inigoaguirre

Hi, I first blanch the albedo (the white part of citrus) changing the water and blanching again until i get rid of most of its bitterness and puree it with the juice and the rind in order to a cream that jellifies thanks to the pectin in the albedo, i sometimes also use olive oil in the mix and even miso... the uses, almost anything, aromatizing a sherbet, for fish tartar... check this links on my blog: Tuna tartar with comlete kumquat gel Lemon servet also with kumquat salmon with red orange and miso gel:

Hey Nathan, in case i'm not too late, try and roast the weat, all good qualities soy sauces are elaborated this way, producers say that it helps to darken the sauces andit also intensifies the taste cheers and please keep post your process!!

hi takadi, great news! please let me know how you use it. you can buy and see info re. the cooking temp controller here: http://auberins.com/index.php?main_page=pr...&products_id=44 It’s a great device normally used for sous vide cooking (cooking a vacuum packed product at a very precise temp inside a water bath). There's a very interesting doc there on the basis on sv cooking. The device it’s very easy to use. The rice cooker is plugged in to the temp cooking controller (which is plugged to the wall) in order to control the flow of electricity. It also has a thermometer that measures the temperature of the rice cooker pot so that you could set the temperature and program a timer. You can find a better explanation at their site (copied from the page): It can be used to precisely control the temperature of a cooking pot such as rice cooker, slow cooker or table top roaster. The temperature range of the cooking device can be controlled from 5 degree above the ambient to 250 F (140C) with one degree precision and stability. Operating the temperature controller is easy: plug the cooker to the output socket of the controller on the back, drop the sensor into the pot from top and place the cover, turn on the controller and cooker, set the cooking temperature and timer. It will do the rest of job for you. When finished, the timer will display END and turn on the beeper to tell you the food is ready.

Final process on soy sauce making: filtering and pasteurization After the long process of fermentation and, for the past 6 months, almost daily stirring the moromi (the fermented mix of soy, flour and brine) while sunning at my terrace, the mash has darkened considerably and seemed a good moment to filter and pasteurize the soy sauce. Its interesting to see how a hotter climate (Spain vs Canada) and 3 extra months fermentation affects the final product, (comparing to that of Canucklehead’s soy sauce) both in terms of aroma and colour. After filtering through increasingly smaller holes, (first a normal colander, then through a sieve and finally a smaller filter, I have obtained a dark soy sauce, just a tone lighter than the colour of any industrial shoyzu with added brown - reddish tones. (I have obtained only 4’5 litres of soy sauce out of 9 litres of moromi). You can see here the miso and the filtered soy sauce before pasteurization here: There are no mayor changes in terms of colour and aroma in the soy sauce before and alter pasteurization. The mayor difference is that before pasteurization it is more difficult to separate the fat from the rest of the liquid. In terms of flavour, the soy sauce has richer and more complex aromas, with notes that remind of a strong miso and ordinary shoyzu. Still, it’s less salty than ordinary shoyzu. I have found no flavours like fermented fish sauce in the process as that of Canucklehead’s. In order not to kill off aromas through heating, I have pasteurized the sauce for 3 hours at 70º Celsius, which is enough to kill off any harmful bacteria. I have used a device attached to a rice cooker that maintains a precise temperature through time. It is perfect for sous vide cooking, but it has other thousands applications. While pasteurization the liquid divided into 3: The fat separated and formed a very thin film on top of the soy sauce The liquid became clearer And the solid remaining floated beautifully on the sauce as if it were miso on a soup. After this process the sauce went through a final filtering process and also had to skim off the fat with a consommé de-fattening jar (the fat floats on the surface and remains in the jar while pouring). Foto jarra This are photos of the 2 soy sauces, the first being the unpasteurized one (with small fat granules still floating in the sauce; you might notice that the soy sits in the base of the bowl adapting an irregular shape) and the second pasteurized and skimmed of the soy oil. And the very final product, the soy sauce bottled and labeled:

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Although the short answer is 16-30% salt to water ratio, this is a kind reply from a person working at Kikkoman Europe re. this very same matter: Dear Mr. Inigo Aguirre, First of all, we thank you for your inquiry made to us and your interest in making soy sauce by your self for educational purpose. As per your inquiry, I’m happy to reply although this may not be enough information to you. It all depends on what kind of soy sauce (salty, light etc.) you intend to make, but we suggest that you use 30g of salt per 100ml of water to use. I hope you would find a way to make it successfully. Best regards, And this is just an extract from another mail replying to my query on the minimum % of salt that should be used for light salted soy sauce: For your information, it is recommended that you use at least 15 to 16% of salt against water, otherwise Moromi mash can be decayed.

hi there, yes, when i poured the brine i marked the water level, i add more mineral water and as it evaporates. i think that the aspergillus is not salt resistant, but the encimes produced by the aspergillus are (only on brines under 30% salt concentration).

thanks! doent octopus become more chewy when you leave it in vinegar? from my experience the muscle seems to contract when exposed to an acid another question (sorry, i dont speak japanese) how is the octopus reconstituted?

