BonAp food boss Carla Lalli-Music: Not only is MSG okay, it is a core staple in the pantry - most expensive dishes restaurant

Kara Lally music makes all the mistakes you will make in the kitchen.
She will tell you in person that, as the food director of Bon Appetit, she is very good at making mistakes and she will be paid to make mistakes so that you don't have to make mistakes.
Now, the music has written down her first recipe, "where does cooking start: a simple recipe for making you a great chef, in this book, she encourages readers to forget everything we know about cooking (if we do) and start over.
Music, BonAp's Youtube DIY kitchen sensation "Kara made. . . "Join me at Salon studios to talk about her evolution as a chef and the lessons she has learned in managing a home kitchen and a professional test kitchen.
It turns out that you only need less than 10 pots and bowls of pans and a dozen herbs and spices (one of which is msg!
) And some techniques you can go.
Look, it's all in the book.
Now, about MSG.
It turns out that cooking with MSG is cool.
Music in the interview wearing the best navy cover
We all missed the staple food in the core pantry, we swear.
"I grew up in my 80 s in Upper West Side of Manhattan.
You will scream "no MSG "!
"Every time you go to a Chinese restaurant," the music says, because it is known for being very unhealthy and causing serious headaches to all those who dare to eat it.
That's what music says.
"I don't have anything like MSG.
Then you do more research and realize that MSG is a synthetic additive, but it copies what naturally exists in your taste buds, that is, activating your msg receptor, "The Music explains.
"Then I read more books.
I read an article by Harold McKee.
I read something else.
It's kind of like, if you're sensitive to it, then you're sensitive to you, but most people aren't, they think they're sensitive.
In fact, she called for additives to be one of the 15 basic foods in "where cooking starts.
"The transcript is below, or take a look at the episode and watch it when the music rings --
Exactly how to set up a kitchen, you will be excited to cook in it, how much fun it makes BonAp's magic.
Watch our "salon talk" episode here or read the Q & A below for our conversation.
One of the reasons I love the book where cooking starts is that you're not crap.
This is the beginning of no nonsense.
Like, no matter what you have done so far, we will do a lot of different things --
We're going back to shopping, we're going back to technology, we're going back to recipes.
In this recipe, your kitchen will actually be the first thing you change, that's right, that's it. . .
I mean, I think anyone can pick up the book and, if they want, start with the recipe, or start with the technology, just as it should all make sense.
However, for me, the way my kitchen was set up did affect my way of cooking, and I also made a lot of mistakes and did a lot of different ways, so, I think, that's why when I first started I felt like I had done all the way and it was the best way.
Mistakes are great. Sure.
Let's talk about some mistakes.
I'm just not a big meal planner.
Shopping people, I have experienced all these.
When the children were young, we were going to Costco.
There are times when I am preparing for a toddler and a primary school kid and I did spend the whole weekend preparing a lot of meals and distributing them out within a week.
But I went through a lot and realized it's not the time
This also leads to a lot of fear of cooking, because it is in these large batches --
Are we saying, two chickens at a time, or-
Yes, two chickens at a time, or four quarts of meatballs like 5 pounds pieces of meat, or four quarts of soup, or something big is extra, so it's like-
Yeah, it was between shopping and shopping all weekend and then I realized it was something I did for my family so they could eat the meals I made while working in a week, but it's far from the time I spend with them, which also makes cooking not fun, and it takes hours to shop.
So I slowly stopped all of this, and now I really believe that I am a shopping person online.
This is very interesting. . .
This is an innovative thing in the public world.
Facing the cooking project, right. I know.
Many people say, "Are you sure you can ? " But what I want people to do is, what I mentioned in the book is like you're in-
Shopping trips should be for the things you go there in person, which is actually quite different, so either the quality is down or the supply is down.
So, you should decide, seasonal items, and the protein and produce that might look great one day.
A box of Jewish Salt. choose what you want.
It really doesn't matter if you pick it out.
You need to put it in your house.
You can't cook without it, but picking it out isn't a good use of your time.
So, this is where online shopping is combined with this more strategic shopping.
Shopping has changed everything.
My shopping skills are such a mix, that is to find what is today and tomorrow and also take the box home because you run out and there is nothing to do. Totally.
So, I like hybrid systems.
I like today and tomorrow.
After that, I thought about everything. . .
Also, personally, I think what I want to eat on Wednesday may not be what I want to eat on Wednesday.
