Maggi Seasoning

[herbacidal]

as long as no roast chickens are involved, I'm on whatever side happens to be winning at the moment. 

Soba

i prefer to be on what side is losing at the moment, so we can start a comeback.

[fifi]

maggi is like salty brown colored water.  not much unlike some soy sauce.  agreed. 

kikkoman isn't all *that* bad though, is it?  the stuff from japan is much better than the stuff from WI, imo.

Yeah. In my mind the good stuff is for dipping but the grocery store stuff works just fine for adding a bit of umami. That is how Maggi is used in Mexico. I have never had it used so that you could really tell it is there.

(UH OH! I just realized that I am agreeing with tommy. )

[Nick]

I guess this got started over at Suzanne's foodblog when she said she was happy to finally finish off the last of the Maggi Seasoning that Suvir had recommended and I piped up that I like Maggi. So here we are.

I do like Maggi, but haven't been able to find it locally in years. It is not a true soy sauce, Shoyu or Tamari. It is it's own thing and should be appreciated (or despised) on its own merits - or demerits. I use it when I'm trying to approximate something Chinese, where Tamari or other soy sauces just don't have the flavorful "kick" to them to get the job done. I am definitely one of those who thinks Maggi has a place in the cabinet.

Thanks to Fat Guy for the link. From that I discovered that a local supermarket now carries it. Maybe it helped that I was in there a year or so ago when I went on a manic Maggi hunt and hit every store within twenty miles. In every one I described what it was and it looks like one found it. Such is the spell of Maggi Seasoning.

Thanks also to Dave for bringing back the old Cabrales chicken cooking thread. One of the most memorable in eGullet history.

[fifi]

Oh good... I can blame all of this on you.

[Suzanne F]

I wear a 38C.

. . . oops, wrong thread.

[Jinmyo]

OK... A parallel...

There is the 50 year old balsamic vinegar and then there is the Colavita that you buy at the grocery.

Likewise, there is the REALLY good stuff (yes, I have some) that is made in small batches by true artisans (in a hollow tree for all I know). Then there is the Kikkoman that you buy at the grocery. For all practical purposes, it is the Kikkoman that gets used the most in most kitchens and we still call it "soy sauce".

Maggi is like the grocery store Kikkoman and quite similar in taste.

Kikkoman is made from soybeans, wheat and salt. It's good stuff, well made. Not artisinal, but it doesn't need to be. Shoyu is very simple to make and just requires time.

Maggi is a chemical brew.

China Lilly or stuff like that is so nasty it contains "caramel colouring." Perhaps Maggi is as nasty as that.

The distance between balsamico tradionizale and balsamic vinegar is not the same as that between shoyu and Maggi. The former are two very different but related things. The latter is more like the difference between a simple, elegant, and profoundly flavourful ingredient and a cheap and nasty delivery system for MSG.

(I love MSG.)

But if you like or even love Maggi, that's just great. You're a lovely person and if you love Maggi then it is loveable too because you love it. But that doesn't mean it's edible to me, just as you aren't.

How's that?

[fifi]

ARG!

Warning: [science geek coming out of the closet.]

All of these things are chemical brews. Maggi doesn't have MSG as an ingredient but it is probably there. The predominate flavor components in these sauces are salts, typically sodium, of amino acids. For example, MSG is a single-molecule-of-sodium-salt of glutamic acid. The amino acids come from hydrolysed plant proteins (or animal in the case of fish sauce). I suspect that enzymes are used in the commercially made types. In the really good stuff, the hydrolysis is accomplished by a natural fermentation, still enzymes but from friendly microbes. Now, the natural fermentation adds other flavor notes from the fermentation organisms, and usually phenolic compounds from the lignins in the vegetable matter, and some assorted ketones and esters that are waste products from the microbes. (Bug poop?) That gives the naturally processed sauces a richness and depth of flavor. But all of that is wasted if you put a few drops in a soup, sort of like using some exotic sea salt to boil pasta. But where the sauce is a main flavor component, the good stuff rules.

[/science geek returning to closet.]

[Jinmyo]

Arg!

The other flavour notes, the depth, the subtlety, indeed the very taste if you will is the

whole

and

entire

point.

Arg!

Rar!

Kfl!

Urghh.

URghh.

URGGGHHH!!!

/cough cough

[fifi]

[Human Bean]

Kikkoman is made from soybeans, wheat and salt.

[smartass]

That's the second time in a few hours that you've said that. I could be wrong, but I think that shoyu typically also contains water.

