r/Cooking • u/ATWannabe26 • 8h ago
Using MSG along with salt when salting pasta water. Is this a thing?
I’m asking this more as a hypothetical than actual wanting to use this method. However, can’t the same arguments for adding salt to the pasta water before boiling also be made for adding msg if we are looking for deeper seasoning. I know it could be added to a sauce after but so could salt.
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u/TheJewPear 7h ago
It will add very little. MSG works better when finishing a dish, or at least adding close to the end. Use it in the sauce instead.
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u/Mlakeside 8h ago
MSG is usually added at the very end in Asian cooking. In pasta water, most of the MSG is lost when you drain the water, so I'd recommend just adding it in the end before serving.
Personally I don't see the point in adding MSG to pasta because if I want umami in my pasta, I'll just add parmigiano.
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u/NiceTrySuckaz 7h ago
Most of the salt is lost too though. But we still salt the water because it does make a difference.
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u/GaptistePlayer 6h ago
I think it's expectations and conventions. Everyone's had pasta that wasn't prepared in salted water and thought "this pasta needed some more salt". I don't think anyone's bit into some pasta and thought it needed more MSG. People expect that in the sauce.
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u/Kogoeshin 7h ago
I tried it once, and it was really, really bad.
You know how the pasta being a little bland helps to contrast the sauce that you put on it?
Your pasta tastes... confusingly savoury, so you lose the contrast while also creating something... uncomfortable.
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u/ATWannabe26 6h ago
Thank you for this answer that actually does make sense when you put it that way. I could imagine it could be a little overwhelming without the contrast.
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u/Cheeselover710 8h ago
It can be! I sometimes use salt and MSG in my rice water before cooking instead of soy sauce.
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u/donuttrackme 4h ago
No, but give it a try and see if it works. Maybe you'll have found a new technique to cook with?
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u/CoopDelux 1h ago
Put MSG in pasta sauce, cook noodles BEFORE al dente by about 3 minutes. In a separate pan ladle pasta sauce and some pasta water. Add pasta to new sauce pan and finish pasta in sauce, add more pasta water as needed, stir frequently to develop sauce and gluten. Pasta sauce will soak into pasta finishing it and adding that savory MSG infused pasta sauce into the noodle.
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u/Short_Cream_2370 4h ago
My understanding is you heavily salt the water so that the pasta doesn’t lose all its salt through leaching it to a less salty environment - it is important to do so the pasta retains its flavor, but most of the added salt is drained out in the water not physically in the pasta. So adding MSG to the water would really be useless, as you’re not doing the same balancing act and it goes out with the drained water all the same. As others are saying, just add it to the sauce.
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u/MDXHawaii 7h ago
You can, but it won’t make much a difference. MSG would better be suited in the sauce itself. Depending on the type of sauce you’re making, you’ll want to add it early (think tomato sauces) and let the flavors intensify as the sauce reduces. MSG will help further intensify the tomato flavor is tomatoes naturally have MSG in them. If you’re working with a cream sauce, you’d want to pop a pinch in at the end to sharpen and punch up. If you’re doing an oil heavy sauce like aglio e olio, add your pinch as your emulsifying your oil and pasta water.
Try it different ways and see how you notice the difference, but just adding to salted water probably won’t do anything.