The Noma Guide to Fermentation

[Mike Nolan]

One of my Christmas presents was a book, The Noma Guide to Fermentation, by René Redzepi and David Zilber. René is the guiding force behind Noma, the innovative Copenhagen restaurant. It has been named the best restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine four times and is currently ranked #2. It has two Michelin stars. (A 20 small plate tasting menu at Noma will currently set you back around $295, and the wine pairings are another $185.)

I'm not sure it's fair or accurate to call it a cookbook. Rather, it is a guide to the seven types of fermentation and how they're put to use at Noma.

I'm not quite half way through a first read-through of the book, but I can see it is going to completely change my approach to fermenting. Among other things, their preferred temperature for fermenting is 82 degrees F, though the instructions say temperatures in the mid 70's (ie, room temperature) are OK, too. I think that requires a bit more hands-on approach to monitoring something that is fermenting. But it means that a batch of sauerkraut would be ready in about a week. When my mother would make it, she used a crock in the basement, where the temperature was in the 60's. Sauerkraut would take about 3 weeks, though it started tasting interesting after around day 7.

I'm not sure how many of the fermenting methods I'm likely to use, I'm not really into kombucha, though that may be just a case of having only had kombucha that was over-fermented and not as innovative as the formulas in this book. (Kombcha made with maple syrup, for example.)

But the idea of having carrot or celery vinegar to use in a vinaigrette or a sauce is intriguing, even if it does require some equipment I don't currently have. Likewise, making lacto-fermented tomatoes is something I REALLY have to try next summer.

And even if I don't make them myself, I may be more likely to use commercially made fermented products like koji, miso and garum. (Fish garum is a fish sauce that dates back to Roman times and is, gastronomically speaking, the great-grandfather of ketchup, but there are instructions for several other types of garum, including beef garum, rose garum and grasshopper garum.) [pause for a chorus of 'EWWW']

The book also has instructions for making black fruits and vegetables, like black garlic.

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[Italiancook]

My dad used to make sauerkraut, putting it in a crock in the basement, as your mom. I don't recall tasting it before it was ready. Dad would can it, and it was the best kraut I've ever had.

[Mike Nolan]

I got through the chapter on making shoyu (soy sauce, for example), it is a fairly complex task, and the text explains why most soy sauces use wheat- Soy sauce started out as a by-product in making miso called tamari, but demand for it grew so large they had to find ways to produce a lot more of it. By adding wheat and bypassing some of the steps use to make miso, they were able to increase production of soy sauce significantly.

There was a Wall Street Journal online article recently in which it talked about why someone would want to pay $50 or more for a small bottle of soy sauce. The answer is obvious, artisanal soy sauces pack a lot more flavor. I'll give the link, but it may be behind their paywall:
WSJ Soy Sauce article

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