30 DAYS OPEN PURCHASEKoji Alchemy is about a single mould and why it is the most powerful tool most cooks have never used.
Koji is Aspergillus oryzae, the same fungus behind sake, miso, soy sauce, mirin and amazake. In 2006, it was designated Japan's national fungus, which says something about how central it is. What it does is release enzymes that break starch down into sugar and protein into amino acids, in other words, exactly what ageing does, only in days instead of months.
That is the insight the book is built around. Jeremy Umansky runs the delicatessen Larder in Cleveland and uses koji to age meat. Where traditional air drying of charcuterie takes months, he gets there in weeks, with the same depth of flavour. Rich Shih comes from an engineering background and provides the systematic approach.
This is the first book in English devoted entirely to koji, taking it beyond the Japanese tradition and applying it to Western ingredients. It begins with how to grow koji yourself, what equipment you need and how to set up your kitchen, then moves on to amino sauces and pastes, alcohol and vinegar, dairy, eggs, vegetables, baking and charcuterie.
The foreword is by Sandor Katz, which in this genre amounts to a formal handing over of the baton.
The book was a finalist for a James Beard Award in the reference category. It does, however, assume that you already have some fermentation experience. If you have never made sauerkraut or a miso style paste, this should not be the first book on your shelf, but if you have, there is nothing that will take you further.
Number of pages: 352
Foreword: Sandor Katz
Publisher: Chelsea Green
ISBN: 9781603588683
Language: English
First published: April 2020
