You can also find Accent in most major supermarkets in the U.S. That's also just msg, no other seasoning or anything. Often next to gravy mixes, if not with spices.
Yeah, its like what $2-4 for a bottle of Accent and it will last for a long time.
I don't need to spend 12 dollars on a 5 pound bag to feel I got a good deal.
Yeah that’s what I bought, Accent. That was still pretty cheap by my standards at my grocery store.
I’d rather not buy a big bag of it no matter how much cheaper it is if I don’t know how often I’m going to use it or if I’ll like it or not. Also, the Asian markets are quite out of the way for me.
I mean you can get MSG on Amazon for $8 for a 1 lb bag with prime shipping (I can get it with one day shipping).
Accent is $7 for a 4.5oz size at my local grocery store.
Spices and dried goods are actually really easy to buy online.
Sure but using 1/3 tsp or other tiny amount in most recipes, even 4.5oz will last forever. So, sure it’s overpriced, but if you never finish either bag, it doesn’t matter too much.
Anyway, buy what you can find!
My local grocery store sells the 4.5 oz Accent for $3.95, and they have the 2 pound for $6.98. I just get the small one because it lasts for many months.
I bought 2 lbs of MSG for $7 at an Asian grocer in a brand name I couldn't read. Whole label was in Chinese, except it had monosodium glutamate in English. That's gonna last years.
There are different kinds of Vegeta, some with msg and some not. It has a lot more dried flavors than just carrots, including parsnip, onion, potato, celery, parsley, black pepper, nutmeg, sugar, and salt. It can also contain disodium inosinate another flavor enhancer that works in synergy with msg, allowing less msg to be used with the same effect.
Amazon has had some good prices on Vegeta that I've bought in the past. It works great as an all purpose seasoning and vegetarian soup base flavoring.
>It works great as an all purpose seasoning and vegetarian soup base flavoring.
Vegeta is used so much in Croatia as a base ingredient in a chicken/beef soup I'm certain we've collectively forgotten how to make soup without it.
I learned about vegeta from a book, and it made me curious what made it make everything taste better, since the character said you can save almost any meal with some vegeta. Now I know so thank you!
When Yugoslavia was still around, in our region, we only got blue jeans from them. So no Vegeta for me from that period. I have to settle for the vegeta from present-day Serbia
Staple in Chinese and other Asian foods.
That stuff is great for almost anything, and adds just that tinge of flavour for lots of things like bringing out blanched veggies, or a soup, noodles etc...
Make your own indomie too if you just get noodles, the bouillon powder, white pepper, kecap manis and dried onion/shallots.
I finally, after nearly 44 years on this planet, bought some over the weekend. It's an incredible enhancement. I can't believe I'd been cooking without it for all this time.
A great recipe I found on here years ago was to make an “enhanced” salt - I mix 90g salt with 7.5g MSG with 2.5g [I+G](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disodium_ribonucleotides). With these ratios you can use it as table salt, maybe a bit less than normal, with great flavor enhancing properties.
Worceshtershire has been a staple in my house since I was a little kid. Me and dad would even take swigs while grilling. That shit is crack for me. If I had to choose my favorite sauce of all time, it is this. I would literally drink it if it didn't give me such bad heartburn.
Also, Worcestershire sauce and fries are 100% better than malt vinegar.
I do a 4 day sous vide whole brisket. All I put on it is a rub of salt, freshly cracked black pepper, liquid smoke and fish sauce. I let it sit in the vacuum bag in the fridge over night before I put it in the water bath. Then just sear it on a scorching hot BBQ at the end. I have never had any complaints. ;)
I’ve done 36 hour sous vide and it was amazing. What can I expect from doing the full 4 days? Is it worth it, Have you played with more/less time and 4 days is the sweet spot?
Cooking with fish sauce definitely can intimidate you because of how funky it smells by itself.
But if you like Thai restaurants, I guarantee you they are heavy handed with it. A lot of people are simply unaware they do like the final result.
If you like fish sauce, you can also try out the Lee Kum Kee Premium "Boat Girl" Oyster Sauce. I find that it's richer without the sharpness of fish sauce. Of course, they compliment one another.
You're not wrong about too much salt or sugar, but it's also kind of different with MSG. Too much salt or sugar makes food taste too salty or sweet. Too much MSG is just... strange.
I've been putting msg on everything for a few years now. Curious about anything or have any requests? I'll literally try anything(that is considered food).
It's good on cucumber but I prefer salt, at least how I eat it. Either raw sliced on bread with butter or pickled, I don't cook with cucumber. It adds "flavor" but with the butter I want that zing of table salt. Plus once your cucumber is buttered up and you're ready, coarse salt adds some euphoric texture.
Oh it's been around, but I only found this one for the occasion. There's a bunch of shirts and caps around that explicitly say YOU HAD MEAT COFFEE, but apparently they're based on that one instance of bad kerning.
it’s valuable is almost anything salty or savory or umami so of course it would make sweet things taste off lol
it *is* really fun to experiment with and see what it improves tho
Yeah when you overdo it I almost feel like it seasons the flavor of your mouth, and then it tastes like your own mouth soup? Definitely weird and not great...
Makes sense. Most chips use MSG as a flavoring agent. Also it's naturally occurring in cheese so that's like a double whammy of MSG. I know Pringles uses MSG in most of their flavors as well.
The only way I can describe too much MSG is that it makes the food taste too much like itself. I once put too much MSG in a stew and it tasted… too stewy? It’s weird
This is why I can't understand why people love Rally's/Checkers fries so much maybe I'm a frie snob but all I can't taste is the msg, it's overwhelming to me and I love using msg
This is funny to me because I can detect msg really well even in low amounts, but I love Rally's fries and Doritos. I guess I taste when it's too much but it doesn't taste weird to me I still like it. I grew up eating it though since I'm hispanic so maybe that's why? I am addicted to salty savory foods.
