THE great Newcastle lockdown of 2020 was all about making sourdough at home. If you weren't feeding your starter with bacteria and yeast, what were you doing?
This year, according to The Essential Ingredient Newcastle's Leonie Young, our craving is for food "that replicates what we are eating out".
Korean food is bombastic and joyful in its use of spice, heat and acid, while the Japanese prefer to cook produce simply then enhance it with superbly umami-rich seasonings and condiments.
Leonie Young
Meal kits to assemble at home are definitely in demand.
Young has her finger firmly on Newcastle's foodie pulse and is a fount of knowledge when it comes to her favourite topic - food. She reckons Korean and Japanese cuisines are in demand from home cooking enthusiasts and chefs alike. In-house chef Paul Niddrie and artisan baker Kelly Syms agree.
"You can't deny their umami-laden power, but you can make them work for you in your everyday cooking," Young explains.
"Korean food is bombastic and joyful in its use of spice, heat and acid, while the Japanese prefer to cook produce simply then enhance it with superbly umami-rich seasonings and condiments.
"Although both cuisines are steeped in centuries of tradition, modern chefs and small purveyors are branching out, blending ingredients of Korean and Japanese origin together to create stunning dishes and new-school ingredients. These two cuisines are all about showcasing sparklingly fresh raw ingredients but adding enormous depth of flavour with brewed, fermented, dried and aged pantry staples. These ingredients take generations to perfect and time to produce, but the pay-off is instant deliciousness."
The Essential Ingredient now sources koji from Daylesford in regional Victoria. Koji is a grain, typically rice, that has been inoculated with a fermentation culture and is used in the preparation of certain foods.
"Koji has seen quite the resurgence over the past few years - it is a live food that is rich in enzymes that have the ability to breakdown starches and proteins into sugars and amino acids," Young explains.
"In the home and restaurant kitchen, dried koji is turned into shio koji (an excellent lockdown project with minimal fuss and maximum rewards) to marinate meats to assist in tenderising and creating a wonderful sense of umami.
"It's also lovely used in pickles as it aids in fermentation, providing a lactic tang to pickles rather than the standard burn of vinegar and sweetness of refined sugar.
"As the nature of the shio koji is salted, you can use it for exciting sweets such as salted caramel in place of salt and/or miso. Imagine a gooey white chocolate and macadamia cookie, both sweet and interestingly salty. Or a butterscotch sauce finished with coconut cream and shio koji poured over a sweet ginger cake."
Koji and miso go hand in hand.
"Miso is the classical Japanese fermented soybean paste that adds instant savoury depth to virtually anything you can sneak it into," Young says.
"The soybeans are inoculated with koji and left to ferment over a period of months, or even years. The koji breaks down the soybeans into amino acids, fatty acids and simple sugars, giving our taste buds easy access to the good stuff like glutamate - commonly found in parmesan cheese, tomatoes and meat (all umami rich)."
She recommends avoiding mass-produced supermarket miso for quality.
"Kaokao's small-batch miso comes in four nuanced types: the signature KaoKao (red) misos and sweet misos are redolent with umami, comparable to dry-aged parma ham with nutty undertones. Barley (mugi, in Japanese) miso is a special treat that presents with a strong barley aroma but is milder and sweeter than classic red miso. Paul [Niddrie] recommends adding a little to soft oat cookies for a more-ish treat.
"The sesame miso is a match made in heaven - toasted and ground sesame enhances the nutty qualities of the miso. Kelly [Syms] recommends using this as a base for a cold sesame-peanut noodle salad.
"We've also got one more trick up our sleeves with KaoKao's chilli miso paste, an instant flavour boost when brushed over grilled meat or vegetables. It can also be used as a dipping sauce for Ssam, a Korean dish where lettuce or perilla leaves are used to wrap barbecued meats and banchan into tempting, two-bite parcels. You could also use the classic accompaniment of daesang ssamjang (which directly translates to 'wrap paste') to dip your ssam in for a hit of funk, heat and sweetness."
Have you heard of banchan? It's a Korean term used to describe the variety of side dishes served with meals, the most famous being kimchi (fermented vegetables).
Tart and spicy napa cabbage kimchi is popular, however, The Essential Ingredient also stocks Gutsy Ferment's apple radish and cauliflower products.
"Paul makes an incredible kimchi, kewpie mayo and smoked mozzarella toastie that's a cinch to replicate at home," Young says. "It's particularly soothing after a long day at work where you want nothing more than crunchy, cheesy, spicy goodness."
Then there's yuzu, which she describes as "the half-way point between a lemon, mandarin and lime, with a wonderful floral bouquet that adds complexity and versatility to this humble little citrus".
The pure Japanese Yuzu Juice is her pick.
"It's just as at home in cocktails as it is in dressings, curing fish and curds (think of a spring pavlova with candied rhubarb, fresh lychee and yuzu curd)," Young says.
"You'll also find yuzu kosho, the fermented chilli, salt and yuzu zest paste, in both red and green varieties being used in restaurants for a burst of spicy freshness. Try it with seafood, or in an aioli alongside fried fish (or even better - delicately fried oysters).
"Candied yuzu peel shines when paired with a buttery shortbread biscuit - just finely chop it and mix through your creamed ingredients before adding the salt and flour.
"Mount Zero's Yuzu Olive Oil is something new this season that we're all excited to try. The process is an 'agrumato' oil and involves crushing freshly harvested olives with whole yuzu citrus to extract every bit of oil. It's redolent with the aromas of yuzu and grassy olive oil, and will be perfect for dressing snapper sashimi or used as an alternative in a luxurious olive oil cake."
Speaking of fruit, we must try Japanese salted plums, or umeboshi. Soft, sour and salty, and traditionally an accompaniment to rice.
"Chazuke, a dish of rice with dashi or green tea poured over it, often has umeboshi added to it for a quick, restorative snack. Made into a paste, they can be used in marinades for tofu with soy, sesame oil, ginger and garlic," Young says. "We also have anzuboshi - salted apricots that lend more floral, honey notes to the traditional process."
Finally, any conversation about Korean cuisine would be incomplete without mention being made of gochugaru and gochujang. The two ingredients are fundamental to its vibrant colour and flavours.
"Gochugaru is the fine, flaky dried red pepper that you'll find used in kimchi seasoning paste, soups and stews and salads like oi muchim - lightly crushed chunks of cucumber marinated in a gochugaru, rice wine vinegar, salt and garlic then topped with sesame seeds and finely sliced green onion," Young explains.
"The chilli is mild and has more of a roasty and smoky undertone with little heat. If you want spice, gochujang comes in both mild, hot and extra-hot versions. This is gochugaru taken and rehydrated into an incredibly savoury paste along with fermented soybeans, glutinous rice and barley.
"Two tablespoons each of soy sauce, gochujang, rice wine vinegar, then four of honey, along with a teaspoon of minced garlic and one of minced ginger has you on the road to Korean-fried chicken heaven. Just simmer until thickened and then toss your chicken in the sauce with plenty of crushed peanuts."
There is a world of Korean and Japanese ingredients to discover at The Essential Ingredient Newcastle, both in-store and online. If you need help re-creating a dish or stocking your pantry, staff can help you get started on your culinary journey.
