How do I use umami to improve a dish?
The savoury depth that makes food taste substantial, where to find it in an ordinary kitchen, and how much to use.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 10 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Umami is savoury depth, and a small amount of a concentrated source fixes a dish that tastes thin. Soy sauce, anchovy, parmesan, tomato purée, mushrooms and miso are the ones most kitchens already have.
When a dish tastes correct but somehow insubstantial, and more salt does not help, umami is usually what is missing. It is why a spoonful of tomato purée or a melted anchovy transforms a sauce out of proportion to its quantity.
Step by step
- Recognise when it is what you need.The dish is seasoned enough, is not flat exactly, but tastes thin or unsatisfying. More salt makes it salty rather than better.
- Reach for what you have.Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, parmesan or its rind, tomato purée, dried or fresh mushrooms, miso, marmite, fish sauce. Most kitchens have several.
- Use very little.A teaspoon of soy, one anchovy, a squeeze of tomato purée. The point is depth, not flavour of the ingredient itself. Too much and the dish tastes of soy sauce.
- Cook tomato purée before adding liquid.A minute in the hot pan removes its raw edge and concentrates it. Stirred in raw at the end it tastes tinny.
- Melt anchovies into the fat.They dissolve completely in a minute and leave no fishiness — just savoury depth. This is the classic trick in tomato sauces and lamb dishes.
- Keep parmesan rinds.In the freezer. One dropped into a soup, stew or sauce while it simmers adds a great deal and costs nothing. Remove before serving.
- Brown things properly.Umami is also created by browning. A dish where nothing was allowed to colour will taste thinner regardless of what you add.
- Layer sources rather than overdoing one.A little soy and a little mushroom is better than a lot of either. Depth comes from combination.
Tips
- Dried mushrooms rehydrated in hot water give you both the mushrooms and an intensely savoury liquid. Use both.
- A splash of soy sauce in a beef stew is not a Chinese ingredient in a British dish — it is a concentrated umami source, and nobody will identify it.
- If a vegetarian dish tastes thin, umami is nearly always what is missing rather than fat or salt.
Questions people ask
What is umami?
The savoury taste, alongside sweet, salty, sour and bitter. In practice it is what makes food taste substantial, and it comes from ingredients like soy, anchovy, parmesan, mushrooms and tomato.
How much should I add?
Very little — a teaspoon of soy, one anchovy, a squeeze of purée. You want depth without the dish tasting of the ingredient itself.