everyone else. At the time when it was gaining the spotlight, papers were printing stories of how only Japanese people can taste umami because ‘we’ are so special.
In any case, yes, I admit that umami is a unique receptor in taste that was discovered by a Japanese scientist. It doesn’t mean he discovered a new taste though. And to me, savoury describes the umami taste sufficiently, YMMV.
Can you explain how it’s a quite “separate concept from savory”?
Many umami foods can also be savory, though not all -mushrooms being an excellent example. Not savory, umami. Although in the absence of that marvelous Japanese word one might fit the very square word savory in to describe the very round flavor of a fresh mushroom, given the other options being even less of a fit than savory. Which is why umami is such a great addition to English and the language of cooking generally.
The reverse is even more common, in that many savory foods are not at all umami, such as many herbs: sage, tarragon, parsley, cilantro. All savory, none umami.
Not to mention the fact that savory never, to my knowledge, occupied the place in the language of food that umami does, which is the fifth base flavor alongside bitter, salt, sweet and sour. The flavors that you would still perceive without a sense of smell, because all other flavor is perceived via the nose. Savory is a type of flavor perceived through the nose, not a base flavor perceived by the tongue.
Is there a most umami concoction contest going on?
Add a spoonful of miso too… there are so many things that are savory…
I doubt it. Gold doesn’t really taste of anything, though the good part is, despite the initial outlay, you’ll still have the gold at the end of it and won’t be out on the deal as long as you didn’t buy your bullion at a temporary high.
Hm, I think it would work in haggis - haggis when made well can be excellent [after all, nothing evil about it, it is just a sausage made with oats and organ meats instead of muscle and fat with possible bulkers of buckwheat, oats, wheat or corn]
Many recipes for haggis are pretty bland, I have seen one that the only seasoning was salt and pepper. Ug, very bland. Best one I have ever had contained garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and worchestershire sauce [which has plenty of umami thanks to the anchovies.]
I think the umami bomb would also be fairly good drastically thinned out and added to the butter on popcorn. [we do popcorn in a wok with olive oil, sea salt, garlic, thyme and fresh cracked pepper. Something like the umami bomb would be good except I am deathly allergic to it because of the mushrooms in it :(]
Forgot to say:
Maggi Sauce (the Thai stuff anyway) is hydrolized soy protein. It’s soy but far less salty.