"It's what's for dinner"

My wife and I rarely eat beef.  In fact many people are surprised at how little beef we eat.  For some reason once summer rolls around, we are beef-a-holics...at least for us.  Yesterday I realized why.  At first I though it was the start of grilling season.  Not really, although grilled beef is the way to go.  Then I thought it was because we are a little more active so we crave the protein.  Nope, not really true.  Then right in the middle of our delicious grilled River Rock flatiron with chimichurri, fennel, fresh-churned butter, warm baguette and sungold tomatoes, I realized what it is.  It's tomatoes.  Well, really it's umami but tomatoes play a big part in that. 

Umami is often called the fifth taste.  To me it is more of a sensation then a taste.  You can achieve "false" umami, which is what makes great chefs great chefs.  Their uncanny ability to balance their dishes so well that all of your taste receptors go nuts at the same time.  "True" umami is actually a taste.  Your umami taste buds are located right in the middle of your tongue and when you eat umami your tongue gets, well, numb.  I studied umami quite a bit, in fact I almost opened a restaurant devoted to the phenominon.  It turns our there are too many variables, including mood, so I moved on.  Since umami is so complex I will try and keep this simple.  There are two different kinds of umami, basic and synergizing.  Foods may have one or both types and in many varying amounts and proportions.  These ratios change when food is cooked, matured or dried.  Think of a shitake mushroom.  When fresh it can create subtle umami, when seared it gets more, and when dried the umami is off the charts.  Now pairing two or more umami rich ingredients together, especially when you can achieve the "right" balance of the two types of umami, can create an extreme umami sensation (think of caesar salad...almost every ingredient is loaded with umami).

Now back to tomatoes.  Tomatoes, especially when super ripe and raw, have a great deal of basic umami.  You pair that with a food that is loaded with synergizing umami , like a dry-aged (more umami than fresh beef), grilled (adding more umami) flatiron (the more marbling in the cut, the more umami) and you get exploding, addicting, delicious umami.  So when I can get my hands on tomatoes, I crave beef to go with them.  It is a perfect meal for me.  This was a perfect meal for me...