I have a huge short rib in my fridge that extends from the fridge to the fridge --Oh wow.
And back to the fridge-
Then go back to the fridge and go back to the fridge.
Because I just. .
Too much real estate and money, I can't give up.
But this is really the case. . .
I mean, hopefully that thing is in the fridge now because it goes into the frozen garbage.
I will, too. . .
Because I don't know-
You have to say yes. byeYeah.
In the fridge upstairs, stayed in the fridge for a few days, and then I thought, "Ah, that.
It won't happen this week.
"Then it came back.
I know its ribs are short so you can basically wipe it off.
So, you should do slow roast.
You just need to spray it with salt and pepper.
When you go to bed tonight, put them in the oven at 250 degrees.
Then go to bed.
If it's a little smelly, I'm afraid it might be a little smelly and smelly like old meat.
I mean, old meat. . .
I do like the taste of meat.
I mean, if I wash in the sink. . .
But it's a dangerous game.
We may have food safety bacteria. Yes.
I think we will.
I mean, I'm usually in a safer range than that.
But this is where we are-
Yes, but I have been there. 12-ish. . . . where . . . right. You think . . .
You have a plan and it disappears.
I 've been out for three days.
I'm at Pizzano on Smith Street. Like that place. . . .
I said, "I want sausage and duck breast.
Oh, throw the short ribs in.
"There are also short ribs, the most expensive. Are the ones.
They are also the ones I fear now.
They are suffering.
Part of the practical problem of shopping is also the clearing house.
We are sorting with spices and emotions. . . Now the spice-Yes.
So, this is one of the things I realized, and I dedicate a chapter of this book to salt and pepper because I really believe you will come down. . .
How simple you can do with salt and pepper, life is very good.
I think many home chefs complicate the seasoning section and there are a lot of recipes to tell you to use half a teaspoon of this or that.
People think that if they don't, then they will do something boring or not tasty.
So, you bought four different spices, with half a teaspoon, and then no one ever told you how to use it again.
Then if you read something like Martha Stewart will say after six months throw away all your spices.
So, I have something in my. . .
That's what they said.
There was something in my spice drawer and I realized that I was emotionally attached and it was very interesting.
Like, my husband and his brothers and sisters, ras el hanout, who came back from a trip to London, when I put it together, I thought, it was 10 years ago.
You know what I mean.
Like yesterday.
Like I didn't know how to deal with ras el hanout at the time, I hardly know how to deal with it now.
It's been 10 years.
I recently entered ras el hanout.
This is quite good.
Yes, great.
I should have used it on some meat six or seven years ago.
But I think you will end up with all these things that will never be used.
So, for me, a lot of books are about buying the right amount of stuff and then finishing them, because first of all, when you finish a can of spices, you are satisfied because the spices are not cheap.
But other than that, I know I like it because I use everything.
I know when to use it and I use it a lot and then it becomes part of your cooking instead of having 30 different spices which is a bit like a junk shot.
My Chinese spiced has been used up all the time.
And not on your list. I know.
But that's okay.
You can have your own core.
Something of fennel. . . spices. . . .
I know fennel is at your core. Fennel seed.
Not in your world. . . your food way. No, it is.
No, no, no.
I have ambitions for it and for this reason there are some in it.
So, you have monthly spicesYeah.
I know you wrote this book a long time ago.
Do you remember what we should look?
I can probably get 10 of them off.
MSG is one of them.
That's what I want to say, this argument. I wanna-
Okay, let's go to the middle of the alphabet. Okay. The MSG. Fine. Fine.
Before you deliver the MSG bomb, I tried to get the audience to sympathize with you --Oh, I see.
So, as normal as salt. Yeah. Or fennel. Fennel.
Okay, we're here. We're-
There is also pimenton and blue cheese. Love it. Cayenne-
And berbere pepper, right? Aleppo. Aleppo pepper. Yeah.
I have a few different. . .
I have more spices than I own, but I have to do it. . . I don't know-The 15. Good number.
Force yourself to make some difficult choices.
What is the best number in that magazine editor's opinion. Yeah. 15. Yeah, exactly.
Sounds better than 23. So, MSG. MSG. So, MSG . . .
I grew up in my 80 s in Upper West Side of Manhattan.
MSG is something you scream about every time you go to a Chinese restaurant --Yeah.
