It’s surprisingly simple to work with, as long as you know which (dry or liquid) kind to get. Dry with beef or wet with chicken or pork.
I usually marinate the chicken or pork overnight in a ziplock bag and then freeze it for a however long until the morning of the dinner day. If you don’t like leaving meat out to defrost out in the kitchen, 24 hours in the fridge should be fine.
If you sous vide your pork or beef, save the rendered juices for creating a fruit-based glaze or a sauce. It’s a handy repurpose.
Though I haven’t yet tried the dry koji for curing beef, I was very intrigued by the chef’s comparing the final effect and taste to “dry aging.” But he recommended leaving the meat curing for three days in the fridge to let the koji do its thing. Apparently, the koji converts the proteins into amino acids, or something like that, which deepens umami. Same goes with chicken and pork.
Needless to say, from my own experiments, the chicken thighs had that mystery flavor of authentic yakitori and karaage chicken. The BBQ pork ribs? Oh. My. Such an improvement over all other pork ribs I’ve ever had!
For the chicken koji marinade, I found a solid one at the Just One Cookbook website. Kenji Alt-Lopez, at Serious Eats, also talks about koji applications. Jeremy Umansky is the latest voice (with a book out) on the subject.
Here are some webpages touching on uses for koji (recipes!).
Yakitori chicken thighs (skin on, preferably) is a great place to start. Yuzu ponzu sauce (adding Fermented black garlic Soy is a booster) is pretty much the standard grill glaze. Just keep the flame from getting too hot. Too easy to burn the bird. I figured out that low on the gas Weber works best. Glaze and flip, glaze and flip, etc, until it looks right.
I know you’re not in Oslo, but the Mathallen has some excellent, though absurdly expensive, meat counters. And there’s an excellent butcher down by the waterfront.
I don’t recall seeing veal at either place, has Norway banned it? Or is it just too expensive for shops to stock? There are lots of local dairy products, so there must be calf culling going on somewhere.
Mom’s 87th birthday today, so breakfast was eggs Benedict, with homemade English muffins. (This batch came out very well) and fresh hollandaise. Dinner was steak and twice baked potatoes. I ran out of energy before I could bake anything. Tomorrow I will make chocolate raspberry tarts in the style of one of our favorite bakeries.
Whoot! Bob’s Red Mill online purchase arrived today! Restocking some old favorites and a new one to try: Bob’s Red Mill Southern Style White Corn Grits!
…except that the shops in Beaconsfield don’t supply some of the more authentic ingredients (no pecorino, no proper italian sausage, no ziti, etc) so I had to make some substitutions.
you can get an idea of the size of the radishes by carefully moving the dirt around them with your fingers. look into what the average size for the variety or varieties you have planted. my experience is that your best results will come with picking them at the smaller end of the sizing. allowing them to get too large is often to the detriment of both the texture and flavor.
I may have shared this dish before: Meen gassi (fish curry).
It is snapper, rubbed with turmeric and salt, simmered in a curry sauce that starts with toasted coriander, cumin and black mustard seeds, dried chilies (from the garden), fresh coconuts (neighbor’s tree) and tamarind pulp ground into a paste in a - wait for it - molcajete! Looks like this:
add that paste to sauteed onion, ginger and fresh green chili (serrano, also from the garden) to 2 cups (475ml) water, bring to boil, drop temp to simmer and pop in the fish filets, cook 5 minutes a side. Served with steamed rice, papad udam and achar pickles. Very flavorful, spicy, tangy and did I say spicy? Here’s the plate:
one possibility is pickling. if you enjoy other pickled vegetables this might be something to try. to process them you would cut the radishes into more or less bite sized chunks, and cutting them up will tell you whether the interior texture is still fairly sound and firm.
because pickling will change the flavor profile of the radish making it somewhat milder you want to choose a vinegar with a light flavor of its own, maybe a white wine vinegar or a rice wine vinegar. for flavoring the pickling liquid i would go with a ratio of salt to sugar of 2-1, although if you prefer a sweeter note you could reverse that. depending on how you want the overall seasoning to turn out you could go with a more or less traditional pickling blend with whole mustard seed, whole peppercorns, and bay leaves. another possibility is to replace the bay leaves with chunks of fresh cut ginger which will give the pickles more of an asian cast. another possibility is to replace the mustard seeds with coriander seeds and whole cumin seeds which will give the pickles something of a middle eastern aspect.
make the pickling liquid with equal parts water and vinegar, 2 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp sugar per pint of liquid and then pickling spices to taste. because of the acidity and the salt these can be canned in jars in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. do keep in mind that pickled radishes have an aroma that can seem a bit odd the first time you open a jar but the flavor is fairly pleasant. these will keep, unopened in a cool dark storage for 12-18 months. obviously they will need refrigeration upon opening.
If you don’t can them, keep in the fridge? Do you know the shelf life if un-canned?
I have no interest in canning them, but the vinegar pickle sounds interesting.
they pickle well with a standard brine, but the color tends to bleed out of the skins. I usually toss a few in with my dill pickles, too many will dye the whole jar pink. I usually do them whole or quartered, but I’ve sliced them thin for fridge pickles when I’m not canning.
It’s lamb season and bone-in lamb stewing meat is available everywhere here in Western Norway at the moment.
Which means one thing of course: lamb curry. I’ve just come back from a mountain hike and this was waiting for me. For once I’ve been clever and I’ve prepared the 3 hour dish the night before.
I made them small because mom can’t finish a bigger one.
