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takadi

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Posts posted by takadi

  1. Deryn, see the following links

     

    http://products.momofuku.com/bonji/

     

    http://products.momofuku.com/hozon/

     

    Your hunches are correct. I'm currently fermenting a chickpea "miso" or a hozon in David Chang's terminology. But pretty much anything with significant amounts of protein can be fermented to make a soy sauce/miso like product, particularly nuts and legumes and certain grains. Of course different sources are more conducive to different types of molds and bacteria...it would be interesting to see what a koji fermented cheese would look like

    • Like 1
  2. Yup you got it...although the salt percentage is really up to your discretion. It can go as low as <16 percent although that is more risky and probably requires more purposeful innoculation and a more sterile environment. It can go as high as 25 to 30 percent.  From what I've seen however, 18-20 percent seems to be the usual number.

  3. thanks so much Danielkumiadi it is a disease isn't it ..if it can be made I have to try 

    I make fish sauce and my husband almost moved out but he now understands why! it is so good! 

     

    If you've already made fish sauce, soy sauce should be a piece of cake! I would be evicted if I tried that lol. 

     

    If you are interested in making korean style soy sauce and doenjang, I found a really awesome documentary on youtube that explains the basics of making it

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtbgUYBRRp8

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SafxD279uFI

    • Like 2
  4. Hai Takadi, can you tell me why we need to weight the actual soybean and flour?

     

    The total salinity of the end product should be at least 18 percent, not just the brine. This number was derived from reverse calculations done from sodium levels from the nutritional facts label on the back of the kikkoman soy sauce bottle, as well as some numbers I found during some research I did (inlcuding recommended numbers from the company itself).  If you put just the soy cakes in without accounting for extra salt, the salt will redistribute into the soy cakes out of the brine and lower the total salt density and make it a more inviting environment for other microbes. This had happened to me while my soy sauce was out in the hot sun so it was starting to form a skin of yeast or bacteria on top, and it started to smell a little funky (a smell that reminded me of parmesan cheese, a little like vomit, lol). Anyways it didn't smell horrible or rotten and it got better after I added more salt, but unfortunately, I had to totally redo my batch because an animal had actually gotten into it and ate all the soycakes!  :wacko: Had to dump the whole thing out

     

    Redoing my batch, I used about twice the amount of soy, 10 lbs of soy beans and 15 liters of water. Measured out 18 percent of total weight of soybeans cakes and water for salt. The soybean cakes were weighed after the mold had taken hold to account for any weight change. It's been almost three weeks and the soy sauce has already gotten considerably darker and is starting to smell like a strong miso, with something extra that I can't describe (it smells like caramelized or cured meat for some reason). It has gotten considerably colder outside where I am so I brought it back inside and am stirring it every 1-2 days. Not sure what the lack of sun and warmth will do for the end product but I am planning to age this for at least 6 months to 2 years, taking out samples every six months. Hopefully the long aging times will more than make up for it. 

    IMG_0937.JPG

     

     

    IMG_0937.JPG

    • Like 3
  5. Oh god I think I made a mistake. I forgot to account for the weight of the actual soybeans and flour when calculating the salt percentage. 18 percent is supposed to be the *final* salt percentage of the soy sauce, not the initial brine. The soy sauce doesn't smell terrible but it's starting to form a pellicle on top which isn't a good sign.  I'll start over but I'll add more salt to this batch and let it continue to ferment in another batch to see where it goes. 

    • Like 1
  6. Here are my molded loaves! I couldn't wait any longer...I think they are ready for the brine don't you?

     

    IMG_0868.JPG

     

    IMG_0877.JPG

     

     

    I think I finally know what that "meaty" smell is. It smells like natto and a little like blue cheese and tempeh. There's also a yeasty smell I recognize from making rice wine. Lots of funky stuff going on.

     

    As was in Sambucken's case, you could definitely feel a heat emmanating off of it

     

    I think I will be continuing to use sight and smell as my main metrics for this experiment.  To me a "fishy" smell or rotten/unpleasant smell will be a sign of failure as well as any sort of weird pest or microbial infestation. That will mean to me that the brine strength was too weak and/or the wrong microbial strains have taken hold.

     

    Fortunately I will be the only test guinea pig in the taste tests so my friends and family can rest easy

    • Like 3
  7. Hi Dan, I can not speak about mold species from an educated position. Other than brine strength I am taking a completely unscientific "artisan" approach to this. From what I've read, the goal is to destroy the microbes with the salt but not the enzymes that act on the proteins and sugars of the wheat and soy. So in theory the "bad" microbes that produce toxins will not survive past a certain brine percentage.

     

    From the many many blogs I've scoured on the internet where people are taking on this home-made soy sauce venture, almost all of them have bits of black mold here and there but none of them have the black mold dominating. There are black colored koji molds but I am unsure if the ones in your culture are of the koji strain. Most koji i've seen is white or yellowish. I suspect maybe your molding environment is too moist, which is also probably why there were maggots. I simply covered my soy loaves with a single layer of wetted paper towels, one or two layers of newspaper, and some single sheets of cling wrap scattered on top. 

