Maggi Sauce
- Thread starter sadiehawkins
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Maggi and Dale’s Sauce are decent umami builders for use in sauces, braises and marinades but worthless in salad dressings, soups and stews. For that reason (plus they’re chockful of chemicals and dyes not needed in other alternatives), I go with other, better umami bomb builders.
Asian fish sauces are perfect for building almost all sauces, braises, marinades, soups and stews plus I add a little as a secret ingredient in my Buffalo chicken dip, French Onion dip and Purple Apple Slaw. I’ve found that Golden Boy brand is best for beef, lamb and other red meats while Red Boat is lighter and works better with pork, poultry and seafood dishes.
Vegemite (and it’s lesser cousin Marmite which I don’t keep stocked) is really excellent at pulling out a strong umami flavor in soups, braises and stews. A mixture of Vegemite and BTB Beef is my secret to amazing pot roasts regardless of whether it’s a Southern Style, Mississippi Style or Chicago Style.
Worcestershire is good especially in anything you will be adding sugar or fruit to as well as it’s an umami bomb plus sweet and sour combined. So an essential for good homemade salad dressings as well as any sweet marinades.
Bragg Liquid Aminos is a great alternative to soy sauce that’s even lighter. It works fantastic in chicken, Turkey and seafood dishes to give a little umami kick without adding a strong overpowering flavor.
Better than Bouillon flavors are great for almost everything other than salad dressings. Of course you match Beef to beef dishes, chicken to chicken dishes, lobster to seafood dishes, turkey to Turkey dishes, mushroom to vegetarian/vegan dishes and pork….eh, skip the pork. I don’t like the hammy flavor it’s a little overpowering. But BTB is an essential to own in multiple flavors, but especially beef and chicken.
Chinese Dark Soy Sauce, especially the Pearl River Bridge, is a must have for Chinese dishes as well as anything else you want to taste strongly of soy, but just like Rosemary and other strong flavors, care MUST be taken in it’s use. Do not slop it on or in things like a Japanese Tamari or Shoyu Soy Sauce, this one is FAR more intense. Very little goes a long way to add umami intenseness, dark colors and very strong soy flavor. I consider it indispensable but be careful with it or you will ruin a dish.
Japanese Tamari or Shoyu Soy Sauces are technically interchangeable as far as I’m concerned even though they are similar. They are not the midway point between liquid aminos and Chinese black soy sauce, If liquid aminos is a 3 on the scale of umami intenseness then Shoyu and Tamari are a 5 And Chinese Dark Soy Sauce Is a 10 (really an 11 out of 10). I frequently use it in milder, less intense Japanese and Vietnamese dishes rather than the bold Chinese black soy sauce.
Chinese Black Vinegar - is useful as both a mild Vinegar (on par with rice, coconut and palm vinegars, far less intense than apple and wine vinegars) and as a lighter umami addition like liquid aminos. It’s perfect for any sweeter Salad dressings or marinades you want to tone down and add complexity to with a little twinge of sour. To me, it also has a flavor That reminds me of CocaCola, especially the Kong Yen brand from Taiwan that I prefer.
Oyster sauce is useful in a lot of Thai and Chinese dishes plus it’s very sweet in addition to an umami bomb so you can add that rather than regular sugar to sweeten and enhance Asian dishes as well as any marinades and salad dressings you want sweet. The Lee Kum Kee premium oyster sauce is the best, don’t bother with competitors or the Lee Kum Kee panda branded oyster sauce.
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Maggi and Dale’s Sauce are decent umami builders for use in sauces, braises and marinades but worthless in salad dressings, soups and stews. For that reason (plus they’re chockful of chemicals and dyes not needed in other alternatives), I go with other, better umami bomb builders.
Asian fish sauces are perfect for building almost all sauces, braises, marinades, soups and stews plus I add a little as a secret ingredient in my Buffalo chicken dip, French Onion dip and Purple Apple Slaw. I’ve found that Golden Boy brand is best for beef, lamb and other red meats while Red Boat is lighter and works better with pork, poultry and seafood dishes.
Vegemite (and it’s lesser cousin Marmite which I don’t keep stocked) is really excellent at pulling out a strong umami flavor in soups, braises and stews. A mixture of Vegemite and BTB Beef is my secret to amazing pot roasts regardless of whether it’s a Southern Style, Mississippi Style or Chicago Style.
