FOOD HISTORY: The Fifth Taste - UMAMI

When taste buds were discovered in the 19th century, it was thought that only four "primary" tastes could be picked up by the human tongue - salty, sweet, bitter and sour. This thought was continued until the early 1900's when a Japanese scientist exploring a taste phenomenon in Japanese cooking changed this concept. Dashi, a stock made from Kombu ( Kelp; a seaweed) has been an integral part of Japanese cooking for a very long time. It was found that foods cooked with Dashi, were given a delicious, complex taste that could not be  attributed to any one or combination of the four "primary' tastes. Why this was so was not clear until, in 1908,  Dr. Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese scientist at Tokyo Imperial University (now called The University of Tokyo)  discovered that glutamate (glutamic acid) was its  main flavor ingredient in Dashi and called the new taste sensation. "Umami", a Japanese word that has no exact  English translation but is interpreted as "savory" or "delicious" or "meaty" taste. After the discovery of glutamate as contributing to the Umami taste, other substances which gave a Umami taste were discovered in other very popular items used in Japanese cooking: inosinate found in  Bonito flakes - flakes shaved from dried, fermented  Bonito fish (also known as Skipjack Tuna) and guanylate found in Shitake mushroom stock. In the 1980's, further studies established that Umami associated with high glutamate - containing foods actually constituted a FIFTH taste component. Remember when most Chinese restaurants used monosiodiun glutamate (MSG) in their dishes. This was to give their food a UMAMI taste. Since that time, many UMAMI rich foods have been identified; seaweed, beef, tomatoes. Parmesan cheese, anchovies, Shitake and Enoki mushrooms, Asian fish and Soy sauces, among others.The Umami taste sensation is most intense in combination with salt: thus, a sprinkling of salt on a tomato intensifies its taste.Today Umami as a fifth taste is universally accepted. While the UMAMI taste is now established in a scientific sense, for centuries people around the world, INTUITIVELY, have prepared sauces and condiments which add UMAMI taste to dishes. Garum was a fish sauce made first by the Greeks and then the Romans.The Greeks made a sauce called "garos' a Greek word for a type of fish. Romans loved the sauce, took it over and made it their own way; salting Mackerel fish, letting it ferment in the sun and then filtering the fermented liquid to use as a sauce. Tomatoes were brought to Europe when Columbus discovered the New World. The Italians embraced the UMAMI containing tomato as the basis for many of their famous sauces. Asian cultures have used many UMAMI containing fermented products; the Soy and fish sauces of China, Japan, Vietnam . Thailand, etc and the British have their anchovy containing Worchester sauce. Science aside, TASTE wins out.

THINGS I LIKE: Mickey's "Puttler Jelly"

When I  was growing up, my mother, Mickey Holder, made a delicious smokey, chopped eggplant dish that we ate with toast or crackers. We called the dish "Puttler Jelly". Why it was called "Puttler Jelly"  was not clear to me but I ate it with great enjoyment. As I grew older, I became aware that chopped eggplant dishes were eaten all over the world, eg., Baba Ghanouj, chopped eggplant mixed with tahini (sesame seed paste) and seasonings was ubiquitous all over the Middle East. I have eaten Baba Ghanouj in ethnic Syrian - American, Lebanese - American and Greek - American restaurants and loved them all. In Greek restaurants the dish is called "melitzanosalata". In Turkey, where I ate it in Istanbul, the dish is called "patlican salatsi." In France, a similar dish is made, called "eggplant caviar" with olive oil substituting for the tahini. Many other European countries, including Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Armenia and Greece, to name just a few, prepare similar dishes. When I decided to write about my mother's "Puttler Jelly", I did a little research on this kind of dish and discovered that in Rumanian it is called "patlagele vinete". Is this where "Puttler Jelly" came from; a mispronouncing of the the Romanian "patlagele? There is not, to my knowledge, any Rumanian connection in my family tree. To my mother, this would not have mattered. She incorporated recipes into her family cooking from anyone with whom she had contact if she thought her family would enjoy them.; her "tomato sauce" recipe, for example, which is  still being made by the third generation of  our family, came from the  Carvel family (Caravelli when they got off the boat from Italy, as children). With more looking, I found that the word for eggplant in Yiddish is "patlejan". Since grandparents on both sides of my family and my parents, as well, spoke Yiddish this, more likely, is the root source from which the mispronounced  term, "Puttler Jelly" derived. Whatever is really the case, I still make Mickey's "Puttler Jelly" and it has been enjoyed by all who taste it. The recipe follows:

MICKEY"S "PUTTLER JELLY" RECIPE

 I call this a recipe but it is only, in reality, a guideline since I was  told what went into its making but with no specific amounts of each ingredient given. The final product will be unique to the person preparing the dish but I have given some "starting points" and will leave the taste of the finished dish  to the palate of each preparer.

INGREDIENTS

2  eggplants
1 large onion, small dice
minced fresh garlic - to taste
red wine vinegar or lemon juice - to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper - to taste
extra virgin olive oil

PROCEDURE

Heat oven to 450F.
Cut eggplants in half and place, cut side down, on a sheet pan.
Roast until the skin is charred and the flesh is soft and fully cooked.
Allow to cool and, discarding the skin,  scoop out eggplant flesh into a food processor.*  Don't worry if a few "charred" parts of the skin are still attached. This gives a further smokey taste to the dish.
Add onion and garlic.
Pulse a couple of times adding olive oil until a coarse puree is formed.
Mix in small amounts of vinegar or lemon juice plus salt and pepper, tasting after each addition until the mixture has a creamy texture with the  balance of garlic, salt, acid and smoke that suites your palate.

* if you do not have a food processor, the eggplant can be mashed with a fork and the other ingredients added, as above.


Serve as a dip with wedges of pita, plain or toasted, or spread on crackers.