Maggi sauce

[torolover]

Which Maggi sauce do you recommend for Thai/Vietnamese cooking? I saw one that is imported from Europe, and another one from Asia.

Thanks!

[liuzhou]

Why would you want to use Maggi sauce in Thai or Vietnamese cooking?

[Okanagancook]

I have recipes for Thai cookery that call for Golden Mountain Sauce and the book states that the nearest substitute would be "a Swiss product called Maggi Seasoning or, in Europe, Maggi Arome - a well established product of which, I do beloeve, the Golden Mountain Sauce is a copy"

[liuzhou]

Golden Mountain Sauce is nothing like Maggi sauce. GMS is basically soy cause with a bit of sugar and some salt which does mean it tastes different.

Maggi sauce contains no soy. Or anything very much what I'd want to eat or pay for. It is water, salt, wheat gluten, wheat, and less than 2% of wheat bran, sugar, acetic acid, artificial flavor, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, dextrose, caramel color.

Edited January 11, 2013 by liuzhou (log)

[Okanagancook]

Charmaine Solomon is the author of the cookbook I was referring to and in her opinion it is "the nearest substitute" for those of us who can't get Golden Mountain Sauce. So to answer torolover's question about whether to buy the European or Asian Maggi, Charmaine Solomon would recommend the European version.

[liuzhou]

I would recommend using neither.

[Florida]

Maggi seems fairly common in Vietnamese cuisine and I've seen many varieties of it on sale in the local Vietnamese grocery store. I know it is used throughout Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen . Personally, I don't think a Bahn mi could be made without it.

As to the OP's question, not sure what the difference is between Asia/European Maggi. Can't imagine it would make that big of a difference considering how sparingly it is used. (Hell, my bottle says it was made in Mexico!)

[Chris Amirault]

I think that Maggi is suggested as a substitute simply for the umami bomb factor.

[Okanagancook]

Exactly.

[radtek]

I had a Vietnamese-American friend call it Mah-Ghee. Or Maggy... It has to be the Umami factor- sort of a Vegemite crossed with soy sauce and fish-sauce.

[Beebs]

Maggi tastes sort of like liquid Marmite. We always have Maggi in our kitchen, but I've never really used it for actual cooking, just as a condiment. It's absolutely fabulous on boiled and fried eggs, definately an umami bomb!

[annachan]

My grandfather loved Maggi. Used to always have it around when growing up in Hong Kong. I never got into it, always preferred soy sauce. If I remember correctly, we also used it as a condiment for the most part and not for cooking. I have no idea where the ones we got in Hong Kong were made in....

[HungryC]

Maggi is a pretty common Vietnamese Ammerican ingredient, often used on banh mi. It is a table condiment at several Viet restos Near me. It is also the key ingredient in the dish nui Maggi (read about it here on Andrea Nguyens website: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2008/08/vietnamese-garlic-noodles.html ).

[Todd in Chicago]

Which Maggi sauce do you recommend for Thai/Vietnamese cooking? I saw one that is imported from Europe, and another one from Asia.

Thanks!

Interestingly enough, I have found Maggi sauce mostly in Mexican markets in my neighborhoods, and indeed in the cooks kitchen while on vacation in Mexico. I actually recently just bought some from a Mexican market as a recipe I had for poblano mole called for it. I have also found it in an Chinese market near Chinatown here in Chicago. Cheers and good luck!! Todd in Chicago

[rarerollingobject]

I've spent quite a lot of time in Vietnam, and they definitely use Maggi. It's often in the condiment tray on restaurant tables, too.

[liuzhou]

Yes, they use Maggi sauce, but I still think it is not a good substitute for the very different Golden Mountain Sauce.

Maggi sauce is also available in most supermarkets here in southern China, but it isn't used as a substitute for soy sauce here, either.

[radtek]

Golden Mountain Sauce is in my pantry. And it is the least expensive at the market but the best nonetheless. And holds some significant real estate on the shelf. They stock the Maggi along side the soy sauce products IIRC.

One more condiment won't hurt... will it?

[chefian]

I use Maggi in cooking, but very small amounts as it is intense and can over power. I find it called for in a few of the German recipes I use. The eouropean version would be the best substitute, I think.

[ojisan]

I recall that the ingredients differ in Asian and Europe versions. The Made in Germany version that I have contains:

- soy sauce (water, salt, wheat), msg, salt, water, acetic acid, yeast, dextrose, inosine monophosphate, artificial color.

[huiray]

Differences between the various versions - some links:

http://eatdrinknbmerry.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-love-for-maggi-seasoning-sauce-maggi.html

http://www.thekitchn.com/ingredient-spotlight-maggi-sea-91316

http://wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com/2008/02/maggi-seasoning-sauce.html

 

http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2011/12/maggi-seasoning-sauce-substitutes-gluten-free-msg-free.html

 

etc etc.

[shar999]

I use the yellow capped bottle.

[ElsieD]

Mine has a red top and is labelled Maggi HOT. It is the Dutch version.