UNLEASH FLAVOUR NOMA-STYLE
Transform cooking with fermentation techniques from chefs at legendary Copenhagen restaurant
Fermented foods are intrinsic to the human experience. So much so that typically, we don’t give their origins much thought. The fermented products that punctuate our days — like coffee, tea, bread, cheese, soy sauce, miso, beer and wine — are cultural cornerstones. And cultivating practical knowledge of the process that underpins them can enrich your life and completely transform your cooking. In a time when so many things are fast and only picking up speed, fermentation is slow. If you’re patient enough to wait for the microbes to carry out their work, you’ll be rewarded with foods that have a depth of flavour you simply can’t achieve any other way. “It’s an incredible analogue experience in a very digitalized world. And I think that’s one of the reasons why food is having such a moment because people are yearning for things they can actually feel in a different way,” says René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark. “Cooking has that — touching things, touching ingredients — and I think fermentation is definitely a step further … Nobody today would start downloading anything that takes seven days, right? But there’s nothing you can do, (you just have to) wait.” In The Noma Guide to Fermentation (Artisan Books, 2018), Redzepi and co-author, David Zilber, director of the restaurant’s fermentation lab, offer an indispensable glimpse into how the four-time world’s best restaurant approaches fermented foods, all adapted for the home kitchen. “The book is written to be doable,” says Zilber, adding that editor and writer Martha Holmberg tested all of the recipes in her studio apartment. “We had to find ways that people could do this in their homes. There’s a photo of my lab in the introduction where you can see how crazy (it) actually looks. There are walls of equipment, and of course there’s nothing in the book that requires any of that equipment.” If you’re new to fermentation, the following recipes may seem daunting at first glance. However, once you’ve crafted your first ferment, you’ll understand how intuitive the method is and how applicable it is to limitless raw ingredients. And if safety is a concern, rest assured that people have been fermenting since ancient times. The authors offer a clear and thorough overview of the process, including the principles behind encouraging desirable microbes and blocking unwanted ones, and best practices for maintaining a clean fermentation space. The techniques and recipes for lacto-ferments, kombuchas, vinegars, koji, misos, shoyus, garums, and black fruits and vegetables represent the basis of every one of Noma’s dishes. At the restaurant, Redzepi says, fermentation isn’t used for one particular flavour but rather to make everything better. The book underscores the immense value in not only making your own ferments but also applying them in innovative ways. “That’s how Noma cooks. That’s how Noma does what it does; it layers all these flavours,” says Zilber. “Everyone calls it The Noma Guide to Fermentation, but its actual title is Foundations of Flavour because that’s what these things are: building blocks upon which you craft a symphony.”
Recipes excerpted from The Noma Guide to Fermentation by René Redzepi and David Zilber (Artisan Books). Used with permission from the publisher.