Anybody toying with Koji?
Anybody toying with Koji?
A while ago I managed to find a webshop selling koji spores and figured 'hell, why not?'.
I've seeded some rice successfully and made 2 batches of miso - one with chickpeas and another with plain old beans. Loved the results.
Then I was inspired by the veggie charcuterie I've seen Sandor Katz's book (I think it was there?) and thought I could maybe use it to make fake dry-sausages out of slabs of cooked seitan seeded with the koji spores. Success was limited since I did not get a full cover on the bits before the thing started sporulating, so I placed it in a dehydrator. Nevertheless, it was a fairly tasty addition to stir-fries, albeit a bit tough.
Anybody ever done funky things with koji? Looking for some weird new ideas to try out.
I have not played with Koji, but I am Curious about it. Can you expand more on the seitan sausages with it, was it supposed to work in a similar fashion to cured sausages? or break it down to soften it up? Just make a fun and interesting texture/flavour? Also thank you I now have another book to look into!
Yeah, I was hoping for something like cured lean sausages.
In my mind, the mold would grow hyphae through the slabs of seitan and would secrete enzymes to give a softer texture. While it did secrete enzymes and do its magic on the surface - it brought out some very nice flavours, I felt the middle was a bit lacking and leathery in consistence. If I repeat the experiment I'll probably try thinner strips of seitan (these were about 2.5 cm/1 inch over 1 cm/0.4 inches) and a lower incubation temperature. At the time it was a bit cold and I incubated in a dehydrator (in a covered vessel with adequate moisture inside) at 30C. Conditions may not have been very friendly, hence the sporulation.
Maybe I'll give it a small flour coating as well (like they do with soybeans for soy sauce?) and perhaps poke some holes in the cooked slabs with a toothpick to increase surface area and oxygenation.