Go to the Recipe: The Ultimate Umami Seasoning Powder
YES! This makes me so excited! Thank you!
Doooope!
Would starting with dried mushrooms save several steps, or is there something in the DIY version here that is essential to making this work?
What is the white powder you are sprinkling? Did I miss something?
Hello John, You would be adding a step to use dried mushrooms. Soaking the mushrooms and then proceeding with Step 2. The reason for the soaking is that dried mushrooms are raw and will need some cooking. Marry the soaked and sliced mushrooms with the rest of the ingredients and proceed. Dehydrating everything together will make the final powder uniform in flavor and more complex than just buzzing up dried mushrooms.
The powder is the Himalayan salt added in Step 8.
so I made this last night and it is absolutely amazing. I am curious however, could it be done with freeze dried components instead of dehydrated? like if you roasted everything at 400 and then freeze dried it from that would it be the same?
You'll end up with the same thing. Freeze drying is usually used where structure is to be maintained. You freeze dry a grape so you have a dried grape that looks like a grape. If you dehydrate the grape by desiccation ( using the sun or a dehydrator ) you get a raisin. However, if you intend to grind up that dried grape it makes no difference how you do it.
Other options for making into a powder? Will a high end blender work?
Hi guys can you explain what is nutritional yeast? I live in Italy and I’m not sure what I should search for in local shops.
L_i_evito alimentare in scaglie. Most of the health food stores like NaturaSi should carry it and most oftof big superchains, like Esselunga or Tigros (northern Italy), La Coop (central Italy) or Conad (southern Italy)
Grant's email introducing this recipe said this is "vegan-friendly" but if you use the recommended Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, which has anchovies, it is not so friendly. I have a friend who can't eat fish so I searched for a good tasting Worcestershire sauce and found that Annie's Organic Worcestershire Sauce is a good tasting, vegan alternative.
I have been making something similar for years. I blend up dried shitake mushrooms in a blender making a fine powder, I mix with red pepper flakes, onion powder, garlic powder and pulse in the blender again with salt and pepper to taste. I am looking forward to adding the nutritional yeast. the Worcestershire sauce can be added to a dish so I think it more versatile to leave it out. I am going to try dehydrating the fresh vegetables as per your recipe and adding other mushrooms. We use this in everything.
I think I am going to try adding dried anchovies instead of the Worcestershire
Thank you so much Dan!
Looks cool. Gonna try it. May I recommend you omit the salt. Apply the salt separately. Salt penetrates, the rest will not. Salt should be applied based on weight, flavorings based on surface area. So you will need less salt for a slab of ribs than a pork butt, but the other ingredients may be about the same. There are many other reasons to leave salt out of a rub (some meats, like turkey, are injected with salt), kosher meat is salted. Read more here https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/spice-rubs-and-pastes/science-rubs
Let us know how it turns out for you. We developed this one more as an umami finishing seasoning and it would certainly need some adjustments as a rub. Love the resource and recommend it for any one to check out.
Looks awesome! My mind immediately wants to use fermented cremini
This looks great but I really have to take issue with the Himalayan salt requirement. The trace elements in it are minuscule and add nothing to the flavour profile. If you're after a touch of sulphur, then black salt is the way to go. Just a little though, mixed with regular salt, otherwise it will reek like a school science experiment 😁
Thinking about using my pellet smoker for the roast/dehydration. Any thoughts about that? Will smoke overwhelm?
Paul this sounds amazing! What types of dishes are you using this on? Would you share recipe?
So, Can you omit the yeast without drastically changing the end result given it is only 2 grams?
It will certainly change the flavor and impact of the final recipe. But if you have to omit it you will still have a great product.
Totally agree. I made this without the salt and then add salt to whatever I'm using it on separately and as necessary. (Based upon what I'd learned from you and Prof. Blonder through the years.)
Have you ever tasted the difference between the Worcestershire sauce made and sold here in the US compared to the "Original & Genuine" stuff made and sold in the UK? I'd always thought that the difference was in my imagination until recently, when I ordered the British version from a US purveyor. OMG. The difference is amazing. The UK version gives a much bigger umami burst than that made in the US. This is all that I'm using from now on. Suggest you all try it! Cheers
I have made this twice now and is a serious staple for our home now. I have also gifted it to a few close friends. Yummy!!!! Thank you
Thanks for sharing the tip, I hadn't considered that.
Let’s say we want to use this for sous vide steak. Would you recommend using the seasoning during the cook? Would you add it before searing? Or would you add at the end like a finishing salt? With the ingredients already roasted, my initial thoughts are they would burn and turn bitter if added before a sear. Thoughts?
There’s also Henderson’s Relish which is a similar product made in Sheffield (UK)... but that’s vegan because they don’t use anchovies. Some would say it’s superior...
What are your thoughts on replacing the mushrooms? There is an individual I live with who is allergic. Would like to try this, but potentially putting her in the hospital isn't worth it. It might not be doable, but figured I'd float the question out there anyway.
Thanks!
