I think I mentioned this on here before, but did you know that Umami has its own website? That's kind of like Brown having its own website, except slightly more understandable since "the fifth taste" was only recently accepted by whatever set of clowns accepts that sort of thing into official classifications. From an epistemological perspective, it's kind of jarring when this sort of things happen. You think you know that there are 9 planets, and then some cynical bastard nixes Pluto. You think you can live just knowing sweet, sour, salty and bitter, and then you meet umami.
This has to be extra traumatic for Americans, whose main encounters with the rich and undeniably prurient character of umami has until recently mainly centered around old garbage and unwashed undies (AA Gill's female companion incisively identified the scent/flavor as "bottom"). But man, were we missing out.
Umami is best eaten in mushroom form. For Europeans, this was traditionally in the form of truffles. My own personal favorite comes from farther east: shiitake mushrooms. You'll mainly find these little ordureous jewels dessicated and shrink wrapped in the Asian section of supermarkets (even in Lebanon). Reconstitute them beforehand in your broth or in a bowl of hot water, which you should save for later use.
As a brief confession, I pieced this recipe together because Tam has walking pneumonia, which sounds far more dangerous than it actually is on account of the action verb they throw onto it. I had talked myself into the shiitakes the last time I was at the store and had been itching to do something fun with them, so I figured I'd take advantage of my wife's infirmity in the most constructive way possible.
You have four stages to this recipe:
1. Make the broth
2. Make the noodles
3. Make the meat
4. Combine
Ingredients:
5 shiitake mushroom caps (stems removed and saved for later use)
egg noodles (I was forced to use tagliatelli), if you like more broth use less, if you like it chunky use more
For soup:
1/3 cup thinly sliced carrot (plus one for broth)
1/3 cup shredded cabbage
1/3 cup thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion whites and stems
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp raw sugar
For beef
1/2 pound beef
1 tbsp oil
garlic cloves, knife-crushed and minced
1/4 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp raw sugar
pepper
Recipe Prestep:
You need to make your own broth for this, or at least you should. I usually scoff at those bastards who are always turning their nose up at those who don't want to waste dishes and minutes of their lives making stock for every single dish, but since the broth pretty much is the dish, just do it. You can do veggie, or like me, take the used chicken carcasses you've been collecting in the freezer for Christ knows how long and toss them in a pot with a few green onions, a roughly chopped carrot, a bay leaf and some salt. After you've boiled this down for a while until it's brothy, turn the stove off, scoop the detritus and throw it away, then add the mushrooms (caps only) and cover for a few hours to let them reconstitute and release their smutty goodness.
Soup Steps:
1. Let the mushroom caps sit in the broth for a few hours and avoid the temptation to keep tasting it. The flavors that they release over time are amazing. If my life had a tastetrack, I'd have that on repeat.
2. Prep your other ingredients in the meantime. Do the veggies first and toss them all together into a bowl, then mix the garlic, ginger, sugar and soy for the meat and put in another bowl large enough to handle it and the raw flesh you'll soon be adding to it.
3. Chill the meat in the freezer for about 30 minutes before cutting, or just don't unthaw it all the way, then carve off paper thin slices of it at about a 20 degree angle. The thinner the better. They retain flavor well and give a nice texture to the soup. Mix this with the aforementioned garlic marinade and let sit for a bit.
4. Prepare the noodles - When they are flexible but still undone, drain and put aside. You'll add this in the final step.
5. Remove the reconstituted mushroom caps, chop roughly. Heat the broth to a simmer, then add the mushrooms and cover for about 5 minutes.
6. Heat a frying pan on medium high with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil and add the beef. Let it brown and stir a bit until it's dry. If you pull it too soon, you lose the caramelized soy-sugar-ginger-garlic that makes this all worth it. It'll only take about 3-5 minutes. Set aside. In case you missed that last part, DO NOT ADD IT TO THE BROTH.
7. Turn off the broth and add the noodles and veggies, then cover for 10-15 minutes.
8. To serve, spoon the soup into a bowl and add the meat to the top. Cashews are a nice topper, but they're not necessary.
This has to be extra traumatic for Americans, whose main encounters with the rich and undeniably prurient character of umami has until recently mainly centered around old garbage and unwashed undies (AA Gill's female companion incisively identified the scent/flavor as "bottom"). But man, were we missing out.
Umami is best eaten in mushroom form. For Europeans, this was traditionally in the form of truffles. My own personal favorite comes from farther east: shiitake mushrooms. You'll mainly find these little ordureous jewels dessicated and shrink wrapped in the Asian section of supermarkets (even in Lebanon). Reconstitute them beforehand in your broth or in a bowl of hot water, which you should save for later use.
As a brief confession, I pieced this recipe together because Tam has walking pneumonia, which sounds far more dangerous than it actually is on account of the action verb they throw onto it. I had talked myself into the shiitakes the last time I was at the store and had been itching to do something fun with them, so I figured I'd take advantage of my wife's infirmity in the most constructive way possible.
You have four stages to this recipe:
1. Make the broth
2. Make the noodles
3. Make the meat
4. Combine
Ingredients:
5 shiitake mushroom caps (stems removed and saved for later use)
egg noodles (I was forced to use tagliatelli), if you like more broth use less, if you like it chunky use more
For soup:
1/3 cup thinly sliced carrot (plus one for broth)
1/3 cup shredded cabbage
1/3 cup thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion whites and stems
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp raw sugar
For beef
1/2 pound beef
1 tbsp oil
garlic cloves, knife-crushed and minced
1/4 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp raw sugar
pepper
Recipe Prestep:
You need to make your own broth for this, or at least you should. I usually scoff at those bastards who are always turning their nose up at those who don't want to waste dishes and minutes of their lives making stock for every single dish, but since the broth pretty much is the dish, just do it. You can do veggie, or like me, take the used chicken carcasses you've been collecting in the freezer for Christ knows how long and toss them in a pot with a few green onions, a roughly chopped carrot, a bay leaf and some salt. After you've boiled this down for a while until it's brothy, turn the stove off, scoop the detritus and throw it away, then add the mushrooms (caps only) and cover for a few hours to let them reconstitute and release their smutty goodness.
Soup Steps:
1. Let the mushroom caps sit in the broth for a few hours and avoid the temptation to keep tasting it. The flavors that they release over time are amazing. If my life had a tastetrack, I'd have that on repeat.
2. Prep your other ingredients in the meantime. Do the veggies first and toss them all together into a bowl, then mix the garlic, ginger, sugar and soy for the meat and put in another bowl large enough to handle it and the raw flesh you'll soon be adding to it.
3. Chill the meat in the freezer for about 30 minutes before cutting, or just don't unthaw it all the way, then carve off paper thin slices of it at about a 20 degree angle. The thinner the better. They retain flavor well and give a nice texture to the soup. Mix this with the aforementioned garlic marinade and let sit for a bit.
4. Prepare the noodles - When they are flexible but still undone, drain and put aside. You'll add this in the final step.
5. Remove the reconstituted mushroom caps, chop roughly. Heat the broth to a simmer, then add the mushrooms and cover for about 5 minutes.
6. Heat a frying pan on medium high with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil and add the beef. Let it brown and stir a bit until it's dry. If you pull it too soon, you lose the caramelized soy-sugar-ginger-garlic that makes this all worth it. It'll only take about 3-5 minutes. Set aside. In case you missed that last part, DO NOT ADD IT TO THE BROTH.
7. Turn off the broth and add the noodles and veggies, then cover for 10-15 minutes.
8. To serve, spoon the soup into a bowl and add the meat to the top. Cashews are a nice topper, but they're not necessary.