So every time we go out for dinner, like Chinese food on Sunday night, we order and then my parents go, "Don't MSG. No MSG.
"Because it has a terrible reputation, it is very toxic and harmful to you and to the Labor and all of these things. So, fine. Life goes on.
I'm reporting.
I think the Chinese restaurants are like this, "Yes. Definitely.
And put it in. Sure. . . . anyway. Of course.
Because they're like these idiots""People.
"These stupid white people just don't know what they're talking about.
"So, I haven't eaten MSG in the kitchen for most of my life.
I'm covering a story for Bon appe tit. . .
I don't remember when it was, but it was a very hot restaurant, so I was in San Antonio, in a place called hot Joy.
It's kind of like a very interesting fusiony Chinese restaurant with a lot of other influences.
The chef cooked these incredible fried rice.
All he needs to do is take a shower.
I'm like, like, electroplating and goYeah.
Then apply MSG to it.
"What are you doing" police, I think.
Again, as a journalist, you say, "Yes. . .
MSG is not needed in our recipe.
"I'm covering the story and I'm covering the recipes.
For example, "Talk to me about MSG.
"It makes everything delicious," he said . "
I think, "Oh, cool. "Right. Captain Crunch. Everything. Yeah.
He said: "Yes, the cucumber salad is delicious.
Fried rice is delicious.
It adds texture.
It also adds the last layer of flavor.
You can choose, but I won't.
"Then we developed these recipes, which was a real turning point for me. . .
Because I don't have a blanket like MSG.
You then do more research and realize that MSG is a synthetic additive, but it copies what naturally exists in your saver, and that is activating your msg receptor.
That's the umami thing.
That's umami.
Then I read more books.
I read an article by Harold McKee.
I read something else.
It's kind of like, if you're sensitive to it, then you're sensitive to you, but most people aren't, they think they're sensitive.
Everything has it.
Anything in the bagYeah.
Including seasoned and like Maggi. . .
Yes, in fast food.
So, I started using it on a savings basis.
I didn't use it in everything, but it was great in spice friction.
The cucumber salad was delicious.
I think I need it. . .
I have a delicious melon salad with green lime juice and a little fish sauce. you can add a little MSG to it.
Sometimes it's just another layer of stuff like "Why so good" and then as a chef you say, "I don't know --"I am amazing.
"Just, I'm really good.
"Is it in the Bon App, have you put it in the Bon App recipe now, or is it still-
Yes, here and there. Yeah.
For people who don't know, it may not be worth arguing.
Sometimes people get angry.
Like a letter.
I think, a few months ago, I wrote an article about the health of MSG. Yeah-
Very healthy. . . .
People are crazy.
And some people. . . We get the . . .
We're jokingly talking about starting a column called "real Bon Appétit" because that's when someone complains.
Yes, what they're saying is that it's always worded like a real Bon appe tititit is more polite than a salon letter.
Oh, what are they? We have a group of noisy people. Oh, okay.
You sound like a bunch of growling people. Loved.
They all like it. Yes.
Yes, everyone.
Yes, I like all the sharp ones.
They are the best.
We also received postcards.
Have you received handwritten feedback? Yeah.
When I was working at Gourmet, we received a lot of postcards. Yeah.
The postcard's handwriting is as thick as usual. Yeah. We got some . . .
We have personalized stationery. . . Gourmet.
We got personalized stationery from things like Rehoboth, Watch Hill, Black Point. That's amazing.
Really angry. Oh, yeah.
No one wrote how great your job was.
Not an incentive.
They just leave it to themselves. Yeah.
Yes, not so motivated at all. Yeah. It was . . .
I think Ruth's first problem is handled by people, and we lost 20%. Unbelievable. . . . subscriptions.
I can tell you now.
They are a group of avid gourmets. ReallyYeah.
Really great.
You let me down. Yeah.
So you work in a professional kitchen.
I mean, you 've done all these amazing things, and one of them is working in a professional kitchen.
And you brought some career advice. Yup.
They are all great.
Best of all, the things you store are getting smaller and the containers are getting smaller.
But there are others.
Layoffs are really a big deal. If I . . .
It's really my own. . . With my family.
Just like I took out a can of oats or something, there are so many oats in this big jar.
Then I said, "Really, guys.
"I'm just throwing them in the guilty direction, to the people.
Create Space.
So it's all about creating space.
And then know what you have.
