Does the missing 'secret' ingredient exist?

[Secret Santa]

very surprised by the taste not what i expected (not salty...

Yeah, it only works its magic when it's added to the other ingredients.

[joshallen2k]

Urrrg. Give the Black Salt a miss...

Every time I've used it it has stuck out like a sore (and smelly) thumb.

Chaat Masala is about as much as I can take of the stuff

[JerryM]

i'm now sorted on the "seasoning" difference.

i used msg for the 1st time last night and did not bother with the aromatic salt or black salt (i may try them at some point for interest).

i'd noticed in a few dishes from my local TA (certainly not all) a different taste to my attempts at reproducing them. the difference not being down to ingredient or spice. all i could explain the difference as was "seasoning" yet i've tried varying salt and that is not it.

the msg effect is quite striking. u only need a very small amount (i used a pinch) and feel next time i will use less and even count the no off crystals. i did get up in the night for water but not to the extent from dishes from my local TA.

the effect is like what a loud hailer does for sound. i'm think i can now reduce the amount of salt i use (and probably other ingredients) without a loss in taste.

for something i'd previously discounted i've done a complete u turn. it's not for sure for all dishes though. i made a kashmiri curry and it did not work in that for example. one to try out and experiment with over a few dishes.

[chriswg]

MSG is a strange product as it doesn't taste Sweet, Sour, Bitter or Sweet which are the 4 main areas that our tongue breaks down tastes into. Instead it is the essence of the 5th (relatively unknown) taste Umami.

Courtesy of Wikipedia:

Umami is one of the five generally recognised basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human tongue. Umami is a loanword from Japanese meaning roughly "tasty", although "brothy", "meaty", or "savory" have been proposed as alternative translations.[1][2] The same taste is also known as xiānw?i (traditional Chinese: 鮮味; simplified Chinese: 鲜味 literally "Fresh Flavor") in Chinese cooking. In as much as it describes the flavor common to savory products such as meat, cheese, and mushrooms, umami is similar to Brillat-Savarin's concept of osmazome, an early attempt to describe the main flavoring component of meat as extracted in the process of making stock.

[JerryM]

just a word of caution on the msg. i've tried it a few times now and think even more that it's use is very limited - only for those dishes on the chefs special list.

i've now tried it in madras and did not feel it works well at all.

i intend to try it in korahi or jalfrezi next. my real objective is to use it in a sylhety or maybe even pathia.

it seems to work well with tom puree and coriander but not with coconut. i'm not sure how it will work with green pepper.

u only need a very small amount - i'm currently putting a 2 finger pinch on the palm of my hand and then pinching 1/2 of it.