Adam Hodgson, Regional Culinary Director, Church & Union, Nashville, Tenn.

“Utilizing garum, traditionally a Roman fermented fish sauce, adds umami to a dish. In our kitchen, we have been testing garums made with ingredients other than fish—we recently used a salami-based garum for a cavatelli dish!”

Ryan Trahan, Executive Chef/Partner, Vestal, Lafayette, La.

“I’ve always been a little overly excited about garums. I love the umami of them and the depth they add to the profile of a dish. We had fermented carrot tops—so many tops—as we are always trying to take food waste and produce flavor. Long story short, fermented carrot tops do not smell very nice. Instead of throwing them out, I decided to dehydrate them into a powder, as they were quite tasty. The end result has such a strong essence of seaweed. It definitely didn’t turn out as we initially intended, but the end product wound up being the tastiest addition to beef tartare that we have found. Often, it’s the most surprising results that bring about the best dishes.”