Another thing I learned is because I was really a chef before I became a family chef.
I started cooking professionally in my early 20 s.
So, I really, I cooked a little.
I have very few plays.
I like cooking but I am not an experienced chef.
I am very young, in the first adult home of my life.
So there are other things that make a lot of sense from working restaurants like dry goods are all in one area so you know where to find them.
Your rice, beans and spices are all in one area.
So, we have a kitchenette that doesn't have a lot of storage, so it makes sense for me to get it out very early.
Like dry goods.
So, the things I mentioned, spices, beans, rice, noodles.
Dry things.
Then the wet pantry is in our other main drawer storage area, so-Box of broth.
Canned tomatoes and broth, canned beans, and extra back-up condiments, along with mustard and capers.
The unopened water tanks are separated.
It's both because I'm a little obsessive-compulsive, and it makes sense for me to put something similar together, and because, you know when you're gone.
Without this chaotic situation, there may be a catch-up anywhere.
Do you know what I mean?
Check under the bed.
It's like a place for me where the captain lives.
If there is no catch here, it means we have no catch, they may be here and they may be there.
Maybe in the baking drawer.
You should buy more.
Because it annoys me too and comes home with another can of coconut milk like-
Oh, I put it next to us. Exactly. Exactly.
It makes me crazy.
I feel comfort sometimes.
I think, "Oh, I have two now. "I have two now. Yeah.
Well, I think it would be nice to have the right number of backups, but I also realize that you don't need cans.
If you shop in Costco, you will be tempted by the amount of £ 24.
Correct numberYeah.
The restaurant everyone needs. . .
Huge thing that looks like a-spiceA cereal box. Clearly. That's value.
I won't eat chili peppers all my life.
We're opening a chili film restaurant. Exactly.
And then you're like, right.
It will take 12 years for us to complete this task, and at the same time, I am storing this huge thing.
Therefore, a small amount of variables is successful. . .
Let my kitchen be managed.
This makes it easier to keep track of what I have and then I don't throw away that much.
Even if you have a bracket crawl, you may realize that you have a bracket crawl now.
What is crecreeph when you start. . .
When your plan starts to expand, you start to take on more details in the plan. Totally.
So, you're trying. . .
You do a good job in technology.
Seven, six, don't sweat. Yeah. One of the . . .
Many of us know this.
Bake, Cook and steam in a pan.
But there is one that I think is a bit magical and may need a little encouragement because it works very well.
I'm thinking about this.
There is a technique for sweets, not frying, because frying is a good way to cook things, but I don't think we will always deploy it as a home chef.
Confit is just a slow cooking method to cover ingredients with fat.
So traditionally, it's like cooking ducks with their own fat, or cooking geese with the fat of geese.
Olive oil can be used.
I'm a weird guy who saves random render fat cans like every time he cooks. . .
I made a pot of sausage last night and ate it. . .
Like hard fat.
I'm like fat meat without sausage.
But I want it.
I like this method because you can not only make protein with candy method, but also vegetables.
Super gentle.
Nothing happens too fast and you need to react at a distorted speed.
It gives everything the most incredible and sweet texture.
You can then also get this injected oil, which you can use to cool the ingredients and put them in the refrigerator.
Then it is sealed. So, it-
So you're like fennel. Yeah.
Your-. . . olive oil. . . . fennel covered.
Or eat lemon.
Or I like chicken legs.
It's a bit like a duck thigh, but the chicken thigh is easily accessible.
Olive oil, yes. In olive oil. And then they-
I don't remember what the temperature is for everyone. 250, 275.
Something like this.
So all you have to do is cover the ingredients with enough stuff. . .
In a comfortable pot.
It shouldn't be in this big-
Glue, lugs. Exactly.
So, House of mice.
Very good, very inclusive. Drown them.
Cover it with oil.
Or if you have fat, or it may be a combination of the two. . .
If you start making chicken fat from the last time you did this and olive oil, combine them.
Then you don't have to add anything else.
Sometimes, if I had, think about it, I would throw some pepper there, or a slice of bay leaf from tuck, or you have half a spring hundred miles --But whatever. . . . . .
Put it on the plate.
It's really okay.
Then you make it low and slow until it becomes very soft.
Time is the only variable.
The temperature remains unchanged.
The basic principle of covering it with oil remains the same.
This is only for uniform heat contact. And I love it.
Found during the production of this book as we wanted to make 12 gridsGreat. Yeah. Thank you.