So, the recipe ingredients include 15g canola oil, but the video does not show it. I added it to the veggies before roasting. After dehydrating 13-14 hours, there was still a light film of oil on the veggies, although the veggies themselves were certainly dehydrated. The ground powder is a little clumpy because of the residual oil (even though I blotted off as much as I could before grinding). Now I’m afraid the powder will spoil because of the oil. It’s definitely a damp powder - like partially dried beach sand. Next time I will omit the oil.
Hello Kristie, You are correct the video does not show adding the oil. The oil will increase the Maillard reaction. You will notice a color difference in the one previously produced, which had the oil added. I can attest that if stored properly it does not spoil and is dry even after 1 year. It should resemble dry beach sand in the end.
There are a lot of umami powder recipes out there. The one I've made before was Shiitake, bonito and nori.
Personally, I'd just marinade in Red Boat fish sauce before/during sous vide (doing it right now).
And.... an alternative to the dehydrator would be a setting of 180 in the oven for about +6hrs. Yay or nay?
I have some morel, black trumpet, and wood ear dried mushrooms. How do I calculate how much of those to add? Would these substitute for some cremini weight or just add some (after soaking) to the listed ingredients?
Could we substitute this umami powder for salt and SV food with it?
So here's a conundrum I've been trying to solve for a few years now: How do you make this without the use of shrooms? Reason: My husband is allergic to them but I would love to make something along these lines -- I have MSG & don't mind using it but there must be another possibility out there than just mushrooms?
Sure can!
Hi there, all of those would work and be super good. But we still would recommend soaking them, use the weights of the hydrated mushrooms after you have squeezed out excess water, and follow the same steps as if they were the raw mushrooms. You want to get some roast and cook on them otherwise you are just adding in powdered raw dried mushrooms. The roast will help add flavor.
Absolutely. I don't have a recommended time for how long it will take but just keep and eye on it so you don't burn anything.
You could try asparagus, rutabaga or cabbage, peas, carrots or even sweet potatoes. Those vegetables pack umami, especially when roasted. Let us know how it turns out.
Oh hey, thanks! I'll give that a try! Any suggestions on amountss, or just try using the same as the shrooms?
Swap out those shrooms.
Would the end results be different if freeze dried instead of dehydrated?
That will work out for you, how ever you still need to do the roasting step before you freeze-dry. Also you will want to store the finished product with a silica packet or in a vacuum sealed container.
Thank you!
What could I use as a substitute for the peppers.
I have an allergy to peppers.
Hi Charlie, the peppers are really just there for a little bit of spice, you can add what ever ingredient you normally like to add spice to your dishes. Black pepper, or white pepper can be a nice addition.
Just made. Delish (and better than the lucky peach savory salt, shhh)!
Hi. Is it possible to replace cremini mushroom with fresh shitake mushroom instead? Its pretty hard to find cremini mushrooms in asian regions. Thanks for your time in replying!
Kyl and Grant, another great recipe! Curious if you tried kombu or other sea vegetables in the mix at any point? They wouldn't have the sugar and starch issues Grant mentions in his video about other possible glutamic acid sources, and they're generally already dried so seemed like an easy thing to try? Thanks. Also curious if you've tried to dehydrate oven roasted or sundried tomatoes?
Hi BBE from another Boston area guy. I'm playing around with bonito, kombu, mushroom and yeast powders today. I have a bunch of nori sheets but didn't grind them up yet. Also have some wakame and arame that I could grind up. Did you experiment with any other sea veggies other than nori?
For sure Calvin! Any fresh mushroom will work. Shiitakes tend to have deeper flavor than most mushrooms and will concentrate when dried.
Hello Rick, adding wakame definitely works here and adds another dimension along side everything with that ocean flavor. Not sure about adding the tougher kombu. Tomatoes are notoriously hard to dry to a crisp because of the sugar content.
Fantastic, thanks! I just happen to have some wakame handy, so off to the grinder I go! I did grind up some kombu quite easily yesterday, so gonna try both and some arame I have as well. Wonder if nitro-freezing the tomatoes would work instead? I've seen some tomato crystals listed in a few places but not sure how or where they might have been made/bought. Thanks again!
I thought after a year, you would have put it in the instructions when to add the oil I read it over several times and at no step does it say to add the oil. Since it is just for the maillard effect, I lightly sprayed the spread out mixture before roasting some canola spray, applying to the surface only. We will see.
Can you add a couple of tips? I have the Breville 900 Smart oven, predecessor to your Joule version, so I have nearly all the features. There are convect and super convect settings. In dehydration mode for this recipe, use convect or super convect? Or does it not matter? I saw something about high fan setting, but did not know what oven you were referring to. I thought you would have used the Breville terminology.
After roasting (I did use my conventional oven with convection since it was already hot from baking muffins) I noticed items that were untouched because they were under something. So I stirred it around and gave it a few more minutes. When I opened the oven door, my glasses got hit with a blast of steam so I know more water was being released. Should this be another step?
Hello John, for dehydrating you will use the super convection (high fan) mode on the oven. You can stir or not stir. The roasting adds a little depth from the Maillard reaction and the dehydration will go in between any space untouched. Adding the oil to the mushroom mix before roasting will help with adding color while preventing off flavors from high heat dehydration(roasting). The other alternative is to leave the oil out and just dehydrate the whole mix.
