Umami In The Pastry Kitchen

A well-crafted dessert menu displays artistry in flavor and execution to present desserts that marry with the restaurant’s philosophy while reflecting the season. As old desserts fall flat on our jaded palates, pastry chefs must adapt and add new techniques to their arsenal. An apple pie can be deconstructed and re-imagined every which way to Sunday, but it will still be an apple pie. Incorporating savory elements into desserts is a burgeoning pastry trend with bacon-tinged desserts representing one of the most successful sweet-savory pairings and one that confounded me because, well, pork in dessert. The thought seemed mildly repulsive until I started to think about why we love bacon, that sweet, salty, and fatty conundrum of porcine pleasure. Bacon reminded me of dashi, the Japanese broth prepared from dried kelp and fermented fish flakes, as both are flavor enhancers and renowned for their intense umami taste. From the Umami Information website: umami is a pleasant savory taste imparted by glutamate…inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. As the taste of umami itself is subtle and blends well with other tastes to expand and round out flavors, most people don’t recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role in making food taste delicious. We’re happy and satisified when we eat umami-rich foods so I wondered: could umami also have a place in the pastry kitchen?

Umami evokes universal culinary appeal and makes food taste “meaty” although meat is not the only source of glutamate. Glutamate is found in most organic matter although the naturally occurring glutamates in foods are concentrated when meats are braised, dry-aged and cooked, as tomatoes ripen in the sun, as cheeses age, and soybeans ferment[1]. Whereas sweet, salt, bitter and sour have identifiable tastes, glutamate itself doesn’t taste like anything. Rather, it works in harmony to amplify other taste sensations. It has the synesthetic property of making food seem heartier and full of body, ergo, more satisfying to eat[2].

“When we chew our food, our saliva dissolves it and allows us to sense salt, sweet, bitter, and sour taste sensations. Vaporized particles from our food waft through our nostrils as we chew and interact with dissolved particles in our saliva and olfactory receptors in our nasal cavity so that our brains can process the information as flavor. In other words, taste + aroma = flavor.  So when we discuss the flavor of umami, we are really discussing how the sensation of glutamate on our tongues interacts with the aromas of food to create the flavors perceived in our brains.”

The first approach in exploring umami’s potential role in the pastry kitchen involves using umami-rich ingredients in desserts. Even the most talented pastry chef is not going to make dessert with braised meats and anchovies, but other umami-rich ingredients—cheese, tomatoes, truffles, bacon, and green tea—are more versatile and can be employed with great panache.

Cheese. While two of our most popular desserts—tiramisu and cheesecake—are based on fresh cheeses, but aged cheeses like Pecorino and Parmesan, one of the richest sources of umami, can fare equally well in the pastry kitchen where they create an even contrast of sweet and savory pleasure. Maple-walnut tart in parmesan crust with olive oil gelato and roasted grapes. The umami contributed by the Parmesan cheese tones down what could be a cloyingly sweet dessert and amplifies the meaty nuttiness of the walnuts while downplaying its bitter tinge. The fruity acidity of the olive oil and grapes adds harmony to the sweet and savory elements of this dessert.

Truffles. Understandably, this is an ingredient that will throw many pastry chefs for a loop as mushrooms, although an excellent source of glutamate, become meaty in flavor and texture when cooked. Black truffles, on the other hand, have an earthy perfume that marries beautifully with chocolate and nuts. Canned truffles work best for most desserts as the aroma of fresh truffles will wrestle most desserts into savory submission. Truffled chocolate pate with dulce de leche, Chantilly cream, and hazelnut brioche croustillant. The truffles are diced and roasted before folding into the chocolate paté which is paired with caramel and toasted brioche. The earthy and intense flavors of chocolate, caramel, and hazelnut are softened by the mildness of the Chantilly cream.

Bacon. The bacon-inspired dessert trend is played out by now but it worked well, though it sounded so wrong, because bacon’s sweet and salty tastes are balanced and enhanced during the curing process. Grilled baby bananas, miso caramel, smoked maple ice cream and bacon-pecan brittle. This dessert is a great example of an umami “bomb” as every element features an ingredient or technique that enhances the umami sensation: the grilling of the bananas, the miso in the caramel, the smoking of the maple syrup and the bacon in the brittle.

