|
August 4, 2009
By W. Blake Gray
Like soy sauce before it, miso is a defining element of Japanese food that is now finding its way into the wider world of international cuisine.
Most Americans, including professional chefs, are first introduced to miso through miso soup. But given the chance to work with it, people find miso adds depth of flavor, umami and nutrients to everything from meat loaf to ice cream.
Five chefs spoke about their use of miso in July 2009 at a tasting panel at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Of the five, only one chef was Japanese.
“Before going to Japan, I didn't know how to use miso except in a Japanese restaurant,” said Swedish-born chef Staffan Terje of the San Francisco Italian restaurant Perbacco. “I am a research cook. Miso is a fermented product that really enhances flavor. Being of northern European descent, there's a lot of fermented flavors that we have in common. Fermented foods really heighten flavors in food. For me to find another ingredient to use, not to mimic Japanese cuisine, but to incorporate it has been a revelation.”
Seminar attendees included professional chefs, food industry product developers, cookbook authors and other members of the food media. Questions from the audience, such as a lively discussion of the different flavors imparted by different strains of koji mold, reflected the knowledge of the group.
Kiyoshi Takahashi, manager of the Miyagi Miso & Soy Sauce Cooperative Association, kicked off the event with an explanation of miso's history, production and variety. In the modern world of cuisine, bakers are using miso in cookies and cakes, Takahashi said, but that's a long journey from its origin.
Miso is believed to have originated in China. Japanese documents mention its use as early as 701 AD, when it was a delicacy for the nobility and Buddhist monks. Back then, miso was generally eaten straight (still a pretty good method – try it with crudites.)
During Japan's centuries-long internal wars between various city-states and clans, miso made the perfect food for traveling samurai: it stores well for long periods, is lightweight, and contains many vital nutrients. In fact, Japan's first miso factory was started by a military commander in Sendai.
Miso has never been restricted to a single type. The flavors and colors vary greatly depending on the source ingredients.
Miso is usually made from a mixture of soybeans and a malted grain. About 78% of the miso in Japan is made with rice, while about 6% is made with barley. Some miso – about 5% -- is made purely from soybeans, while 11% uses some mixture for the malt. Soybean-malt (“mame”) miso is dark brown, with a deep, rich flavor. Barley-malt (“mugi”) miso can be either light yellow, with a sweet flavor, or red, with a full-bodied flavor.
Rice-malt (“kome”) miso has the most varieties. Sendai specializes in red, full-bodied, potent miso. But kome miso can also be sweet (white or red) or semi-sweet (light yellow or red).
To make miso, soybeans and the grain are steamed until they break down into a mash. A koji mold starter is added, and the mixture is fermented and aged. Different regions achieve different flavors by introducing the koji at different points in the process.
Fermentation produces many amino acids, which makes eating miso much healthier than eating raw soybeans, Takahashi said.
Chubu and Kyushu are the only ones regions that don't prefer rice-malt miso. The Chubu region, which includes Nagoya, prefers soybean malt miso. Kyushu makes barley malt miso.
In the Kansai area, white, sweet miso is the favorite, and is the centerpiece of that area's delicate cuisine.
Sendai miso producers achieve distinctive character by crushing the soybeans, rice, salt and water together. Moreover, Sendai miso has a 10:7 ratio of soybeans to rice, which is much higher than the usual 1:1 ratio. This gives Sendai miso more umami and a stronger fermentation flavor.
The distinctive red color of miso from Sendai and other regions comes from melanoidin, a powerful antioxidant. Melanoidin was just one of the nutritional elements discussed by Yumi Satow, assistant professor of consumer and family studies at San Francisco State University.
Satow pointed out that compared to Westerners, Asians suffer less from osteoporosis, cancer (especially of the breast, colon and prostate) and heart disease. Some researchers believe soy products including miso are responsible for Asians' greater health in these areas, as soy products are high in fiber, iron, protein, minerals (especially magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and potassium), and vitamins B6 and K.
Among its other potential health benefits, miso is believed to help prevent type 2 diabetes, reduce hypertension, reduce the rate of bone loss in women suffering from menopause, and even reduce radiation sickness. People who drink a cup of miso soup every day are believed to have a 33 percent lower chance of developing stomach cancer.
A chefs' panel discussion was hosted by Tara Duggan, a cookbook author and food writer from the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.
“What I was really interested in at this event was the diversity of background of the chefs,” Duggan said.
The chefs were:
• Paul Canales of Oliveto, an Italian-focused restaurant in Oakland well known for producing his own cured meats
• Bruce Hill of Bix, a San Francisco restaurant known for modern versions of classic American dishes, such as a decadent black truffle cheeseburger (“I should try putting miso in that,” Hill said.)
• Shotaro Kamio of Yoshi's, a jazz club and sushi restaurant with branches in San Francisco and Oakland that's known for innovative takes on Japanese cuisine
• Ravi Kapur of Boulevard, a Michelin-starred California cuisine restaurant in downtown San Francisco
• Staffan Terje, known for his innovative yet comforting northern Italian cuisine at San Francisco's Perbacco
The five chefs took a tour of Sendai earlier this year, along with a visit to Tokyo, where they said they ate only street food.