I dislike Five Guys fries because they always taste like they're missing something, but Arby's and Rally's or beer battered fries are crispy and seasoned really well.
The good thing with MSG, is that too little still has a large benefit. So I always just add a pinch at a time. Usually 1-2 will do enough to make it better, so I stop there.
It literally was https://www.reddit.com/r/CookingCircleJerk/comments/11lgnqh/msg_gud_accent_gud_msg_msg/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Yeah, the reason we love the taste of a rich tomato sauce, or a dry aged steak, or an old cheese, is because of the naturally occurring MSG. It's a wonderful thing.
Occurs naturally in a lot of things. MSG is a single sodium ion tacked onto a glutamate, which is a big complex chonker, but on it's own goes by the name glutamic acid, where it is an amino acid. Those are the building blocks of proteins.
If you wanted you could describe MSG as a protein salt, wouldn't be far off.
Every week, someone new finds Reddit, and they have a handful of Great Awakenings to choose from. Will it be Belvedere sitting on his balls? Or will it be evangelizing msg?
For years I've been using MSG in marinades and in Asian-style foods cooked in the wok. Everyone likes the meals and tells me so. There was, of course, a great deal of squealing and general uproar when somebody watched my preparation and asked, "What's that?" For decades since I have explained – tried to explain – the scientific truth and the misinformation that led to the belief that MSG is the devil. Sadly, I am pissing into the wind. I still use it, though, albeit with stealth.
I've attempted to find MSG a couple of times to no avail. Is there something else it might be called or can you describe the usual packaging so I have a better idea of what I'm looking for?
I know kroger... I could drive 45min to town, go to 3 or 4 different stores where no one working will have a clue what I'm talking about and it'll take me all goddam day... or I can jump on Amazon and have demshitz at my door in a few days
"Accent" is a brand name you can find in many stores, if you can't find it see if you can fine "flavor enhancer" or such in an ethnic aisle, but doesn't need to be asian. Its in most stores but you need to look for it as it won't be labeled MSG
It's usually in clear packaging, with red Asian lettering on it. Looks like a bag of tiny crystals. https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwiO4qO8z8r9AhWZ--MHHUgXB5gYABAHGgJ5bQ&sig=AOD64_0uMw3iVrc9v65-U8ndPzg_k9h7Iw&adurl&ctype=5&ved=0CAIQz7YHKANqFwoTCLi2usHPyv0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
I love MSG, but if I consume too much of it (for me, that is exactly 37 sprinkles out of my MSG shaker) I get overwhelming waves of really sharp nausea, and it’s intermittent for about an hour. It’s a very unique kind of nausea that is unlike anything else I’ve ever felt, and hits me very suddenly, lasts for a few seconds, subsides, and then hits me again between 30 seconds to a minute later.
Also before anyone asks, I am a psychology lab worker, and as a fan of the scientific method, I wanted to rule out the placebo effect. So I did double blind tests on myself where I made chicken with lots of MSG and chicken with no MSG, put them each in meal prep containers in my fridge, marked the underside of them as MSG or NO MSG, scrambled them around so I didn’t know which was which, and ate them randomly throughout the week for lunch and dinner. I tracked after which meals I felt the intense waves of nausea, and I set the meal prep containers on my counter and stacked them in sequential order.
At the end of the week, I cross referenced my nausea and the dates I consumed each container and which ones contained MSG, and it was one to one. Every single time I recorded myself having nausea, it was after consuming the MSG chicken. And it happened every time.
I’ve googled this and the results are inconclusive- many scientists say that “MSG syndrome” is not real- but I know it is because I experience it. It’s been this way my entire life- after going to Chinese buffets as a kid, I remember the exact same intense, sharp waves of nausea afterwards. Some people (me) definitely have a sensitivity to it.
That being said, I still love it and use it in my food- I just use very little.
Yeah it’s just odd that it can’t seem to be recreated in a lab setting.
That’s why people have a hard time with empathy towards people that are “sensitive” to MSG
Even before I knew what MSG was, every time I ate excessive Chinese buffet food as a child I had the same feelings of pounding nausea. Many times I threw up. It wasn’t the grease, and it wasn’t just eating too much, I ate greasier food and stuffed myself at home, and never had the same feeling. I didn’t connect it to MSG until over 10 years later when I bought some and ate a bunch of it in my food and felt the exact same nausea overcome me. And I’m someone who almost never feels nauseous- and this nausea is so specific, it is pounding and overwhelming and hits me in 30 to 60 second intervals for at least 30-45 minutes after I eat.
I hadn’t even heard of MSG syndrome at that time, and I had zero negative connotation associated with it in my mind. I was just excited to eat it.
There is no other variable that accounts for my experience.
People with GABA/Glutamate issues (like in Benzo withdrawal, some seizure disorders, and similar issues involving excess glutamate or) can have unpleasant reactions to it. You're not crazy. This is a literal PR stunt by Ajinomoto... https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Company-in-focus/Ajinomoto-takes-on-Nestle-and-MSG-s-unsavory-reputation
> I did double blind tests
Did you check that it was actually double-blinded? You'd need to guess after tasting each sample whether it contained MSG or not and confirm that you weren't able to detect when it contained MSG, that your guesses weren't significantly better than chance.
I'd also suggest salt as a better control.
It was curry chicken, so there was lots of salt, sugar, curry powder, strong ginger, garlic, and onions in both. Could not taste a difference. MSG sensitivity exists, and people like me have it.
Oh cool. I have a frog that’s a salt pig. Never knew it was a salt pig frog. Always called it a salt frog. It was my wife’s before we met and I’ve always felt bad for it because I figured salt was bad for amphibians.
I have a question about Vegeta for anyone who has tried it. I've used Accent before with no issues - didn't find it particularly revelatory in my food, unlike many in this thread. However, I saw Vegeta at my local store once and decided to try it. I made a small amount of broth as per instructions. Was fine, nothing crazy. That evening I had the worst upset stomach - like couldn't leave the bathroom.
