Do you mean sprinkle on after the food is being cooked and right before consumption, like you would do with salt and pepper in a bowl of soup? You would add msg in the food during cooking, not after.JR8 wrote:Not sure about 'sprinkled on'... maybe others know?Brah wrote:I'm glad someone asked this as I had been meaning to. I see something get sprinkled onto food in nondescript dispensers and suspect it.
If you watch a dish being cooked, the chef will often add one or two .5-1.0 teaspoons of white crystal powder into the pan. In the flash of the eye. One is sugar, the other MSG...
Pre-made sauces like oyster sauce are almost all loaded with MSG too...
MSG gives a umami taste, the fifth taste that the human tongue can detect, after sweet, sour, hot, and salty.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-umami.htm
I would describe it as having a tiny hint of sweet, salty and brothy taste. Many dishes won't taste the same if you try to leave it out. I made ramen noodle soup without it and it just does not cut it. It is found in buillon and granular stock flavorings. I love my "umami" and am quite addicted to the taste.
I wonder if Vietnamese pho noodle soup use it in abundance? I always get very thirsty afterwards. Or it could be the sodium.