[/smartass]

Maggi is nasty, but if someone happens to like it, they're welcome to it; my not having it means more for you.

[tommy]

[smartass]

That's the second time in a few hours that you've said that. I could be wrong, but I think that shoyu typically also contains water.

[/smartass]

water is for tourists.

[Human Bean]

water is for tourists.

Steak!

(Sorry, dunno why I said that.)

RICE is for tourists. Water is for tourists that don't know the meaning of the term, "Montezuma's Revenge." Maggi is for tourists in loud polyester Hawaiian shirts, shorts, and socks with sandals.

Edit to remove irrelevant reference to sock color.

Edited August 30, 2003 by Human Bean (log)

[Suzanne F]

Well, I for one am thrilled that fifi is a closet SSB*! Please keep it up, we need your skills. We'll give you all the Maggi you can drink if you keep explaining things so well. Pretty please?

*Smug Scientific Bastard, although she is neither smug nor a bastard (other title holders weren't, either )

BTW: I had a gorgeous iridescent green beetle poop in my hand recently. It was even more of a surprise than when a frog peed on me.

[Nick]

While we're at it, how is "Maggi" pronounced?

[Nick]

BTW: I had a gorgeous iridescent green beetle poop in my hand recently. 

Did you burst any seams in that 38c?

[fifi]

I pronounce it and have always heard it pronounced with a hard "g" like you would maggie as in maggiethecat. (Though she would probably not want to be associated with this thread.)

I would be honored to be recognized as an (a?) SSB. All of the adjectives fit.

[Jinmyo]

"Maggi" is pronounced as "Spam".

[Nick]

Spam marinated in Maggi and broiled to perfection. Just for you Jin.

[Human Bean]

Kikkoman is made from soybeans, wheat and salt.

Another go at this (largely unrelated to Maggi, but anyway...):

If you take the beans and salt, throw out the wheat, add maybe a bit of the (apparently optional ) water, and that yummy bug poop, you get dow see, Chinese fermented black beans, more-or-less.

It's not soy sauce (and certainly not Maggi), but probably another umami fellow traveller.

Edited August 30, 2003 by Human Bean (log)

[Suzanne F]

Nick: now THAT made me burst a seam!

Fermented black beans good Maggi bad

Edited August 30, 2003 by Suzanne F (log)

[Peter B Wolf]

Julius Michael Johannes Maggi born 9. Oktober 1846 in Frauenfeld / CH

The following page/site is in German

http://www.maggi.ch/de/aboutus/history.asp

“at the end of 1884: das erste industriell hergestellte Leguminosenmehl auf den Markt gebracht wird. (the very first manufactured basic ‘flour’ of “Leguminose” is marketed.

In 1886 the first liquid Maggi , still famous, shape and looks of the bottle, was sold.

The taste reminds “Germans” of an herb called ‘Liebstoeckel’ , but it is not present in Maggi

Liebstoeckl (Maggi Kraut): I didn't find an English translation. In Latin it's

called 'levisticum officinale'. It's an umbelliferous plant with

yellowish flowers. Its dried roots are used as spice. It seems to be a

kind of celery. Also called: Garden lovage, Bladder seed, Love Parsley

If you know what the above tastes like, then you know what Maggi tastes.

As a final note, how come no one compares it with “Kitchen Bouquet” ?

I t is definitely so far from any Soya Sauce as Rice Wine Vinegar is from true Balsamico

[sandra]

While we're at it, how is "Maggi" pronounced?

Maggie

[Suzanne F]

As a final note, how come no one compares it with “Kitchen Bouquet” ?

I t is definitely so far from any Soya Sauce as Rice Wine Vinegar is from true Balsamico

Because Kitchen Bouquet at least adds good color, but not much of a bad taste. Whereas Maggi adds little color and a very, very bad taste. However, KB is long since banned from my kitchen (a good wine needs no bush, and a good gravy needs no coloring).

[Nick]

Whereas Maggi adds little color and a very, very bad taste. 

Maybe you've been adding too much.

[fifi]

Whereas Maggi adds little color and a very, very bad taste. 

Maybe you've been adding too much.

Nick is right. You don't use much. For a 2 avocado batch of guac, about 10 drops is all I add. Same is true for a bowl of soup. (Remember, it is added at the table in Mexico.) You can't really taste Maggi but there is a difference in the final guac.

Edited August 31, 2003 by fifi (log)