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 Post subject: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:04 pm 
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Location: Portland, OR
Inspired partly by the last issue of Lucky Peach, I went out to the Ninjitsu Market today and bought a bunch of different misos. I hadn't really thought about all the varieties of miso available from Japan (and, for that matter, China, Korea, and -- in this market, California), mostly just thinking there was brown miso and "white" miso and not even really knowing what was different between those two, just that some recipes wanted one or the other. It was a bit of a revelation to pick up some serious misos aimed at Japanese customers and taste the differences between them.

Picking out the miso I needed/wanted required staring into the miso cooler case at the market (yes, they had an entire case of miso) for about 30 minutes, consulting labels, lists of ingredients, checking the list I'd made, searching the internet with my phone, trying to find containers which were less than 1kg, and finally making 3 selections. And then wondering if I'd bought what I though I'd bought. But here's what I came home with:

Shiro Miso: this light yellow miso is the youngest, mildest and sweetest. It's used widely in a variety of preparations, including miso soup, ramen (which is how I'm eating some tommorrow night), and fish marinades. This is generally what's known as "white" miso.

Aka Nama Miso: aka miso is the medium "brown" or "red" miso, aged about 1 year and delightfully fermented-tasting. It's much saltier than the Shiro. I made a marinade for our sliced Copper River salmon out of this and broiled it over rice. The miso I bought is "nama", meaning that it's not pasteurized -- it's still fermenting in my fridge. We'll see how it tastes in a year! Made in Torrance, CA.

Hacchomiso: aged for 3 years, this miso is extremely dense and has the color and texture of cold chocolate ganache. It has an extremely caramelized taste, like the black stuff on the bottom of a roasting pan, only smoother, sweetier and saltier. I used this in a sauce which was slathered over roasted diakon radish slices, which made a terrific finger food.

I'd list brand names, but I can't imagine it would be useful even if I could read them.

Anyway, anybody have any cool and delicious things to do with miso?

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 Post subject: Re: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 12:15 am 
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This post makes miso very happy!

The only thing I've ever used it for is bumping up the flavor of vegetable broth and miso soup. Miso soup gives me hives, but I suspect this is caused by one of the sea vegetables rather than the miso itself.


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 Post subject: Re: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:52 am 
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Location: Telluride, CO
Josh,

Are you doing the alkalinity noodles, aka ramen, from the first issue of Lucky Peach? I've been wanting to try those, but with my wrist haven't yet. (They describe the kneading process as rather intense.)

Amy


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 Post subject: Re: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:47 am 
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Amy,

Probably not today. I have too much work to do; don't have time to spend on a lot of kneading and rolling.

Oh, and for anyone who wasn't aware, the recipe for the noodles has a rather substantial error in it. There's a correction on the web site.

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 Post subject: Re: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 12:26 pm 
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TheFuzzy wrote:
Oh, and for anyone who wasn't aware, the recipe for the noodles has a rather substantial error in it. There's a correction on the web site.

The printed edition calls for 4 Tbsp. of baked soda, whereas it really only takes 4 tsp.

Amy


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 Post subject: Re: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:15 pm 
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JesBelle wrote:
This post makes miso very happy!

The only thing I've ever used it for is bumping up the flavor of vegetable broth and miso soup. Miso soup gives me hives, but I suspect this is caused by one of the sea vegetables rather than the miso itself.


Hmmm. So the things you could be allergic to in miso soup which you'd be unlikely to eat elsewhere are:

  1. miso
  2. konbu seaweed (kelp, used in the broth)
  3. wakame seaweed (often included in small pieces in the soup)

You could also be part of the 2% of the population which reacts to large quantities of MSG; Japanese soups tend to have a lot, especially cheap ones made from instant broth. If this were true, though, you'd be reacting to other things (parmigiano, for example, or boullion cubes).

If you've eaten other Japanese food we could narrow it down a bit. Tellingly, have you had similar reactions to:

  • Ramen (with instant broth)?
  • Ramen (with real broth, in a restaurant)?
  • Salad with sesame-soy dressing?
  • Sushi Rolls?
  • Seaweed salad?

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 Post subject: Re: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 8:38 pm 
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It was home-made miso soup. I've used the miso paste before in other things with no problems and I'm sure I've never had any problems with MSG. The only other ingredients were tofu, scallions, konbu dashi and wakame. Since I've had tofu and scallions before, I have to assume it is either the konbu or the wakame. The hives showed up half an hour after eating the soup and half an hour after eating the leftovers. They lasted about 3 hours. I've just never gotten around to trying each separately to see which was the culprit. I should, though. It's very good soup.


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 Post subject: Re: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 8:40 pm 
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Oops, forgot to mention, the dashi also had bonito flakes, so that may also have been the cause. Still, just 3 ingredients to test. I really should do it.


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 Post subject: Re: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 10:42 pm 
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JB,

Do you have other fish allergies?

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 Post subject: Re: Miso Trendy
PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 5:11 pm 
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Fuzzy,

The only thing I've ever had an allergic reaction to is miso soup.


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