Miso Check-in and Tofu Mayo
Some of you may recall that back in January I made miso. It takes a year to fully ferment, but you can try it after six months and my six months were up on July 19th. It dawned on me today that July 19th is not, in fact, weeks in the future, but in the past. WHERE HAS THIS SO-CALLED SUMMER GONE?? Anyway, the anticipation was killing me. Had I been incubating something horrible for the last six months or was there really, truly edible miso in that white crock??
Several scenarios sailed through my head, but what I was not expecting was to remove the weight and find…
a dark liquid covering the plate. (Those lighter-colored things on the right are the pattern on the otherwise gray plate. This picture is a bit of an optical illusion.)
It dawned me, however, that what that liquid was was soy sauce! Indeed, I think it is, because you make soy sauce from soy and koji as well. It was pretty salty (I was real brave and tasted it) and there wasn’t much of it, so I just drained it off, removed the plate and the plastic wrap, and discovered this:
Miso! I think the parts that are grayish are really just indentations from the plastic wrap, and the circle is the indentation from the bottom of the plate the weight sat on. Nonetheless, I’ve read that the top layer of miso isn’t very good, so I scraped it away …
… and removed some of the good stuff with a spoon.
It’s real miso! It’s not gross! I’m as surprised as you are, trust me. To taste it, I heated a small amount of water to just under boiling and stirred some miso in. This is the most basic miso soup you can make.
It tasted fine, so I removed a little bit to use now, then packed the rest of it back down …
… covered with fresh plastic wrap …
… put the plate back on it (here you can see the pattern that looked a bit weird under the soy sauce), and the weight, and sealed it back up to wait another six months.
Here’s the bit I reserved; I’ll think of something fun to do with some of it this week. I have plenty of commercial miso, but I’m dying to see what mine tastes like in every day use!
Next up, last week when I mentioned using xantham gum as a thickener, a few people were interested. Lou asked me about using it in tofu mayo so I figured I’d try it and see. So this is for Lou.
I started with Bryanna’s recipe, using 5/8 tsp Indian black salt (which I use when I want something to seem “eggy”…and also because I bought a ton of it at the Indian grocery yesterday and I have more than I can store), one tablespoon canola oil, one tablespoon apple cider vinegar, and one tablespoon lemon juice. After tasting it, I thought it was too lemony (which is weird, I love lemon, which is why I used it, but it was a little overly “bright” for mayo, I thought), and I added maybe half a tablespoon Dijon mustard at Lou’s suggestion. I liked it much better then. Here’s the texture, with no thickener:
It’s a bit hard to see, but although it’s creamy and somewhat thick, it is a little runnier than real mayo is (I think – it’s been ten years or more since I’ve used real mayo!).
I started adding xantham gum by the 1/8 teaspoon, blending it in thoroughly using the food processor (really, it’s a Sumeet Asia Grinder, but for this purpose, it’s a food processor). To my surprise, 1/8 and even 1/2 teaspoon did nothing discernible to the texture. Finally I added what made a full teaspoon of xantham gum, blended thoroughly, and let it sit about five minutes. I don’t know if the change in texture is really apparent in the photos, but it did become more mayo-y:
I think I can therefore report to Lou that she may like the results if she wants to play around with her mayo recipe using xantham gum. This may actually be closer to a mayo texture than Vegenaise is, although I consider Vegenaise a pretty perfect product.
I wouldn’t ordinarily use this amount of mayo in the two weeks that Bryanna says it’s good for, so I may be turning this into my coveted ranch dip this week. It’d be really great if I could make the ranch dip guilt-free because it’s really, really good, but it’s not really, really good for you. I’ll keep you posted.
Remember the book pillow I made? Brachtune sometimes does this completely adorable thing where she sleeps with her head on it, but yesterday I found her apparently under the impression it’s a computer!
Also, I was able to use the pool all weekend – woo! The website I use for weather has been predicting intense hail and thunderstorms all day, but in reality it was warm and sunny and gorgeous – perfect pool weather – and I’ve yet to see a hint of hail. Not that I’m complaining! Thunderstorms are predicted for the rest of the week, however. It’s incredible the number of thunderstorms we’ve had this summer. Thursday night, Mark, Fortinbras, and I saw the National Symphony Orchestra perform Carmina Burana, one of my favourite pieces of music, at Wolf Trap, during a violent thunderstorm that lasted the entire show, rain beating down around us and lightning filling the sky. Although I felt sorry for the hardy souls on the lawn, it was actually a pretty cool way to experience the concert, and the performance was excellent. I really do like thunderstorms – I may have been the only bride on the planet to hope for thunderstorms on her wedding day (didn’t get my wish) – and I appreciated the one Thursday night, but I’m begging the weather gods to let me continue to use the pool!