Green Tea. Japanese desserts are traditionally eaten with strong green tea and using the green tea in the desserts themselves achieves that same harmony and balance between bitter notes and sweetness. Unroasted green tea is a high source of glutamate, easily adapted into desserts, and is a great source of umami for pastry chefs looking to add another dimension of flavor in their desserts. Green Tea Delice with Orange Blossom Gelato and Coconut Jasmine Foam.  In this dessert, layers of a dense matcha cake are lightened with an almond infused-white chocolate cream where the umami of the green tea is brightly accentuated by the floral notes of orange blossom and jasmine tea.

“Glutmate-Rich Foods: (mg/100g) potatoes—102, corn—130, tomatoes—140, mushrooms—180, peas—200, walnuts—658, aged cheeses—1200, kombu (seaweed)—2204 . It’s interesting to note that vegetables and nuts are more glutamate-rich in their natural forms than meats. This is because the glutamic acid in meats is bound and not available for flavor until the meat has been aged or cooked. This lends credence to the observation that cooking and preservation methods are more influential in enhancing the umami sensation than the ingredients themselves.”

Not every dessert that relies on umami for balance and harmony will be a success. I’ve made a few bombs in my time[3] but more often, my efforts have been successful. The trick to employing umami in dessert is: use a light hand. Umami-rich ingredients are loaded with salty and bitter tastes and pair best with elements that are sweet or fruity. Think of fruit pies made with lard crusts. Or grapes served with cheese and honey. Most importantly, think about how the taste of each element will interact with other tastes when they are amplified in the composed dessert.

Another approach to employing umami in the pastry kitchen is to use ingredients and techniques to mimic the umami sensation and create depth of flavor.  In its raw form, the vanilla pod is green and inedible. Once picked, the pod is fermented and cured over several months to develop its distinctive flavor and prized aroma. On occasion, white vanillin crystals blossom on the pod, like the glutamate crystals on dried seaweed. On its own, the flavor of vanilla is sublime though the taste is not terribly appealing—in fact, it’s quite bitter. But like glutamate, vanilla needs to paired with food in order for its flavor to be fully appreciated as in the case of vanilla ice cream.

Caramelization, the extensive chemical reaction that occurs when sugar is heated until it starts to break down, may not come to mind when you think of umami. Think about how syrups taste different when sugar is dissolved in water in one solution but caramelized first before dissolving in water in another solution? The browning reaction between milk proteins and lactose, as well as the caramelization of lactose itself, produces compounds that add to the umami sensation. The Maillard reaction—the heat-induced browning of foods that are not primarily sugar—is another cooking technique that can create umami sensation in desserts. Try toasting nut flours in macaroons, browning butter for cookies and cakes, or roasting cocoa powder for a cocoa sorbet.

“The earthy tones of dark chocolate are the perfect foil for an umami-rich dessert pairing. White chocolate on its own may be bland and sweet but this neutrality makes it a perfect partner in umami-rich dessert pairings, or it can be cooked into the deliciousness that is caramelized white chocolate.”

Fermentation may be revered among brewmasters and winemakers, but it as an overlooked resource in the pastry kitchen as most of us purchase cultured dairy products and rarely bake bread. But fermentation, in the form of a sourdough starter, can be used in croissants, Danish, brioche, beignets and even cakes[4]. Miso, a paste of fermented soybeans, is an umami-rich ingredient that can lend a flavorful depth and complexity to caramel, banana, and chocolate desserts but miso can also be made using chickpeas  for a sweeter profile that pairs well with desserts. Parsnips and dairy can be fermented to create a parsnip buttermilk . Explore the possibilities.

 “Umami in Pastry: toasted bread, smoked vanilla, grilled bananas, roasted strawberries, toasted flours and grains, caramelized apples, miso caramel, (aged) cheese foams, fruit ‘ketchups’, dried fruit”

Using savory ingredients in desserts is not just about plopping an umami-rich ingredient on a composed dessert plate. It’s about careful study and an understanding of how ingredients interact.  Though challenging, you will find with a little experimentation that elements of umami, when layered with pastry technique, can combine to create a rich and uniquely satisfying dessert experience.

Thanks to Chris, Ryan, and Adana for contributing the great thoughts that sparked me to write this post.