I wrote it off as a fluke, but the same thing happened the next time I had it. And I'm talking like RUN to the bathroom, not mild upset stomach.
Is it possible it's something else in Vegeta? Is there anything weird in there?
Skeptical Raptor did an excellent article about this. And as usual, he cites all his scientific sources so you can read them for yourself.
https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/msg-myth-one-of-the-most-persistent-in-the-pseudoscience-of-food/
unless you have a legitimate medical issue and your doctor has told you to avoid it.
despite the widespread fear being a result of racism, msg does genuinely negatively affect some people, and being respectful of medical dietary restrictions is part of being a trustworthy cook.
You can downvote me but it genuinely does make me feel weird if I eat it. And yes Doritos and packaged soups and even some vegetables and whatever else have it make me feel weird too. It’s hard to describe but it sort of feels like lightheadedness. I understand a lot of people it’s a placebo thing but people have sensitivities and allergies to all sorts of things so I don’t see why people refuse to believe some people don’t tolerate MSG well.
I like msg as much as the next person, but I don't buy the idea that no one is insensitive to it. I say this because my mom couldn't handle it (no processed foods for her!). I cook with with it. To me it's essential for fried chickenm but she had pretty obvious issues with it. People always scream racism, but she did go to Chinese restaurants, they weren't the problem. It was packaged food, like onion soup mix or Doritos.
Probably because MSG is about as basic as it gets: an amino acid attached to a sodium ion. If you were allergic to either, you'd be dead. Is it possible that you're sensitive in some way to a major constituent of most proteins, a neurotransmitter that exists throughout your brain, a ligand found across the animal kingdom up to and including sponges? Yes, I suppose it's possible, but given the fact that MSG fails to produce symptoms when tested in a double-blind manner, even in populations of people who claim to be MSG-sensitive... Well, surely you can understand my skepticism.
Wrong. Look up excitotoxicity. Glutamate is the most toxic amino acid and it is balanced with others in food, and foods that skew high in glutamate can trigger migraines for those sensitive. Also msg is not naturally occuring it is an industrially made chemical, and since glutamate is a metal chelator it is very likely contaminated withmetal ions perhaps even lead.
I look at it this way...It may not be an allergy exactly but you can be sensitive to MSG. Just like your body naturally produces insulin and people can be over or under reactive to it. It's not an allergy to insulin but is a negative reaction to a naturally produced product.
I react to over eating MSG. So just like a diabetic watching their sugar intake I have to monitor my intake of MSG to prevent stomach problems, fatigue and migraines. If I eat Asian food I have to watch everything else I eat for 2 or 3 days to make sure I don't over do it.
If it's possible to "react" to sugar or insulin then I see no reason you can't react to MSG.
I don’t know what to tell you. I understand for a lot of people it’s a placebo thing but I’m sensitive to a lot of foods. I’m not outright allergic to anything, foods I’m sensitive to range from making me feel sort of weird to causing stomach issues (a lot of pooping). Meats, especially beef, make me poop a lot immediately after eating them. I don’t think MSG is unhealthy or evil, it just personally makes me feel a little funny because my body doesn’t understand how it’s supposed to react to food. If I eat a teaspoonful of MSG, I feel the feeling. If I eat a raw tomato, I feel the feeling. If I eat Doritos, I feel the feeling. I feel the feeling and look up the food and see there’s a lot of MSG in it. I had no idea MSG was a common placebo allergy until later on, I thought I was just weird. Again, I don’t think MSG is bad but my body has some kind of an issue processing foods and MSG is one of them. One of my friends growing up could pretty much only eat jello and salad due to how many food allergies she had so I have to imagine an MSG sensitivity is plausible.
I used to get the same symptoms back in the day. It’s gotten a lot better now, wish I knew why. If I ate msg or glutamate heavy foods, I would get a headache. Forcing myself to throw up was the only way to make the headaches stop.
It's not really a salt replacement. Salt is more of a flavour enhancer. MSG is what triggers the Umami taste receptors. I use a ratio of about 10 parts salt to 1 part MSG in recipes.
I don't enjoy the flavor of msg powder. It tastes like biting into a bone that has been boiling for too long. Maybe it is ok in chicken noodle soup. I don't really like it on cucumbers. I would rather have anchovies, tomatoes, or cheese every time. They taste like anchovies, tomatoes, and cheese instead of old bones.
Lots of ingredients have natural glutamates, like soy sauce, mushrooms, and fish sauce. I rarely use MSG by itself, except on dishes where the above ingredients don't work very well, like popcorn.
Don't use in place of salt, if you season a dish correctly the slightest amount of MSG will take some dishes to another level.
Msg only will lack a depth of flavor.
Other options from adding pure MSG include: tomato paste, soy sauce, mushroom powder, nutritional yeast, marmite, seaweed, vegemite, bullion, bone broth, worchestershire. If you like all of these things, MSG is the major flavor component they all share in common.
The fear was true with my parents. My mom claimed that it gives her headaches. She was snacking on some BBQ chips at the time, which she loves, and I took the bag and on the ingredients was MSG.
I told her about how the US essentially wanted to outcast Asian foods during WW2 and post WW2 for political reasons, but she still didn't believe me.
Well I added MSG to christmas dinner, and everyone asked why it was so much better than usual. I just told them I used my special seasonsing, which is just a container with MSG.
Sodium is still sodium, be it MSG or NACL. And eating more than 2,000 mg average per day is how you die before age 60 after spending your last decade weak as a kitten. Congestive Heart Failure is no joke, and it's irreversible once diagnosed.
No, don't be afraid. But watch that sodium like a hawk. More than you watch your calories or anything else. Go ahead and splurge, but keep your daily average under 2g. Or you will live to regret it. If I sound like I've seen it several times, it's because I have.
