“Garlic bread” can mean many different things (all good, of course). The first iteration I was introduced to was white toast with country crock and garlic salt served with what my grandparents called “Italian spaghetti”. (What other type of spaghetti is there you might ask? Chicken Spaghettiwho governs more comprehensively than it has a right.)
Nowadays I make my garlic bread with two preparations of garlic (a whole head of soft and toasted stuff with a few finely chopped raw cloves), and I usually build it on a French batard (can’t beat the open crumb!) but I’ll never stand over a good ol ‘margarine- toast- and-garlic-salt situation. (It tastes really good!)
But no matter what kind of delicious garlic bread I make, a little MSG often penetrates. It’s not exactly “needed”, but it gives the bread an edge. Monosodium glutamate is literally a crystal made up of the two flavors one would want on garlic bread – salty (thanks to the sodium) and umami (thanks to the glutamate). Just one or two shakes of the small crystals accentuate the already existing flavors and ensure a super hearty backbone.
Basically, it tastes like garlic bread, but more than that. It’s especially helpful when you don’t have time to toast or otherwise brown your garlic, but still want to add a deep, almost meaty taste to your bread.
You don’t need much here either. You want the MSG to complement, not distract from, the garlic. Two shakes or a very small pinch of bread are sufficient. If you don’t like the look of slender, stick-shaped crystals on your garlic bread, just mix them into the butter (or country crock) beforehand to hide them.
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