Lou Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 3:56 am
Renae, this is brilliant, thank you x lots. I’m going to pick some up asap because although the texture isn’t a problem for coleslaw/salads etc. it really needs to have a bit of ‘bounce’ for a sandwich, particularly a (vegan) sausage sandwich 🙂 (which grosses most people out, sorry). Just to clarify, you used Mori Nu Firm? I’ve had wildly different results depending on the firmness of the tofu (and whether it was fresh/vac packed). That machine you used is kick ass looking too btw.
Thunder + Opera sounds incredible! Actually, ‘awesome’ in the original sense of the world.
renae Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 10:19 am
Yup, it was Mori Nu Firm. It did get bouncy. It wasn’t a dramatic change, but it did seem like it’d be better on sandwiches. Even Vegenaise gets a little thin when you spread it on sandwiches, so I’m glad you thought of this!
Lou Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 3:56 am
Renae, this is brilliant, thank you x lots. I’m going to pick some up asap because although the texture isn’t a problem for coleslaw/salads etc. it really needs to have a bit of ‘bounce’ for a sandwich, particularly a (vegan) sausage sandwich 🙂 (which grosses most people out, sorry). Just to clarify, you used Mori Nu Firm? I’ve had wildly different results depending on the firmness of the tofu (and whether it was fresh/vac packed). That machine you used is kick ass looking too btw.
Thunder + Opera sounds incredible! Actually, ‘awesome’ in the original sense of the world.
renae Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 10:19 am
Yup, it was Mori Nu Firm. It did get bouncy. It wasn’t a dramatic change, but it did seem like it’d be better on sandwiches. Even Vegenaise gets a little thin when you spread it on sandwiches, so I’m glad you thought of this!
kibbles Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
Wow! That miso is amazing! Why is it chunky looking? Clearly I don’t remember the first post about it.
Also, that grinder is going on my wish list.
renae Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
Kibbles, the “chunks” are pieces of rice. They are soft and really about the same texture as the rest of the miso (which is just mushed soy beans), so although it looks chunky, it’s not really a chunky consistency.
kibbles Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
Wow! That miso is amazing! Why is it chunky looking? Clearly I don’t remember the first post about it.
Also, that grinder is going on my wish list.
renae Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
Kibbles, the “chunks” are pieces of rice. They are soft and really about the same texture as the rest of the miso (which is just mushed soy beans), so although it looks chunky, it’s not really a chunky consistency.
Courtney Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 4:47 pm
Wow–how awesome that you made your own miso! I am totally going to check out the original post again…you rock!
Courtney
Brandy Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 8:32 pm
“I may have been the only bride on the planet to hope for thunderstorms on her wedding day (didn’t get my wish)”
lol thats exactly what I thought too!
which is why i got married in Februrary in California
but alas to my dissapointment is was a “gorgeous” and unseasonably clear feb day…lol
there are always a couple of us “crazy” brides out there 🙂
Brandy Said,
July 27, 2009 @ 8:32 pm
“I may have been the only bride on the planet to hope for thunderstorms on her wedding day (didn’t get my wish)”
lol thats exactly what I thought too!
which is why i got married in Februrary in California
but alas to my dissapointment is was a “gorgeous” and unseasonably clear feb day…lol
there are always a couple of us “crazy” brides out there 🙂
Zoé Said,
July 29, 2009 @ 4:33 am
Amazing!!!! I want to try miso when I’ll be a little more settled (I can’t imagine moving pickles, miso and sauercraut from one country to another!).
Your veganaise is awesome! This is why I love your blog, you really try weird things that I’m dying to try aftewards!
Pirate Said,
August 3, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
I recognize that plate. I am sure I was with you when you “borrowed” it, but I don’t recall seeing it happen.
renae Said,
August 3, 2009 @ 12:48 pm
You didn’t see it happen because I’m good!
Josiane Said,
August 6, 2009 @ 11:35 am
There you are once again with the amazing culinary experiments! Miso this time… wow! It looks fabulous! Your mayonnaise looks great too. I’ve never used xanthan gum, but this is an interesting use for it, and gives me a good idea of its potential. Cool!
cathy Said,
September 16, 2009 @ 12:32 am
Miso is next for me! I’m so inspired by your first post and this progress report. I’m jealous of your perfect miso vessel. Carry on with your fine fermenting self!