Intro -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue: How it all began -- What exactly is taste, and why is it important? -- The basic tastes: From seven to four to five and possibly many more -- Why do we need to be able to taste our food? -- There is more to it: Sensory science, taste, smell, aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, texture, and chemesthesis -- Is there a taste map of the tongue? -- Why are some foods more palatable than others? -- A few words about proteins, amino acids, nucleotides, nucleic acids, and enzymes -- Glutamic acid, glutamate, and the glutamate ion -- Glutamic acid and glutamate in our food -- How does glutamate taste, and how little is required for us to taste it? -- The first four: Sour, sweet, salty, and bitter -- The physiology and biochemistry of taste -- The interplay between sweet and bitter -- Taste receptors: This is how they work -- When words fail us: Descriptions of tastes -- The fifth taste: What is umami? -- Science, soup, and the search for the fifth taste -- Glutamic acid and glutamate -- What is the meaning of the word umami? -- From laboratory to mass production -- How MSG is made -- A little letter with a huge impact: The ‘Chinese restaurant syndrome’ -- The Japanese discover other umami substances -- It all starts with mother’s milk -- Umami as a global presence -- Umami has won acceptance as a distinct taste -- And umami is still controversial… -- 1 + 1 = 8: Gustatory synergy -- Amazing interplay: Basal and synergistic umami -- Detecting umami synergy on the tongue and in the brain -- Japanese dashi: The textbook example of umami synergy -- The art of making Japanese dashi -- Nordic dashi -- Dashi closer to home—a Japanese soup with a Scandinavian twist -- Seaweeds enhance the umami in fish -- How to make smoked shrimp heads -- Recipe: Potato water dashi with smoked shrimp heads.

Many substances interact synergistically with umami -- A breakthrough discovery of yet another synergistic substance -- The interplay between glutamate and the four classic tastes -- A simple taste test: Umami vs. salt -- Recipe: Monkfish liver au gratin with crabmeat and vegetables -- Umami-rich ‘foie gras from the sea’ -- Food pairing and umami -- Creating tastes synthetically -- Umami: Either as little or as much as you like -- Umami from the oceans: Seaweeds, fish, and shellfish -- Seaweeds and konbu: The mother lode of umami -- A world of konbu in Japan -- Fresh fish and shellfish -- Cooked fish and shellfish dishes and soups -- Recipe: Pearled spelt, beets, and lobster -- Umami and the art of killing a fish -- A traditional clambake: New England method, Danish ingredients -- Recipe: Crab soup -- Recipe: Clambake in a pot -- Everyday umami in ancient Greece and Rome -- Fish sauces and fish pastes -- Recipe: Patina de pisciculis -- Modern garum -- Recipe: Garum -- Recipe: Quick-and-easy garum -- Recipe: Smoked quick-and-easy garum -- Shellfish paste -- Oyster sauce -- Sushi and fermented fish -- Katsuobushi -- Catching katsuo to optimize umami -- Niboshi -- The hardest foodstuff in the world -- Kusaya -- Nordic variations: Horrible smells and heavenly tastes -- Fish roe -- Seven friends, The Compleat Angler, and a pike -- Umami from the land: Fungi and plants -- Umami from the plant kingdom -- Recipe: Seriously old-fashioned sourdough rye bread -- Recipe: Anchovies, grilled onions, sourdough bread, pata negra ham, and mushrooms -- Dried fungi -- Fermented soybeans -- Soy sauce -- Production of shōyu -- Miso -- Recipe: Deep-fried eggplants with miso (nasu dengaku) -- Recipe: White asparagus in miso with oysters, cucumber oil, and small fish -- The Asian answer to cheese: Fermented soybean cakes -- Nattō -- Black garlic.

Shōjin ryōri: An old tradition with a modern presence -- Recipe: Grilled shōjin kabayaki: ‘fried eel’ made from lotus root -- The enlightened kitchen -- Tomatoes -- Recipe: Baked monkfish liver with raspberries and peanuts -- Recipe: Slow-roasted sauce with tomatoes, root vegetables, and herbs -- Recipe: Fried mullet with baked grape tomatoes, marinated sago pearls, and black garlic -- Green tea -- Umami from land animals: Meat, eggs, and dairy products -- The animal kingdom delivers umami in spades -- Recipe: Mushrooms, foie gras, and mushroom essence -- Homo sapiens is a cook -- Preserving meats in the traditional ways -- Air-dried hams -- Salted beef: Pastrami and corned beef -- Bacon and sausages -- Dairy products -- Blue cheeses -- Aged, dried, and hard cheeses -- Recipe: Parmesan biscuits with bacon and yeast flakes -- Eggs and mayonnaise -- Harry’s crÃm̈e from Harry’s Bar -- Recipe: Harry’s crÃm̈e -- Umami: The secret behind the humble soup stock -- Soup is umami -- Recipe: Chicken bouillon -- Osmazome and The Physiology of Taste -- Amino acids in soup stocks -- A real find: A dashi bar -- The taste of a beef stock -- Recipe: Green pea soup with scallops and seaweed -- Ready-made umami -- Knorr and Maggi: European umami pioneers -- Making the most of umami -- MSG as a food additive -- Other commercial sources of umami -- Hydrolyzed protein -- Umami in a jar -- Yeast extract -- Nutritional yeast -- Recipe: Dressing with nutritional yeast -- More sources of umami for vegans -- Recipe: Eggplant gratinée with garlic, anchovies, and nutritional yeast -- Ketchup -- Recipe: Oysters au gratin with a crust of nutritional yeast and smoked shrimp head powder -- Bagna càuda -- Recipe: Bagna càuda -- Worcestershire sauce -- Umami in a tube -- Twelve easy ways to add umami.

Quintessentially Danish: Brown gravy, medisterpølse, and beef patties -- Recipe: Old-fashioned Danish medisterpølse -- Slow cooking: The secret of more umami -- Recipe: Beef patties, Danish style -- Recipe: Chicken Marengo -- Recipe: Cassoulet -- Recipe: Beef estofado -- Ratatouille and brandade -- Recipe: Sicilian ratatouille -- Recipe: Brandade with air-dried ham and green peas -- This is why fast food tastes so good -- Recipe: Three-day pizza with umami—not really a ‘fast food’ -- Green salads and raw vegetables -- Umami in dishes made with small fowl -- Recipe: Quail pâté -- Cooked potatoes: Nothing could be simpler -- Rice and sake -- Recipe: Risotto -- Beer -- Recipe: Oxtails braised in wheat beer -- Umami in sweets -- Recipe: Umami sorbet with maccha and tomato -- Mirin is a sweet rice wine with umami -- Recipe: White chocolate cream, black sesame seeds, Roquefort, and brioche with nutritional yeast -- Umami and wellness -- Umami and MSG: Food without ‘chemicals’ -- Umami satisfies the appetite -- Why does umami make us feel full? The ‘brain’ in the stomach -- Umami for a sick and aging population -- Umami for life -- Epilogue: Umami has come to stay -- Technical and scientific details -- Umami and the first glutamate receptor -- Yet another receptor for umami -- Umami synergy -- The taste of amino acids -- Taste thresholds for umami -- Content of glutamate and 5'-ribonucleotides in different foods -- Bibliography -- Illustration credits -- Glossary -- Index -- The people behind the book.