On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 13:58:24 -0500, "James Silverton"
<not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not> wrote:

> blake wrote on Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:52:15 GMT:
>
> ??>> "blake murphy" > wrote in message
> ??>> ...
> ??>>> On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:55:32 -0600, Steve Wertz
> ??>>> > wrote:
> ??>>>
> ??>>>> On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:54:47 -0500, ian wrote:
> ??>>>>
> ??>>>>> Continuing my one-man monitoring of Fuchsia Dunlop's
> ??>>>>> writings, here she is endorsing, gasp!!, the use of
> ??>>>>> MSG.
> ??>>>>
> ??>>>> Good article. What, exactly, did you find wrong with
> ??>>>> it?
> ??>>>>
> ??>>>> -sw
> ??>>>
> ??>>> do folks here have strong feelings pro or con on the use
> ??>>> of msg? i usually use it when it's called for (more
> ??>>> often, of course, in japanese recipes) and don't if it's
> ??>>> not. should i be jamming it into meat loaf? (i just
> ??>>> bought a pound of the stuff - at this rate, several
> ??>>> lifetimes' supply. still cheaper than a canister of
> ??>>> ac'cent.)
> ??>>>
> ??>>> your pal,
> ??>>> blake
> ??>>>
> ??>> I've been making Japanese food for a couple decades and
> ??>> have never used msg. None of my relatives in Japan do
> ??>> either. During the 1960s when I was a little kid, a bottle
> ??>> of "ajinomoto" was always found on the table next to the
> ??>> soy sauce. I havent seen any for quite some time even
> ??>> though I know it still exists and is sold in stores. I
> ??>> look at quite a number of recipes in Japanese magazines
> ??>> and books and never find Ajinomoto (msg) listed as
> ??>> a recipe ingredient. Take my word for it, you don't need
> ??>> msg to make good Japanese dishes. The whole idea
> ??>> of ajinomoto (msg) was to reproduce the "umami" that comes
> ??>> from amino acids. If you use traditional dashi ingredients
> ??>> like Konbu, it comes naturally. Musashi
> ??>>
> bm> msg is a little easier for me to get a hold of than konbu.
> bm> (i'm a sissy - what can i say? when i use dashi, i make
> bm> the powdered stuff from a jar.)
>
>Judging by the amounts and varieties on the shelves of my
>favorite Japanese grocery, Japanese people use prepared dried
>stocks too! You can even find Hon Dashi in my favorite *Chinese*
>supermarket: Kam Sen in Rockville, MD. Kam Sen does not let
>ethnic correctness stand in the way of pleasing the customers;
>they've got Phillipino and Vietnamese stuff too and I usually
>buy miso imported from Japan there. The only Japanese condiment
>that I have not found there is Tonkatsu sauce.
>
>By the way, did you know that Pakistanis call MSG Chinese Salt?
>
>James Silverton
>Potomac, Maryland

i will have to check out kam sen, since it's not far from me (silver
spring, md.) lotsa stuff, hey? any idea if it's near a metro stop?

your pal,
blake