GOURMET-SALTING -an easy umami enhancing method

Here's an easy tip for giving  any meat a better taste.

Some claim meat should not be salted prior to preparation like frying, searing or braising. Some claim it should be salted in advance while others say that it does not matter, but research show it does. 

Danske Slagterier (Danish Meat Research Institute) have tested the different methods. Blind testing among professional tasters revealed that beef salted at least 15 minutes prior to searing was regarded as more juicy, tender and tasty than the other samples. They also found that the amount of salt can be reduced by this simple method.  This is good news; less salt in our diet is healthy for us too. 

Thus, gourmet-salting is the easiest way to develop good taste and more umami in meat. You can actually salt any meat once you’ve brought it home and even be confident your meat will be better preserved too.

Gourmet-salting is very easy: Use 3-6g (approx. 1/2 to 1 teaspoon) fine grained salt without iodine pr. 1 kg/ 2,2lb of meat.

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•  Rinse, prepare and dry the meat thoroughly with some paper towel before salting.     

• Drizzle salt evenly on the surface of the meat

• Store chilled, but be sure to have the meat at room temperature before you start cooking.

Umami dearest!

"Food is our common ground, a universial experience". James Beard   

"Umami" is a japanese term meaning "essential savoury taste " or "essential meatlike taste".
Umami taste, however is universial and can be tasted in many signature dishes from around the world. In sushi, beef with oystersauce, in pasta puttanesca, pizza, hamburgers, bacalao, demi glace (french essence of a complex sauce), in bacon, hams, various cheeses and in fungi and sun riped tomatoes.


The "common ground" in all umami tasting essences, condiments, ingredients, and dishes are the result of a process of denaturated or somehow changed protein chains, forming into smaller amino acids. Free glutamate (GLU og L-glutamate) is the  most present amino acid in most food, and also for bringing to you and me, the savoury taste universally known as umami. But the most interesting aspect of the taste, is when you combine free glutamates with a few other taste components ( known as purines) to create synergistic umami. This blog will deal with that. And thsi is not an asian taste, not european either. Beware, and  stay tuned! 


Umami has a mild, complex taste that lasts longer in the mouth compared to the four other basic tastes, beeing sweet, salt, sour and bitter. The umami taste receptors on our tongue, in the mouth and  in the intestinal tract,  capture the glutamates in a trap, then signalling that important nutrition is on its way. The mouth waters, and thenerve signals go down through thousands of nerves to our stomach and further back into our brain in an area not far from the happiness and sugar centre. So, umami rich food is transforming you into a mouthwatering happy fool, craving for more of the savoury stuff. 

And it starts with breastmilk. Human breastmilk has enough umami to make you an addict, once you identify why you crave certain food. Join me on the journey of umami sensation. You're very welcome to share!

Regards Elisabeth