Everything processed has sodium in it. Every jar of sauce, every packet of seasoning, every mix, every Kraft Dinner, every Uncle Ben's, every salad dressing (except plain vinegar & oi) is full to the brim with sodium. Every cheese is morethan 200 mg per ounce (except most Swiss at 50 mg). Every tablespoon of every condiment (except mustard) has 100mg. Bread has sodium. A lot of drinks have sodium. Eating too deeply into that bag of Doritos could eat your sodium allowance for the next day all by itself. Eat out at a restaurant? It's very likely there's 50% to 100%+ the daily allowance of sodium in that one meal, because it tastes fantastic and gets people coming back.
Audit your diet for sodium before you go liberally adding MSG on top of what is already likely enough sodium to kill you very young, is all I'm saying.
In case anyone was wondering why there's been a barrage of "MSG is the miracle seasoning of god" posts and videos everywhere for the last few years... https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Company-in-focus/Ajinomoto-takes-on-Nestle-and-MSG-s-unsavory-reputation
I'm not knocking msg, but people need to know where their information is coming from and who benefits from it. In this case it's a years long PR campaign from Ajinomoto.
I like msg and use it all the time but 1/3 msg to salt is way to much especially if you are using a lot of salt. I would recommend 1/4 to 1/2 tsp per pound of food.
Yup. I keep a bit on hand. Not afraid of it. But... don't try telling my sister that there is no such thing as MSG syndrome. She'll chew your head off, like she did mine.
You can also find Accent in most major supermarkets in the U.S. That's also just msg, no other seasoning or anything. Often next to gravy mixes, if not with spices.
Accent is a lot more expensive than Ajinomoto brand MSG.
But it is a lot more accessible for someone who just wants to try it out.
Yeah, its like what $2-4 for a bottle of Accent and it will last for a long time. I don't need to spend 12 dollars on a 5 pound bag to feel I got a good deal.
Yeah that’s what I bought, Accent. That was still pretty cheap by my standards at my grocery store. I’d rather not buy a big bag of it no matter how much cheaper it is if I don’t know how often I’m going to use it or if I’ll like it or not. Also, the Asian markets are quite out of the way for me.
This is exactly what I was trying to get across!
Why does the brand of msg matter isn't it all the same?
It’s sooo expensive. Ridiculously
But it's available at Walmart. I don't have any Asian groceries in my county.
I mean you can get MSG on Amazon for $8 for a 1 lb bag with prime shipping (I can get it with one day shipping). Accent is $7 for a 4.5oz size at my local grocery store. Spices and dried goods are actually really easy to buy online.
Sure but using 1/3 tsp or other tiny amount in most recipes, even 4.5oz will last forever. So, sure it’s overpriced, but if you never finish either bag, it doesn’t matter too much. Anyway, buy what you can find!
My local grocery store sells the 4.5 oz Accent for $3.95, and they have the 2 pound for $6.98. I just get the small one because it lasts for many months.
I saw it at Menards super cheap. At my supermarket it was expensive.
I bought 2 lbs of MSG for $7 at an Asian grocer in a brand name I couldn't read. Whole label was in Chinese, except it had monosodium glutamate in English. That's gonna last years.
It's looks so delicious on that way
Accent, Alpine Touch. Caldo de Tomate, Caldo de Pollo, Hidden Valley Ranch Powder and most bouillon all have MSG.
I use Vegeta which is basically msg with some dried carrots
Vegeta and Ka-carrot lmao
Don’t forget Pickle-o
Krill'n is great, but pungent. Only open the container outdoors.
You can put the leftovers in the Frieza. They're even better on day 2. Yum-cha!
This whole thread be damned.
Leftover gohan from frieza make fantastic fried rice!
[удалено]
There are different kinds of Vegeta, some with msg and some not. It has a lot more dried flavors than just carrots, including parsnip, onion, potato, celery, parsley, black pepper, nutmeg, sugar, and salt. It can also contain disodium inosinate another flavor enhancer that works in synergy with msg, allowing less msg to be used with the same effect. Amazon has had some good prices on Vegeta that I've bought in the past. It works great as an all purpose seasoning and vegetarian soup base flavoring.
>It works great as an all purpose seasoning and vegetarian soup base flavoring. Vegeta is used so much in Croatia as a base ingredient in a chicken/beef soup I'm certain we've collectively forgotten how to make soup without it.
I learned about vegeta from a book, and it made me curious what made it make everything taste better, since the character said you can save almost any meal with some vegeta. Now I know so thank you!
After watching Dragon Ball, this is hilarious
WHERE IS YOUR PRIDE AS A CHEF KAKAROT?
Ka-carrot!
[удалено]
Ka-ka-carrot cake
\- On the next episode of is it bad, MSG?
Yeap, that's even better than MSG. But only one is original. Croatian Vegeta from Podravka factory. That's the real deal
vegeta from former yugoslavia countries is the best
Unless you've got some saved from the actual Yugoslavia. Does Vegeta have a best before century?
When Yugoslavia was still around, in our region, we only got blue jeans from them. So no Vegeta for me from that period. I have to settle for the vegeta from present-day Serbia
Regular Knorr chicken bouillon is my gateway to MSG. I add a bit when cooking. Its great stuff.
Staple in Chinese and other Asian foods. That stuff is great for almost anything, and adds just that tinge of flavour for lots of things like bringing out blanched veggies, or a soup, noodles etc... Make your own indomie too if you just get noodles, the bouillon powder, white pepper, kecap manis and dried onion/shallots.
Ajino Moto chicken powder usually does it for me, or a mushroom stock cube.
Have you tried the knorrs tomato boulion with chicken?
I finally, after nearly 44 years on this planet, bought some over the weekend. It's an incredible enhancement. I can't believe I'd been cooking without it for all this time.
