Discovering a passion for miso
Fermented soybean paste tastes great and is good for you
I’ve been on a miso kick. It all started when a friend gave me a container of very special, well-aged, Korean miso.
It was familiar and comfortable, like sitting in your father’s TV-watching chair as an adult.
Prior to that, I had used miso primarily as a marinade for fish and meat, and occasionally as a dressing on green beans or asparagus.
The first time I had miso was probably the way almost everyone did, as miso soup.
I was 20 and at Ottawa’s only Japanese restaurant with my Japanese boss. I remember we had sashimi, and there was miso soup to start.
Tiny cubes of tofu bobbed in the bowl and sliced green onion floated on the surface. I was fascinated by the way the more solid parts of the miso formed a “cloud,” smack in the centre of the bowl.
I thought it was so beautiful, and the taste was otherworldly, like nothing I had experienced before.
An excited voice in my head kept repeating “Sashimi! Miso soup! Sashimi! Miso soup!” I knew I was being indoctrinated into something exciting, and it was something that would become a lifelong passion: Japanese food.
These days, with my interest in fermented foods, curing meats and vegetables, Korean cuisine and a new love for naturally occurring umami, I’m back to exploring miso again.
Tucked into the basement fridge is a tray of tofu misozuke, tofu blanketed in miso that in a few months will be transformed into a creamy “cheese.”
A slab of pork belly curing in miso will be ready in a few days and will be eaten with kimchee. There’s a little miso-tofu mayonnaise, a faux mayo, but good nonetheless.
And for experimentation purposes, there are five different types of miso for me to play with.
I may even try my hand at making miso one day, though I generally like to leave that type of thing to the experts.
And is there a container of the miso tahini spread from years past? You betcha!