04 — On Fermentation
Letting nature do the work.
I don't even feel like I'm cooking. I'm just harnessing nature.
When I moved to San Francisco to pursue being a vegan chef, it didn’t take long to learn that umami was the secret to getting people not to miss animal protein. At first I was working on intuition — stirring a little miso or a dash of soy sauce into dishes that never asked for it, but wanted the depth.
I was fascinated by Japanese cuisine, and in 2012 I started working for Chef Takashi Saito, who taught me to grow koji and how to use it. The kitchen at Bar Tartine showed me new possibilities with lacto-fermentation, brines, fermented pepper pastes, a wall of dehydrators, and so much sauerkraut. Thanks to The Noma Guide to Fermentation, I now keep urns full of yeast garum for building beefy flavors — and the best caramelized onion soup you’ve ever had.
Eater wrote about my work growing my own “meat”, inoculating a substrate of rice and beans with tempeh and koji spores — essentially growing my own superfood veggie burgers. I love growing different kinds of burgers and tempeh.
At any time my cellar might hold a six-month aged mushroom tamari, or miso pastes made from barley, masa, smoked peppers, lentils or sunchokes. I have even made a popcorn miso. I make a “chicken soup” miso from chickpeas and overnight-dried onion, carrot and celery with bay leaves, and it tastes like instant chicken soup.
Having these flavor builders on hand makes cooking very easy. Balancing the freshness of raw or lightly cooked food, its integrity preserved, against the depth and soul of rich umami feels like letting nature do the work for me. I don’t even feel like I’m cooking. I’m just harnessing nature. Anyone who has been to one of my dinner parties or restaurants, or had me as a private chef, has eaten my subliminal cooking.
The pursuit of deeper flavor led me to see and appreciate nature’s transformations. Nothing ever dies, and if you are cognizant of transformation you can harness its power. Fermentation breaks food down so your body can absorb more of it, including breaking proteins into the amino acids that read as umami — the flavor your body is telling you is delicious because you need it.
All of this is good for your body. Food is medicine.