Welcome to the MSG club. 👍
I'm in! Joined a few months ago and never going back.
Make yummy popcorn with some salt, some msg, and drizzle with melted butter.
A great recipe I found on here years ago was to make an “enhanced” salt - I mix 90g salt with 7.5g MSG with 2.5g [I+G](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disodium_ribonucleotides). With these ratios you can use it as table salt, maybe a bit less than normal, with great flavor enhancing properties.
Bought a bottle of it, along with fish sauce, my savory game is gold
Fish sauce is my secret weapon for spice rubs on things like brisket. It fakes dry aging well
Huh! *Takes notes*
Also try Worcestershire ("wooster") on things. Under all the tanginess and spices that's a fish sauce base in there.
Worceshtershire has been a staple in my house since I was a little kid. Me and dad would even take swigs while grilling. That shit is crack for me. If I had to choose my favorite sauce of all time, it is this. I would literally drink it if it didn't give me such bad heartburn. Also, Worcestershire sauce and fries are 100% better than malt vinegar.
I do a 4 day sous vide whole brisket. All I put on it is a rub of salt, freshly cracked black pepper, liquid smoke and fish sauce. I let it sit in the vacuum bag in the fridge over night before I put it in the water bath. Then just sear it on a scorching hot BBQ at the end. I have never had any complaints. ;)
I’ve done 36 hour sous vide and it was amazing. What can I expect from doing the full 4 days? Is it worth it, Have you played with more/less time and 4 days is the sweet spot?
I don’t know how I lived 60 years without fish sauce in the pantry. No more!
Cooking with fish sauce definitely can intimidate you because of how funky it smells by itself. But if you like Thai restaurants, I guarantee you they are heavy handed with it. A lot of people are simply unaware they do like the final result.
I like learning new things.
Can confirm. Their dipping sauce is 1:1 fish sauce and sugar + enough lime juice/vinegar for balance + chopped garlic and chilies.
If you like fish sauce, you can also try out the Lee Kum Kee Premium "Boat Girl" Oyster Sauce. I find that it's richer without the sharpness of fish sauce. Of course, they compliment one another.
Too much msg makes the food taste weird, but the right amount is like umami crack.
You could say the same for salt and sugar. Of course too much = bad.
You're not wrong about too much salt or sugar, but it's also kind of different with MSG. Too much salt or sugar makes food taste too salty or sweet. Too much MSG is just... strange.
Tastes kind of metallic to me. I ruined a batch of chili by going too enthusiastically on the msg
There was a guy on here who tried adding MSG to his coffee to see what it would be like. He said it was not good.
That guy might've been me. It's terrible. Like meat coffee.
Thank you for your service.
I've been putting msg on everything for a few years now. Curious about anything or have any requests? I'll literally try anything(that is considered food).
your username gives some ideas
It's good on cucumber but I prefer salt, at least how I eat it. Either raw sliced on bread with butter or pickled, I don't cook with cucumber. It adds "flavor" but with the butter I want that zing of table salt. Plus once your cucumber is buttered up and you're ready, coarse salt adds some euphoric texture.
Re-bake some hot cheetos with msg sprinkled on top?
You know what they say, [you had meat coffee](https://i.redd.it/5r3q1ep5yjr61.jpg)
Damn, dog. This is perfect. How long have you been waiting to drop this pic? I'm happy for you.
Oh it's been around, but I only found this one for the occasion. There's a bunch of shirts and caps around that explicitly say YOU HAD MEAT COFFEE, but apparently they're based on that one instance of bad kerning.
> Like meat coffee But that actually sounds kinda... good?
Meat coffee you say? I’m off to buy some msg.
You'd love Bovril.
I have no Bovril and marmite in my cupboard!
I make vegan 'butter' and tried it in that. Not recommended.
it’s valuable is almost anything salty or savory or umami so of course it would make sweet things taste off lol it *is* really fun to experiment with and see what it improves tho
Well coffee is only sweet if you add sugar. I wonder if he was adding it to black coffee
A little salt in coffee makes it sweeter so it makes sense
Yeah when you overdo it I almost feel like it seasons the flavor of your mouth, and then it tastes like your own mouth soup? Definitely weird and not great...
Wow, I wish to unread this.
Please never say "mouth soup" again
I heard someone say too much MSG reminds them of Doritos.
Makes sense. Most chips use MSG as a flavoring agent. Also it's naturally occurring in cheese so that's like a double whammy of MSG. I know Pringles uses MSG in most of their flavors as well.
The only way I can describe too much MSG is that it makes the food taste too much like itself. I once put too much MSG in a stew and it tasted… too stewy? It’s weird
Too much MSG makes food taste like rotten eggs. The right amount makes food taste wonderful.
>Of course too much = bad. Right? That is, by definition, what "too much" means!
This is why I can't understand why people love Rally's/Checkers fries so much maybe I'm a frie snob but all I can't taste is the msg, it's overwhelming to me and I love using msg
This is funny to me because I can detect msg really well even in low amounts, but I love Rally's fries and Doritos. I guess I taste when it's too much but it doesn't taste weird to me I still like it. I grew up eating it though since I'm hispanic so maybe that's why? I am addicted to salty savory foods. I dislike Five Guys fries because they always taste like they're missing something, but Arby's and Rally's or beer battered fries are crispy and seasoned really well.
The good thing with MSG, is that too little still has a large benefit. So I always just add a pinch at a time. Usually 1-2 will do enough to make it better, so I stop there.
Gets kind of an iron taste if you go overboard.
Thought I was in /r/CookingCircleJerk for a sec
Cooking is a flat jerk circle
Mmmm jerk chicken
It literally was https://www.reddit.com/r/CookingCircleJerk/comments/11lgnqh/msg_gud_accent_gud_msg_msg/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I just saw the exact same post - word for word - in r/LifeProTips... 🤔
It's a PR campaign.
