Cooking with MSG: A Flavor Experiment with Sohla El-Waylly

MSG has long been a secret weapon in kitchens around the world, known for its ability to enhance the savory notes in your favorite dishes. To help you get comfortable with cooking using MSG, we’re sharing a recipe from the incredibly talented chef and food writer Sohla El-Waylly. Known for her creative approach to cooking and her passion for bold flavors, Sohla won a James Beard award for her cookbook Start Here. The included Super-Savory Tomato Salad recipe is perfect for a little kitchen experiment.

El-Waylly's Tips for MSG:

"For me, MSG has become as important to cooking as salt and sugar. It allows me to season in stereo, adjusting the level of savoriness in dishes, along with salty, sour, bitter, spicy, and sweet. I most often use it alongside other already savory ingredients, to heighten their natural flavor, such as in dry brines for meats, in tomato sauces and salads, and in anything with cheese. The key is to have a light touch—too much MSG makes things taste funny—so sprinkle it on sparsely, a pinch at a time."

Super-Savory Tomato Salad

Recipe from Start Here by Sohla El-Waylly. Shared courtesy of Penguin Random House.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 large heirloom tomatoes, cut into rough chunks (or a whole bunch halved cherry tomatoes)
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp MSG
  • 1 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
  • extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 tbsp nori powder

DIRECTIONS:

1) In a large bowl, toss the tomatoes with salt, sugar, and MSG and marinate for at least 10 minutes and up to 3 hours. (This gets the tomatoes extra juicy and gives the seasoning time to dissolve.)


2) Before serving, add the rice vinegar and tamari and toss to dress the tomatoes. Taste and add more salt, sugar, or vinegar if needed. 

3) Transfer to a large dish or divide amount shallow bowls, pouring over any liquid left in the bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over the sesame seeds and nori. Serve right away!

Why We Love This Recipe: It provides a chance to season and taste as you go. In the words of El-Waylly: "The first step in learning how to cook is learning how to taste." As you add the seasonings, taste how the flavor changes as you go. Then add pinches until you can get the flavors balanced just right. Cold salads and homemade dressings are the best way to practice because the ingredients are often cheap, mistakes are fixable, and there is no time pressure. 


Learn a New Spice Skill: This recipe calls for toasted sesame seeds. Check out our tutorial Toasting Spices for More Flavor.

Shop Savory-Salad Ingredients 

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Sea Salt | Kosher (Flake) - Gneiss Spice
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A close-up of a pile of coarse, crystallized, reddish-brown powder against a plain white background. The granules are uneven in size and have a reflective texture, perfect for enhancing Japanese-inspired dishes with the oceanic umami depth of Gneiss Spice's Nori Seaweed (Powder).
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A pile of scattered Gneiss Spice Sesame Seed (Toasted) on a white background highlights their rich, nutty aroma.
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Sea Salt | Kosher (Flake) - Gneiss Spice

Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook

Sohla El-Waylly’s cookbook, "Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook," is an expansive guide designed to improve your cooking skills, whether you're a beginner or an experienced cook. This James Beard Foundation Book Award winner covers essential techniques, from mastering temperature control to perfecting doughs, and includes over 200 recipes. It’s been praised as a modern "Joy of Cooking!" 

Why we like it: It's so fun! And beautifully designed with easy instructions. She shares scientific insights and practical skills with kindness and humor. Plus the font is big. REALLY BIG! El-Waylly has a section dedicated to "How to Season." This book is a joy to read cover to cover...even though it's almost 600 pages!

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