Most of my friends know that I am a food fanatic. I love food. Buying food. Tasting food. Making food. Growing it, when I can. So its natural that I talk about it. Hopefully you can relate – you are reading my predominantly food-related blog.

Anyhow.

While talking to some Asian friends (Hmong and Thai), some ideas about flavors that had been floating around my head finally began to solidify. There’s the notion of a fifth taste in addition to the well known sweet, bitter, salt, sour – umami, or savory – and it seems to me that it is what satiates the palate more than anything else.

Whenever I cook something, I try to bring a deep, rich flavor from the ingredients – and it seems like when that happens, my stomach is easily filled. To be able to do that, however, one must know the qualities of the at-hand ingredients. I will write more about this eventually, but for now, here’s a list of ingredients that when used appropriately (and especially together!) can divine a drab dish into one that twinkles your tastebuds:

  • mushrooms
  • almost any seafood including
    • anchovies (whole, and especially paste)
    • sardines
    • tuna
    • bream
    • fish sauce
    • oyster sauce
    • seaweed
  • soy sauce
  • garlic
  • salty, hard cheeses
  • tomatoes (especially paste)
  • meat stocks
  • truffles
  • carrots