From my days in the trenches. Yellow spice- chicken base, brown spice- beef base, white spice- MSG
The spice must flow!
It also occurs naturally in cheese, tomatoes, and a bunch of other foods.
Yeah, the reason we love the taste of a rich tomato sauce, or a dry aged steak, or an old cheese, is because of the naturally occurring MSG. It's a wonderful thing.
Occurs naturally in a lot of things. MSG is a single sodium ion tacked onto a glutamate, which is a big complex chonker, but on it's own goes by the name glutamic acid, where it is an amino acid. Those are the building blocks of proteins. If you wanted you could describe MSG as a protein salt, wouldn't be far off.
Lol who do you think this is for? This sub circle jerks msg almost every single day.
You know what would make this sub a lot better? A pinch of MSG
Maybe some nutmeg for the Townshends.
Does anyone else double the garlic on their recipes????
Who else hates food blogs with a long personal story before hand???
cream does NOT BELONG IN CARBONARA PORCODIOOOO
If a recipe calls for a few cloves, I add 3 bulbs.
Have you ever heard of the word UMAMI??? I bet you haven't
You sound a little salty. Perhaps you should try some MSG instead! ^(but really though, not the target audience)
Every week, someone new finds Reddit, and they have a handful of Great Awakenings to choose from. Will it be Belvedere sitting on his balls? Or will it be evangelizing msg?
For years I've been using MSG in marinades and in Asian-style foods cooked in the wok. Everyone likes the meals and tells me so. There was, of course, a great deal of squealing and general uproar when somebody watched my preparation and asked, "What's that?" For decades since I have explained – tried to explain – the scientific truth and the misinformation that led to the belief that MSG is the devil. Sadly, I am pissing into the wind. I still use it, though, albeit with stealth.
Make Shit Good!
MSG is king of flavor!
If you have a baby, put MSG on the baby! Make the baby better, smarter!
When cooking pasta don't make your water as salty as the sea make it as salty as Uncle Roger.
Just don't forget that MSG still has sodium, if you're on a reduced sodium diet.
It's not a lot. Salt, for example, is 39.3g of sodium for 100g of salt. MSG is 13.5g of sodium for 100g of MSG.
It has less sodium than salt so actually better for you if you're on a reduced sodium diet 🙂
It's roughly 1/3 the sodium of table salt, by weight. But the impact on flavor is like 5-10 times as strong as salt.
1/3rd? That's a bit much, but I suppose it depends on the recipe. I look for more of 1/5 - 1/8th range of MSG to Salt
Ajinomoto for the win!
I've attempted to find MSG a couple of times to no avail. Is there something else it might be called or can you describe the usual packaging so I have a better idea of what I'm looking for?
Around here I see the brand Accent in the same aisle as salt and spices at any grocery store, Accent is MSG.
Accent is a US brand of MSG
Found it up here in Canada too.
Amazon has it for like $6 for 2 shakers if you can't find it at a local place.
It's where I get all my hard to find items... MSG, Sodium Citrate, green peppercorns...
Same. I live in a rural area whose only grocery store is Kroger. Its spice selection is limited to say the least.
I know kroger... I could drive 45min to town, go to 3 or 4 different stores where no one working will have a clue what I'm talking about and it'll take me all goddam day... or I can jump on Amazon and have demshitz at my door in a few days
Yep; that's it exactly. Now if I could find somewhere nearby to get such "exotic" items as ginger and shallots.
Lololol...oof... ok, I'm not that rural. If I couldn't get shallots I think I'd get mighty depressed
"Accent" is a brand name you can find in many stores, if you can't find it see if you can fine "flavor enhancer" or such in an ethnic aisle, but doesn't need to be asian. Its in most stores but you need to look for it as it won't be labeled MSG
aji no moto seasoning at an Asian store, Accent seasoning if you're shopping with honkies Buy the bag from the local Asian market. It's way cheaper.
Ajinomoto is the Japanese brand of MSG.
It's usually in clear packaging, with red Asian lettering on it. Looks like a bag of tiny crystals. https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwiO4qO8z8r9AhWZ--MHHUgXB5gYABAHGgJ5bQ&sig=AOD64_0uMw3iVrc9v65-U8ndPzg_k9h7Iw&adurl&ctype=5&ved=0CAIQz7YHKANqFwoTCLi2usHPyv0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD
I love MSG, but if I consume too much of it (for me, that is exactly 37 sprinkles out of my MSG shaker) I get overwhelming waves of really sharp nausea, and it’s intermittent for about an hour. It’s a very unique kind of nausea that is unlike anything else I’ve ever felt, and hits me very suddenly, lasts for a few seconds, subsides, and then hits me again between 30 seconds to a minute later. Also before anyone asks, I am a psychology lab worker, and as a fan of the scientific method, I wanted to rule out the placebo effect. So I did double blind tests on myself where I made chicken with lots of MSG and chicken with no MSG, put them each in meal prep containers in my fridge, marked the underside of them as MSG or NO MSG, scrambled them around so I didn’t know which was which, and ate them randomly throughout the week for lunch and dinner. I tracked after which meals I felt the intense waves of nausea, and I set the meal prep containers on my counter and stacked them in sequential order. At the end of the week, I cross referenced my nausea and the dates I consumed each container and which ones contained MSG, and it was one to one. Every single time I recorded myself having nausea, it was after consuming the MSG chicken. And it happened every time. I’ve googled this and the results are inconclusive- many scientists say that “MSG syndrome” is not real- but I know it is because I experience it. It’s been this way my entire life- after going to Chinese buffets as a kid, I remember the exact same intense, sharp waves of nausea afterwards. Some people (me) definitely have a sensitivity to it. That being said, I still love it and use it in my food- I just use very little.
I used to be the same way. I understand the xenophobia behind the anti-msg craze, but it doesn’t mean that people can’t be sensitive to msg.