“The thing that struck me was that Japanese food is similar to Italian food in its aesthetic of purity,” Canales said. “It was always really clear what you were eating and why you were eating it. In the best Italian food that's really true as well.”
Canales was impressed with his visit to a miso plant, and said, “Miso really played a bigger role in my cooking afterwards.”
Terje said he wasn't interested in making “fusion” cuisine. In fact, though fusion of local ingredients with European and Asian cooking techniques is a hallmark of California restaurants, all of the chefs reacted negatively to the description.
“When you incorporate other flavors, you're always afraid of the fusion stamp,” Terje said. “I found that a lot of Japanese ingredients, using them in classic Italian dishes, actually elevated those dishes.”
Terje said the eye-opening dish for him on his Japan visit was beef brisket and beef tendon simmered in a miso broth that he ate at a Sendai restaurant run by a relative of Kamio, his fellow panelist.
“After this trip, I learned miso is not a specific ingredient for a specific item,” Terje said. “It's a universal ingredient that can be used for many things. When I sampled the beef brisket and tendon in miso broth, I thought, wow, I've just got to put this in my short ribs when I get home.”
Terje continued, “Using miso, I was able to expand my ideas in the Italian and Mediterranean food I'm cooking. Compared to the color palate I was creating with before, suddenly I have more crayons in my box. I use miso not in a Japanese style. I incorporate it into my northern Italian style. When you add miso to a mushroom dish, it lifts up the flavor. I add miso to dishes that I feel need more depth and dimension.”
Terje said that creating appealing vegetarian and vegan cuisine is a constant challenge, particularly in the Bay Area, where so many diners insist on it. Miso is a huge help because it adds richness and protein, yet is totally vegan.
“If you try a vegetable broth, they're very mild,” Terje said. “Adding miso to a vegetarian broth, suddenly you have a lot of depth. I had a customer who insisted on having a vegetarian risotto. I added miso to the broth, and it had so much richness and flavor that the customer thought I didn't follow his request; he thought I used beef broth. But I convinced him it was miso. Miso opens up avenues of vegan food that had been restricted. I don't often like to cook vegan dishes because they taste kind of bland, but suddenly you have this ingredient that adds depth and richness.”
Terje and Kapur agreed that using miso in sauces allows them to have good depth of flavor without the need to reduce the sauces. “Some restaurants will take a sauce and reduce it down into syrup,” Terje said. “Doing that, you bring out a lot of bitter compounds, but this is all done to bring out texture in a sauce. Now we add miso instead of reducing.”
“We try to build flavor without reducing, so we're not concentrating a sauce down too much,” Kapur said. “I like to add flavors while still keeping it light. Miso's a good way to add layers without concentrating. It's like anchovies, but it's cool that it's a vegetarian product. In fact, talking about it makes me want to go make a miso Caesar salad.”
Hill said, “Sometimes we use miso where we might use butter. It'll add richness to the dish but it's lighter.”
But Canales pointed out that miso has its own unique character.
“It would be a mistake if we gave you the impression that you can just use miso as a substitute,” Canales said “Miso is a thing. You can find analogies like anchovy and butter. But it's best explored and not just blindly substituted in a recipe.”
Several of the chefs said that when they use miso, they don't put it on the menu in the description of the dish.
“If we're going to mention miso, it needs to fit the profile,” Kapur said. “If I'm going to put it in Eggs Benedict, I'm not going to mention it. It will confuse the customer. So many people in this country think of miso just with miso soup. We're using it in a sauce we pour over grilled fish, but we don't talk about it.”
Hill said that while he might not list miso on the menu, he makes sure the wait staff knows what's in the dish in case customers ask. “Some people want to know how the dish got so rich,” Hill said.
With a Japanese-focused restaurant, the use of miso can be much wider.
“My menu has maybe 65% dishes with miso,” Kamio said.
Kamio was born in Sendai, and he still prefers the intense-tasting miso from there.
“I remember my mother making miso soup and my father always tasting the flavor,” Kamio said. “My father was a really strict Japanese guy and he really likes the true taste of miso.”
And in fact, even in his most innovative dishes, like the miso ice cream he served in the demonstration portion of the event, Kamio seeks to present the actual taste of miso.
Terje approves of that style of cooking.
“When you start exploring ingredients for their own identity, you kind of expand your own horizons,” Terje said. “Miso doesn't determine that you're going to cook Japanese cuisine. Miso has the ability to be cooked in a variety of food without taking away from the character of what you're trying to do. Miso will actually evolve cuisine without creating little Frankenstein monsters.”
Chuckling, Duggan brought the panel to a close by saying, “California cuisine is always about taking local ingredients and doing something new. I don't see why we can't do something exciting with miso.”
And in fact, in the demonstration seminar, that's exactly what they did. |
Food 