hi there, i have just bought some dried octopus in lisbon. so far the only think i have been able to think of is the basic browning and slicing, as a snack with a vinagrette and a beer... i have also did a stock, but it just tasted as normal octopus stock; i was specting a stronger aroma and flavour. has anyone any ideas on how to prepare this dried octopus? thanks a lot, íñigo sorry, cant upload the pictures. you can click here on my blog to view the photos: http://inigoaguirre.wordpress.com/2008/05/...bfesto-se-come/

the purpose of the salt brine is to kill the mold and maintain the enzimes it produced alive and fermenting. icheck this "recepie" on the book of miso on google books (making traditional japanese shoyzu): http://books.google.es/books?id=N3EJorOxXt...dJ-Go#PPA184,M1

i just used normal soy beans and flour. re: ratio solid ing in proportion to the water: i used just enough water to cover the solid ingredients. i don't think that using old soy sauce would help much. the mold develops on its own... and its killed when introduced into the salt brine. the yeast will naturally ocurr with the addition of wheat flour.

i have new pictures after 3 weeks sunning... the weather has not been too good, but apparently it will improove from now onwards. the liquid is getting much darker, and hopefully the weather will help with the process. as you can see, a part of the soy and flour mix is dissolving and sinking at the bottom. will post more pictures soon. i'm not sure you can see the pictures... i'm new at egullet. in case you cant, you could see it on my blog: umami madrid sorry cant upload them. can anyone help me uploading the pictures? cheers

And, for the love of gawd, don't slice habaneros, then go to the bathroom! ← and never, ever have sex after handling very, very hot peppers

i guess so but i really couldn't tell

i supposse i will be trying until the taste seems good enough to stop fermenting. for me it will be a question of trying and and error (or not!)

Very intrested in seeing how the differences in sunlight effects the final product. I apologize if I was not able to give specific measurements - my pictures were centered around watching what my Uncle does and not repelicating the results myself. Much of his process is done by taste and feel. I am very excited to see how others approach making soy sauce. ←

hi, the tomato water is great for enhancing flavours since it's concentrated with the umami flavour from the gel that holds together the seeds inside the fruit (it's the part of the tomato with most umami). one of the best things i've tried is to gelatinize it in the plate you will later be serving another the main ingredient, it's great with seafood such as clams and oysters! cheers

hi, very good idea... yes, i had it on the "bag" of my mind as one of the options. i have a cheaper (and very good) alternative at home under another brand, but much smaller, it holds about 1 liter, and it would definetly be a heck of a job to do filter all the soy sauce it through this bag (i will have aprox about 6 liters worth of soy sauce). will try a shieve and wheight, but i really want to get a perfecly clear soy sauce, so might end up using it... anyway, will post pictures and method as it happens- wich will probably be by mid july... in madrid the temp in july is about an average of 100F/40ºC so things might speed up and hopefully the soy sauce will be much darker and tasteful i'm glad you gained back your interest on the subject!

hi takadi, i use a plastic container for food use to ferment soy sauce and i stir it (rather than stirring it i close the container and move it around so that the soy paste doesnt crumble) twoice a day (first thing in the morning when i open the containter in order to sun the content and at night when i close it). when the temperature is not too high i just stir once every 2-3 days. mind you, i just do it for safety, i have read other recepies there the product is stirred every 3 days. i also tried to inoculate it with aspergillus orizae but got no result out of it (it works with rice, and it's great for miso making, but not with soy) if you want to inoculate with its proper mold you should try aspergillus sojae, or like the corean do, you could also try inoculating it with dried rice plant. if you're also interested on making miso, you can buy aspergillus orizae at: asperguillus orizae- for miso making (its the same mold used for sake making) i have some very interesting doc's on soy making and soy history. send me your email and i'll forward them over to you. my mail is: inigoaguirrep@hotmail.com there's also very useful information on The Book of Miso... highly recomendable book. will soon start making miso at home. (they have a recepie on soy sauce, which you can look up at google books for free and the rest of historical information and many of the processes also apply to soy sauce making thanks for the link, very interesting indeed (though i already knew of its existance) for historical info and proceedure you can check out this site: soy info center hope it helps, cheers, íñigo

[ yes, the difference between soy sauce making and miso making is the quantity of water you put and the ingredients. for the japanese soyzu you sould use soy beans and flour on aprox the same proportion. chinese normally use less quantities of flour. miso has very little water content (then again depends very much on the miso, for instance, hatcho miso is very solid and has hardly any water) the brine should have around 25% salt (you sould heat at least a part of the water in order to dissolve the salt otherwise you would end up with all the cristals in the bottom) kikkoman uses for their classic soyzu 23% salt; you can also find soy sauce with low salt content, but the proportion should still be quite high re. filtering: you can filter the soy sauce (i still have to work out how to filter it, I havent jet reached that stage, but i'll try it with a shive and a weight). traditionally in japan villages you could get someone to filter for a more pure and clear product. you can also not filter it, as they do with traditional north vietnammese soy sauce. re. pasteurization the best possible way to pasturize soy sauce is 4 hours at 70ºC (158º F)... but you can have it not pasterized and the final product would have a richer and more complex aroma. i am currently doing soy sauce at home and will pasteurize only a part of it in order to have lasting longer. you could see the photos on the process on by blog (it's in spanish, sorry). the soy sauce have only been in the sun for around 2 weeks. will post pictures as it brews in the brine. click below to go to the article: umami madrid's weblog