How to Cook With Koji, the Savory Secret Weapon That Chefs Love (And You Can, Too)

To taste shio koji on its own is to smell its fruity aroma, sense a round sweetness on the tip of the tongue akin to that of mirin or sweet white miso, and then...the shadow of a presence, as if the flavor that occupies a parallel dimension and is desperately trying to press through to your side.

Sakai likes to smear shio koji on salmon, set it in the fridge for a day or two, then wipe it off and cook the fish. Rich Shih says he only marinates fish for a short time, but recommends a day or two for red meat. Both recommend weighing the meat on a gram scale, then using one tenth its weight in shio koji.

I cut a tri-tip into slices and marinated half with shio koji, then cooked both kinds in side-by-side pans, using slightly lower heat for the marinated beef because the sugars in the marinade char easily. Marinating with salt always plumps up meat, so the welcome juiciness of the koji-touched beef was no surprise. But all the gaminess in the beef—that hit of warm paddock and two-ton mammal—was replaced by a meaty richness that was not beef and more than beef.

In fact, I quickly ran through my stocks of shio koji. When I sought out more, I came across tubs of Cold Mountain'sand realized I didn't have to culture spores to take on some of the projects in Shih and Umansky's book. A jar of Instant Pot-enabled amazake is now in my fridge, and another of shio koji is fermenting on the kitchen counter.

Koji is amazing!

TMGastronaut I never thought I could be sold a cookbook via Twitter but I guess I was wrong. Excited for this Koji alchemist cookbook!

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