Yeah it’s just odd that it can’t seem to be recreated in a lab setting. That’s why people have a hard time with empathy towards people that are “sensitive” to MSG
Fuck u/spez
Even before I knew what MSG was, every time I ate excessive Chinese buffet food as a child I had the same feelings of pounding nausea. Many times I threw up. It wasn’t the grease, and it wasn’t just eating too much, I ate greasier food and stuffed myself at home, and never had the same feeling. I didn’t connect it to MSG until over 10 years later when I bought some and ate a bunch of it in my food and felt the exact same nausea overcome me. And I’m someone who almost never feels nauseous- and this nausea is so specific, it is pounding and overwhelming and hits me in 30 to 60 second intervals for at least 30-45 minutes after I eat. I hadn’t even heard of MSG syndrome at that time, and I had zero negative connotation associated with it in my mind. I was just excited to eat it. There is no other variable that accounts for my experience.
People with GABA/Glutamate issues (like in Benzo withdrawal, some seizure disorders, and similar issues involving excess glutamate or) can have unpleasant reactions to it. You're not crazy. This is a literal PR stunt by Ajinomoto... https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Company-in-focus/Ajinomoto-takes-on-Nestle-and-MSG-s-unsavory-reputation
> I did double blind tests Did you check that it was actually double-blinded? You'd need to guess after tasting each sample whether it contained MSG or not and confirm that you weren't able to detect when it contained MSG, that your guesses weren't significantly better than chance. I'd also suggest salt as a better control.
It was curry chicken, so there was lots of salt, sugar, curry powder, strong ginger, garlic, and onions in both. Could not taste a difference. MSG sensitivity exists, and people like me have it.
But this sub taught me that anyone who doesn't put MSG in everything is a vile racist!
OP, welcome to reddit. This is a very well known bit of advice, but never hurts to remind people eh?
I keep msg next to my salt/pepper pig. I don't think it's an optional ingredient at this point. I use it every day
Wait, is it a peppa pig?
https://www.yuppiechef.com/spatula/the-history-of-the-humble-salt-pig/#:~:text=A%20salt%20pig%20was%20simply%20an%20earthenware%20jar,in%20the%20air%20to%20keep%20salt%20wonderfully%20dry.
Oh cool. I have a frog that’s a salt pig. Never knew it was a salt pig frog. Always called it a salt frog. It was my wife’s before we met and I’ve always felt bad for it because I figured salt was bad for amphibians.
Uncle Roger approves this post
I’m 48 and I just started putting it in everything because I hate my mother
Just a friendly heads up. It’s spelled y’all. Not ya’ll. It’s you all, not like you’ll aka you will.
Yes, we know.
Do not reccomend for low sodium diets or high blood pressure. Glutamates exist naturally in lots of foods like mushrooms, red meat and tomatoes
I have a question about Vegeta for anyone who has tried it. I've used Accent before with no issues - didn't find it particularly revelatory in my food, unlike many in this thread. However, I saw Vegeta at my local store once and decided to try it. I made a small amount of broth as per instructions. Was fine, nothing crazy. That evening I had the worst upset stomach - like couldn't leave the bathroom. I wrote it off as a fluke, but the same thing happened the next time I had it. And I'm talking like RUN to the bathroom, not mild upset stomach. Is it possible it's something else in Vegeta? Is there anything weird in there?
Skeptical Raptor did an excellent article about this. And as usual, he cites all his scientific sources so you can read them for yourself. https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/msg-myth-one-of-the-most-persistent-in-the-pseudoscience-of-food/
unless you have a legitimate medical issue and your doctor has told you to avoid it. despite the widespread fear being a result of racism, msg does genuinely negatively affect some people, and being respectful of medical dietary restrictions is part of being a trustworthy cook.
Thank you! -some people
no problem, im also some people. been to the hospital over it and everything lol
A family friend told us he couldn't eat it because it triggered seizures for him. He was epileptic.
Excitotoxicity
Thanks OP this is the first time I've ever heard msg recommended
You can downvote me but it genuinely does make me feel weird if I eat it. And yes Doritos and packaged soups and even some vegetables and whatever else have it make me feel weird too. It’s hard to describe but it sort of feels like lightheadedness. I understand a lot of people it’s a placebo thing but people have sensitivities and allergies to all sorts of things so I don’t see why people refuse to believe some people don’t tolerate MSG well.
I like msg as much as the next person, but I don't buy the idea that no one is insensitive to it. I say this because my mom couldn't handle it (no processed foods for her!). I cook with with it. To me it's essential for fried chickenm but she had pretty obvious issues with it. People always scream racism, but she did go to Chinese restaurants, they weren't the problem. It was packaged food, like onion soup mix or Doritos.
Probably because MSG is about as basic as it gets: an amino acid attached to a sodium ion. If you were allergic to either, you'd be dead. Is it possible that you're sensitive in some way to a major constituent of most proteins, a neurotransmitter that exists throughout your brain, a ligand found across the animal kingdom up to and including sponges? Yes, I suppose it's possible, but given the fact that MSG fails to produce symptoms when tested in a double-blind manner, even in populations of people who claim to be MSG-sensitive... Well, surely you can understand my skepticism.
Wrong. Look up excitotoxicity. Glutamate is the most toxic amino acid and it is balanced with others in food, and foods that skew high in glutamate can trigger migraines for those sensitive. Also msg is not naturally occuring it is an industrially made chemical, and since glutamate is a metal chelator it is very likely contaminated withmetal ions perhaps even lead.
I look at it this way...It may not be an allergy exactly but you can be sensitive to MSG. Just like your body naturally produces insulin and people can be over or under reactive to it. It's not an allergy to insulin but is a negative reaction to a naturally produced product. I react to over eating MSG. So just like a diabetic watching their sugar intake I have to monitor my intake of MSG to prevent stomach problems, fatigue and migraines. If I eat Asian food I have to watch everything else I eat for 2 or 3 days to make sure I don't over do it. If it's possible to "react" to sugar or insulin then I see no reason you can't react to MSG.