Worcestershire is good especially in anything you will be adding sugar or fruit to as well as it’s an umami bomb plus sweet and sour combined. So an essential for good homemade salad dressings as well as any sweet marinades.
Bragg Liquid Aminos is a great alternative to soy sauce that’s even lighter. It works fantastic in chicken, Turkey and seafood dishes to give a little umami kick without adding a strong overpowering flavor.
Better than Bouillon flavors are great for almost everything other than salad dressings. Of course you match Beef to beef dishes, chicken to chicken dishes, lobster to seafood dishes, turkey to Turkey dishes, mushroom to vegetarian/vegan dishes and pork….eh, skip the pork. I don’t like the hammy flavor it’s a little overpowering. But BTB is an essential to own in multiple flavors, but especially beef and chicken.
Chinese Dark Soy Sauce, especially the Pearl River Bridge, is a must have for Chinese dishes as well as anything else you want to taste strongly of soy, but just like Rosemary and other strong flavors, care MUST be taken in it’s use. Do not slop it on or in things like a Japanese Tamari or Shoyu Soy Sauce, this one is FAR more intense. Very little goes a long way to add umami intenseness, dark colors and very strong soy flavor. I consider it indispensable but be careful with it or you will ruin a dish.
Japanese Tamari or Shoyu Soy Sauces are technically interchangeable as far as I’m concerned even though they are similar. They are not the midway point between liquid aminos and Chinese black soy sauce, If liquid aminos is a 3 on the scale of umami intenseness then Shoyu and Tamari are a 5 And Chinese Dark Soy Sauce Is a 10 (really an 11 out of 10). I frequently use it in milder, less intense Japanese and Vietnamese dishes rather than the bold Chinese black soy sauce.
Chinese Black Vinegar - is useful as both a mild Vinegar (on par with rice, coconut and palm vinegars, far less intense than apple and wine vinegars) and as a lighter umami addition like liquid aminos. It’s perfect for any sweeter Salad dressings or marinades you want to tone down and add complexity to with a little twinge of sour. To me, it also has a flavor That reminds me of CocaCola, especially the Kong Yen brand from Taiwan that I prefer.
Oyster sauce is useful in a lot of Thai and Chinese dishes plus it’s very sweet in addition to an umami bomb so you can add that rather than regular sugar to sweeten and enhance Asian dishes as well as any marinades and salad dressings you want sweet. The Lee Kum Kee premium oyster sauce is the best, don’t bother with competitors or the Lee Kum Kee panda branded oyster sauce.
I'm surprised you omitted sweet soy sauce a.k.a. Kecap Manis.
@FSUTribe76 do you feel there's a big difference between Dale's and Maggi's?
Dale's is stocked at my local grocery stores. Maggi Seasoning would have to be ordered from Amazon.
I've been wanting to try that sauce recipe from the Guga video, but adding mushrooms to the party.
TIA
Dale's is stocked at my local grocery stores. Maggi Seasoning would have to be ordered from Amazon.
I've been wanting to try that sauce recipe from the Guga video, but adding mushrooms to the party.
TIA
I'm surprised you omitted sweet soy sauce a.k.a. Kecap Manis.
I just use oyster sauce or Chinese dark plus sugar or honey in the place of that. I already have two shelves worth of Asian vinegars (all five colors of Chinese rice vinegar ie black, red, white, yellow, and brown; Japanese rice vinegar plus seasoned sushi vinegar and ponzu which is yuzu juice plus vinegar and sugar, palm vinegar from the Philippines, and coconut, jamun and chili vinegar from India and that doesn’t count the American/European vinegars I keep including five types/grades of wine/balsamic vinegar), soy sauces, fish sauces (not just the two I mentioned but if you open and age Golden Boy it takes on a deep Rich blue cheese flavor that is perfect as a marinade for aged steaks which to maintain when I get to the bottom 10-20% of the new bottle I drain it into the aged bottle and shake up, plus I keep Megachef 30• North which is even lighter and cleaner than Red Boat so I use it for lightly flavored seafood and chicken dishes to sneak in some umami without changing the flavor much), fermented products, chili pastes, oils etc…
But I did forget one other great umami bomb product.