Also, it's a good number to like 12.
I think, "Let's make a grid.
9 or 12 "are those.
You went with 12 people. I went with 12. Every time. Yeah. Every time.
But I did venture on things I never did.
Potatoes are one of my favorite potatoes because they will be added when you mix them up. . .
They have absorbed the oil and then you can put them in your cast iron frying pan. Give them a blow.
Give them a blow.
They are beautiful brown.
This is one of my favorites.
So, the book is great for home chefs, but when you go home and cook, you 've cooked all day or supervised all day cooking, and that's right.
But, in my opinion, you are one of the best jobs in the world. Thank you. I mean-
It's fun most of the time. Amazing. The job.
This is great except for the work part.
I was lucky to work in a place where we still have a test kitchen.
We create, conceive, make, taste, and write recipes every day.
I work with great people.
As part of the test kitchen for seven peopleGreat. . . .
Two recipe editors also work on the food team as this is-
Can you describe the day? Sure. Yeah. . . . 'cause . . .
You come in and we may have to work for three months or more today. It depends.
The printing time is three months, and seasonal stories are sometimes one year ahead of schedule.
So, we're starting to move into spring and summer, and this spring we may be developing something that actually runs in 2020.
You have decided for all of us. A lot. . . .
What's delicious next year?
To some extent, yes.
But now, we are developing the print for the month of August.
I'm consolidating ideas for a big story about how we cook in the summer.
It's like cooking in summer. . .
We can scoop a spoonful here and say fried chicken should be there.
Or smoked watermelon.
Have you heard of the controversy over smoked watermelon? How do you . . . No, I haven't.
I don't know what to do, but it takes a long time and is very expensive.
Will Horowitz is here to talk about it. Oh. Okay. Smoked . . .
Really good.
Do you have to poke holes in the watermelon so the smoke can go into the watermelon and finally look like ham. Weird. Yeah.
Like dry smoke waterYes.
So it sucked slowly.
It becomes smaller.
We can have a melon salad. Okay.
So, a little more in the middle.
Not so rock.
But maybe I will try it on my Big Green Egg.
So, figure out what the August lineup will be, and then the food editor will actually figure out the actual details of how to put the dishes together.
Then we cooked it in the Test Kitchen.
The story editor, the food editor, and the rest of the food team have tasted it.
They will give feedback.
They talk about it.
We finalized something.
We took a picture.
We share it with the arts department so they know what it looks like.
They might have notes like this, "Hey, three of these dishes have a lot of red because they are different decorations. . . or they're-
"We can't design this brown thing at all. Exactly.
There is an auxiliary meeting about things like props.
Then the recipe is cross-tested by people who haven't done it before, so this is a big part of our testing process and you can do it with your smoked watermelon.
You write it out.
Then I had to do it, like, "I made watermelon. The time was . . .
It took me two days.
It took you three days. " Whatever.
This recipe is then written and edited, copied, and researched through the recipe.
This is something that many people come into contact.
It depends on whether it is finally online or printed.
The internet is great because we never have to worry about health.
And you keep doing that.
Add another thing to it.
Use as many words as you want.
Sometimes I talk to our recipe editors and they like "okay.
So the layout is done, and this recipe is over 12 lines.
"Then it's like. . .
Negotiations with the like arts department, "Hey, you know the words are important, right," and then the art department's like, "but it looks pretty in that big box. "I miss that. Do youOh yeah. I do. And the widows.
Cut the widow. Right, widows. Yeah, exactly.
I didn't know what it was until I started printing.
Well, yes, I think. Yeah.
But when you're dealing with a recipe-appropriate issue, it's interesting to note how many words you need to communicate about this technical issue --
Verbs and adjectives
You need a lot,-
Sometimes we think that we are cutting a recipe to the point of worrying about a bad experience for the reader.
When we go back to art, we think, "there will be bad experiences for readers.
Then they will go.
Then they say, "Oh, my God.
Yes, yes, yes. No, no, no.
"Sorry, we made the chicken a little smaller.
Then they say, "what if we cut the whole recipe ? "
"Then we say," Okay.
It can access the Internet. "That's great.
So this book is the beginning of cooking, and the author is Kara Lally music.
This is a great book. And it's . . .
There are some things. . .
It's not just a recipe.
This will change the whole way you cook for your family.
Thank you for coming. For more food-