BUT, the current state of MSG usage in China still brings 'pretty big' negative consequences.
One,
The amount of MSG used in Chinese food right now is really awesome. It's awesome. It's awesome.
A lot of chefs (at least 50% or more), nowadays, are playing around with adding freshness, freshness multiplier effects, high-freshness MSG, complex extracts, etc., and the amino acid content of soy sauce is skyrocketing.
Many stores under the amount of monosodium glutamate, chicken essence, chicken powder, if you see, will feel a little scary, a large dish to add a small half a handful of spoons into the
(about 20g, you can go home and take your own scales to compare and see, 20 grams is how big a share, the amount of more than you doubt life.)
A friend of mine said that MSG is a kind of seasoning, and the abuse of salt, sugar, vinegar and sauce can also have adverse consequences.
That's right, but you won't even eat a few bites of a dish with too much salt, sugar, vinegar and sauce, it's hard to eat.
But MSG added more, you will not feel how it will still feel delicious delicious, and then the most back to the mouth when you feel thirsty, and then said today a little salty.
Second,
Lower cost of MSG overuse, the excessive use of MSG, so that most of the dishes presented only a strong "fresh" face. It is too single oriented.
Layers are not rich, under MSG.
The dish is not too fresh, down with MSG.
The heat is not right, so go for the MSG
The preparation is heavy, so go for the MSG.
This kind of homogenization of taste orientation is very bad, just like the chili pepper covers the original taste of food, too much freshness will also.
For example, the clear taste of watery flavor of the squash, the new flavor of the bean sprouts, the little bit of mustard sweetness of bok choy, under a large number of freshly presented substances are a blur of the face of the soup vegetables. Including many of the spicy stir-fries, there were no more seasoning surprises.
The table flavor, there are also king and queen auxiliary make, there is a contrast will be more delicious.
When the basic flavors become salty, sour, spicy and sweet, the contrast between the dishes on a table is also much less obvious under the powerful freshness. Some of those delicate and wonderful flavors are also less and less perceptible (which can't all be attributed to MSG, of course).
This is something that a lot of restaurant operators are actually realizing, and some of the big players are seriously looking for better seasonings that can better bring out the flavors of their ingredients. There's some progress, just nothing too groundbreaking at the moment.
Three,
Because the people who are cooking are putting a lot more and a lot more effort into the fresh flavors, it's making a lot of people more demanding of the fresh flavors.
In this environment, even the soup made by a pretty good chef can't satisfy the people's quest for fresh flavor.
Tell two true stories.
1,
Many years ago, Guangzhou, there is a (specific which I will make up in the future) of the marinara especially fragrant and delicious, business long lines.
Guangzhou food industry repeatedly go to eat to go, but the entire food line to study, are doing is not as good as his incense.
Note, is the entire Guangzhou food industry.
The mystery was later revealed. What was added was ethyl maltol (a legal additive, mainly for flavor enhancement).
Then to this day, years later, ethyl maltol has become a standard in most lo mein dishes, including the upscale and light Chaozhou lo mein. You can look at the ingredient list sometime.
Because it's hard enough to sell without using flavor enhancers.
Count it as kind of inflationary.
The same goes for MSG.
2.
Suzhou has a noodle shop, the soup is hung every day, using chicken, duck, meat, bones, and ham.
Because the noodle shop opens at 5:00 in the morning, late at night every day to start to hang soup. It's hard work, and it's rare.
I learned to cook when this store just opened, several chef teachers (serious old catering company origin) have gone to identify, think it is really old base old craft, the owner really persistent, very admirable.
But take this soup head and other stores soup back, blind test for us to compare to eat.
Everyone chose the control group, all the trainees, every single one.
Because it wasn't fresh enough.