Geo Watkins Mushroom Ketchup is not only a fantastic replacement for fish sauces, BTBs and worcestershire for vegetarian or vegan dishes you are preparing when hosting one of those lesser ilk, BUT it may legitimately be better than them. I just don’t use it as often as it’s double the price of even high end fish sauces and real L&P worcestershire. But Man! Does it have a great aroma and flavor on its own. I just use it relatively infrequently due to the cost, but it is fantastic! And would go great on steaks.
In fact, people act like umami is a new thing but we simply forgot about it. Most colonial era cookbook recipes include an umami item like mushroom ketchup or the related walnut ketchup (in terms of umami strength), fermented and smashed anchovies and/or fermented anchovy sauces which kind of replicate the Asian fish sauces albeit not as “clean” and more “fishy”, Mushroom or mushroom water/”juice”, salt pork, bacon and of course almost everything was cooked over open fire and the wood ash from hickory, oak and mesquite add a lot of umami Without need of an “ingredient”. Mushroom ketchups were the most common condiment in America until Heinz made tomato ketchup king in the late 1800s. And for good reason, the Geo Watkins mushroom ketchup may be the best tasting umami bomb on its own ie you don’t need to carefully balance it in a marinade or salad dressing or cook it in stews and soups, you can simply dump it on already finished foods and it still tastes great.
Seriously, give the Geo Watkins mushroom sauce a try even if you‘re a carnivore like myself.
First of all, are you sure you don’t have access to Maggi? It’s not just in Mexican food stores, even Publix and other middle end supermarkets carry it, it’s just in the ethnic/international aisle with the Mexican foods or occasionally German/European foods. Check there before you give up.
As I mentioned, I‘ve used Dale’s and Maggi in the past enough that I instantly recognize when steakhouses are simply using that as their marinade and nothing else (the best steakhouse in Dothan the locally famed Conestoga Steakhouse does just that and to above average results). But I don’t know if I could really remember any difference they both taste like a blend of Japanese Shoyu plus worcestershire plus maybe Braggs liquid aminos. There’s a third wheel in the Maggi/Dale’s Seasoning triumvirate called Knorr Liquid Seasoning. It’s very similar to the other two so you could use that in place of the Maggi as well.
Knorr’s ingredient list: Water, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Glucose, Iodized Salt, Flavor Enhancer (MSG), Sugar, Color (Caramel), Food Acid (Citric), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate).
Maggi‘s ingredient list: Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein (Water, Wheat Protein, Salt), Water, Flavourings, Flavour Enhancers (Monosodium Glutamate, Disodium Inosinate), Salt, Sugar.
Dale’s Seasoning ingredient list: HYDROLYZED SOY PROTEIN, WATER, SALT, CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLORING, ONION, GARLIC, SUGAR, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, GINGER, PAPRIKA
So you can see they’re not that different Other than Dale’s listing the “flavorings” Like garlic and ginger rather than remaining mysterious like the other two. They’re all essentially slightly seasoned and then chocked up with chemicals versions of tamaris or shoyu. Tamari is 100% soy while Shoyu/”Japanese soy sauce” can be up to 50% wheat protein with regular Kikkoman the most common shoyu has 42% wheat protein. But the main difference between Maggi, Knorr and Dale’s seasoning (as well as cheap “soy sauces” not listed as fermented soy sauce, tamari or shoyu) and Real Tamari and Shoyu is that rather than slowly ferment the soy beans and wheat, the cheap stuff (plus Maggi, Dale, Knorr etc) uses a chemical process developed in the 20s to extract the hydrolysed vegetable protein so they are in the bigger food industry called HVP sauces. Is there a big difference between various HVP sauces? From memory no, maybe in a side by side taste test.
As far as the Guga sauce, I haven’t seen that one before even though I follow him and Pitmaster X plus various American pitmasters, but it does sound good. I would be tempted to replace the Maggi with a real Tamari or Shoyu or maybe even the Geo Watkins Mushroom ketchup I referenced. I bet the Mushroom ketchup version of it would be stunning.
So when are you gentlemen going on Masterchef to hob knob with Gordon Ramsey? LOL
I came across this article for replacements for Maggi and it mentions the best replacement other than an equally hard to find hvp sauce is a mixture of half soy sauce and half worcestershire. So my memory of its taste is pretty accurate. Especially since it also mentions Bragg amino acids.
The Top 8 Maggi Seasoning Substitutes
To replace Maggi Seasoning in a recipe use equal parts Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. Keep reading to get lots more alternatives that work deliciously.
tastylicious.com