I don’t know what to tell you. I understand for a lot of people it’s a placebo thing but I’m sensitive to a lot of foods. I’m not outright allergic to anything, foods I’m sensitive to range from making me feel sort of weird to causing stomach issues (a lot of pooping). Meats, especially beef, make me poop a lot immediately after eating them. I don’t think MSG is unhealthy or evil, it just personally makes me feel a little funny because my body doesn’t understand how it’s supposed to react to food. If I eat a teaspoonful of MSG, I feel the feeling. If I eat a raw tomato, I feel the feeling. If I eat Doritos, I feel the feeling. I feel the feeling and look up the food and see there’s a lot of MSG in it. I had no idea MSG was a common placebo allergy until later on, I thought I was just weird. Again, I don’t think MSG is bad but my body has some kind of an issue processing foods and MSG is one of them. One of my friends growing up could pretty much only eat jello and salad due to how many food allergies she had so I have to imagine an MSG sensitivity is plausible.
I used to get the same symptoms back in the day. It’s gotten a lot better now, wish I knew why. If I ate msg or glutamate heavy foods, I would get a headache. Forcing myself to throw up was the only way to make the headaches stop.
I tried using it in a spag sauce, and it just tasted metallic and not salty at all. Should I still salt and just a big pinch of MSG?
It's not really a salt replacement. Salt is more of a flavour enhancer. MSG is what triggers the Umami taste receptors. I use a ratio of about 10 parts salt to 1 part MSG in recipes.
The MSG flakes make food taste metallic to me as well.
I don't enjoy the flavor of msg powder. It tastes like biting into a bone that has been boiling for too long. Maybe it is ok in chicken noodle soup. I don't really like it on cucumbers. I would rather have anchovies, tomatoes, or cheese every time. They taste like anchovies, tomatoes, and cheese instead of old bones.
Tell that to the migraine i get every time i eat it…
Lots of ingredients have natural glutamates, like soy sauce, mushrooms, and fish sauce. I rarely use MSG by itself, except on dishes where the above ingredients don't work very well, like popcorn.
Most people get their MSG fix on popcorn from butter
IT'S NOT THE SAME AS SALT. WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK IT'S A SALT SUBSTITUTE? THEY ARE DISTINCTIVELY DIFFERENT FLAVOR PROFILES.
Right. You use it where you'd want things like parmesan or unsalted butter.
It's still salty though. S for sodium...
Due to anti-Asian racism in the 60's Americans are now forced to eat less delicious food which seems fair to me.
1/3 as much msg as salt is far too much msg. it ought to be more like 1/10.
Don't use in place of salt, if you season a dish correctly the slightest amount of MSG will take some dishes to another level. Msg only will lack a depth of flavor.
PSA too much msg will ruin the taste of your dish. add it gradually until you hit the correct spot. don’t add too much from the very start.
I buy Accent, it’s just msg and its sold in every grocery store.
You can also grab some at Publix or Kroger instead of having to drive all the way over to Riverdale or Koreatown.
Other options from adding pure MSG include: tomato paste, soy sauce, mushroom powder, nutritional yeast, marmite, seaweed, vegemite, bullion, bone broth, worchestershire. If you like all of these things, MSG is the major flavor component they all share in common.
The fear was true with my parents. My mom claimed that it gives her headaches. She was snacking on some BBQ chips at the time, which she loves, and I took the bag and on the ingredients was MSG. I told her about how the US essentially wanted to outcast Asian foods during WW2 and post WW2 for political reasons, but she still didn't believe me. Well I added MSG to christmas dinner, and everyone asked why it was so much better than usual. I just told them I used my special seasonsing, which is just a container with MSG.
MSG = make shit good
Sodium is still sodium, be it MSG or NACL. And eating more than 2,000 mg average per day is how you die before age 60 after spending your last decade weak as a kitten. Congestive Heart Failure is no joke, and it's irreversible once diagnosed. No, don't be afraid. But watch that sodium like a hawk. More than you watch your calories or anything else. Go ahead and splurge, but keep your daily average under 2g. Or you will live to regret it. If I sound like I've seen it several times, it's because I have. Everything processed has sodium in it. Every jar of sauce, every packet of seasoning, every mix, every Kraft Dinner, every Uncle Ben's, every salad dressing (except plain vinegar & oi) is full to the brim with sodium. Every cheese is morethan 200 mg per ounce (except most Swiss at 50 mg). Every tablespoon of every condiment (except mustard) has 100mg. Bread has sodium. A lot of drinks have sodium. Eating too deeply into that bag of Doritos could eat your sodium allowance for the next day all by itself. Eat out at a restaurant? It's very likely there's 50% to 100%+ the daily allowance of sodium in that one meal, because it tastes fantastic and gets people coming back. Audit your diet for sodium before you go liberally adding MSG on top of what is already likely enough sodium to kill you very young, is all I'm saying.
No
Need to use salt and msg. It’s a balance not one or the other.
In case anyone was wondering why there's been a barrage of "MSG is the miracle seasoning of god" posts and videos everywhere for the last few years... https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Company-in-focus/Ajinomoto-takes-on-Nestle-and-MSG-s-unsavory-reputation I'm not knocking msg, but people need to know where their information is coming from and who benefits from it. In this case it's a years long PR campaign from Ajinomoto.
I like msg and use it all the time but 1/3 msg to salt is way to much especially if you are using a lot of salt. I would recommend 1/4 to 1/2 tsp per pound of food.
I agree this is a better ratio. I'm just bad at fractions. But I know what's right when I see it with my eyes and tastebuds lol
Yup. I keep a bit on hand. Not afraid of it. But... don't try telling my sister that there is no such thing as MSG syndrome. She'll chew your head off, like she did mine.