Recipes with monosodium glutamate

Sichuan-style shredded pork with garlic sauce, tree ear mushrooms, celery, and water chestnuts. Deep-fried pork meets a spicy, tangy, sweet sauce in this bold Chinese classic.

Texas-style competition chili with cubed beef, pork, beer, mole, and masa harina. Slow-simmered for three hours with bold spice and no beans. Built for heat lovers.

Hawaiian namasu, a Japanese-Hawaiian pickled vegetable salad with cucumber, carrot, onion, and celery in a sweet vinegar brine. Served cold with sliced smoked salmon.

Traditional Chinese Buddhist vegetarian stir-fry with wood ear mushrooms, lily buds, bean curd, bean thread noodles, and fresh vegetables in dark soy and sesame oil. A Lunar New Year classic.

Capital punishment chili is a fiery Texas-style bowl of red: chunks of beef chuck and pork simmered low with beer, a mountain of chili powder and cumin, a touch of mole and masa harina. No beans, all bold.

Sai Grog: Thai spicy pork sausage with red curry paste, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, and coriander. Grilled until juicy and served with sticky rice.

Long, slow simmering of meat and herbs produces the base for this incomparable sauce.

Korean-style marinated mung bean sprouts (sukju namul) with sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, garlic, and green onions. A crunchy, nutty side dish ready in under 20 minutes.

Traditional Japanese sashimi dipping sauce made by simmering soy sauce with katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and sake, then garnished with wasabi. Deeper and more aromatic than plain soy sauce.

Chirizu is a traditional Japanese spicy dipping sauce for sashimi, made with flame-kissed sake, grated daikon, soy sauce, lemon juice, and seven-pepper spice. Bright, bold, and ready in minutes.

Oakwood Feed Store chili with three meats: cubed beef chuck, ground beef, and chopped pork, plus bacon. A no-bean Texas-style chili loaded with ancho, jalapeno, and cumin that improves overnight.

Salt-crusted Old English prime rib roasted in a hardened shell of rock salt for an evenly cooked, juicy interior with a Worcestershire-paprika rub. The dramatic centerpiece roast.

Chinese pepper steak with sirloin, green bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes in a soy-cornstarch sauce. A classic stir-fry with a quick soy marinade.

Easy, spicy-hot cold noodles for summer -- This recipe is an easy prepare-ahead dish for a hot summer day. It makes a good barbecue side dish for all of us who are tired of potato salads.

Chinese-style brown gravy for egg foo yung made with meat stock, soy sauce, and cornstarch. A simple three-ingredient sauce ready in minutes.

This is an old Ruthenian peasant dish, very popular in the Carpathian Alps, as well as here in Fair Oaks, CA. Great for warming the tummy on a cold winter day. This is easy to prepare, and good as a luncheon dish served with salad, or as a first course soup prior to a lighter entree.