    • Like 1
  8. Wow, so EIGHT years after first posting on this thread, I finally decided to take the leap and make my own soy sauce. I used a mixture of organic whole wheat flour and white flour.  Combined with the really warm weather around here the mold has taken hold very quickly despite being only two or three days. Little bits of black, yellow and green mold, but mostly white mold, both the fluffy and spotty kind.  It already is very aromatic, very hard to describe...kind of bready and kind of "meaty". I guess all the baking and fermenting in my house has made it teeming with awesome cultures. I'll take a picture of the molded loaf slices after in a few days.  

     

    After much research I've decided on a brine concentration of 18%. I think I will skip the drying process and just put the bean loaves directly into the brine

    • Like 3
  9. Although grains do come from grasses, I'm pretty sure the chemistry of the plant is quite different when it is seeding than when it is actively growing. The grass converts all of its energy and nutrients to creating the seed, which is mostly an endosperm (carbohydrate)...it's probably why cows love it so much, it is the equivalent of cow junk food. The one thing I know for sure is the nature of the fats, specifically the omega-3/omega-6 ratio changes when the grass goes to seed. 

     

     People are right, even conventionally raised cows are all raised on grass, at least until they reach a certain weight and they are moved into a feedlot. I'm not sure what labeling requirements are, but sometimes you'll read the label and it'll say "Grass-fed" in big letters and in fine print there is "and other vegetarian feed". 100% Grass-fed beef has a very distinctive taste and mouth feel. Grain-fed, or at least grain finished beef, tastes very bland to me, is much more marbled and has a harder, whiter fat.  I can always tell when a producer cheats and the meat isn't 100% grass-fed.

     

    That being said, I think grain-finished steaks are vastly superior to grass-finished steaks due to the higher marbling content, but for all other purposes I prefer the taste of grass-fed beef. This goes for "grass-finished" milk as well. The health benefits are a secondary benefit

  10. Want to revive this thread because I've been deep frying in a small dutch oven for the last few years and my biggest complaints are the clean up, the splattering, the temperature control, and the ability to keep the oil clean. The last one is my biggest pet peeve because the oil will quickly get black when the crumbs/flour drop to the bottom and start burning. Worst part is it is very difficult to filter out the tiny burnt particulates to reuse the oil, so I have to trash the oil often. 

     

    I've been trying to look into investing in an automatic deep fryer that addresses these issues, one that has a filter for the oil and a good stable temperature controller as well as easy maintenance and clean up. Anyone have any suggestions? Waring is currently the top rated brand on Amazon so far.

  11. I think a double blind study showed that there's no adverse reaction to MSG so what you are feeling either could be a placebo effect or just the result of consuming too much sodium. I've noticed food heavy in MSG doesn't taste as salty, or doesn't have the same sharpness of salt, so it's easy to overconsume.

    Let's just say that MSG sensitivity does exist though. I think the best theory, one that I presented here a while back, is that it is the refinement of MSG that causes the reaction rather than the glutamate compound itself.  Like how refined sugars cause high spikes in blood sugar than carbohydrates high in fiber or resistant starch that causes slower release in sugar. Maybe not the same chemically but an apt metaphor I think. Perhaps consuming glutamates in foods rich in other compounds, proteins, amino acids has some kind of synergistic effect that affects absorption somehow

     

    EDIT

     

    Here's an article I found that expresses that theory perfectly

    http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/its-the-umami-stupid-why-the-truth-about-msg-is-so-easy-to-swallow-180947626/?no-ist

     

    "“The short answer is that there is no difference: glutamate is glutamate is glutamate,” says Richard Amasino, professor of biochemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It would be identical unless different things created a different rate of uptake.”

    Glutamtes that occur naturally in food come intertwined with different chemicals or fiber, which the body is naturally inclined to regulate, explains Amy Cheng Vollmer, professor of biology at Swarthmore College. MSG, however, comes without the natural components of food that help the body regulate glutamic levels. It’s like taking an iron supplement versus obtaining iron from spinach or red meat: the iron supplement creates an expressway between the iron and your bloodstream that you wouldn’t find in natural iron sources."

  12. Okay this is the third time my avocado oil mayo is splitting after a week or so in the fridge. It's normal and tasty for the first weeks then it turns into the texture of butter. When taken out of the fridge and brought back up to room temperature it is broken.

     

    I am trying a new batch with a new technique this time by soft boiling eggs until the yolk reaches a creamy consistency and using that instead of raw yolks in hopes it will stay stable. I will also be adding a little more water. If this doesn't work, it could be just the oil I'm using. Maybe using a blend of oils will fare better. If not I'll probably have to resort to using xantham gum or something

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