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COMMENT PAGE FOR:
(HTM) The Science of Fermentation [audio]
ljf wrote 52 min ago:
If you are looking for a fermented foods guide/cookboard/potted history
- I really recommend 'Of Cabbages and Kimchi': [1] I enjoyed 'The Art
of Fermentation' by Sandor Katz, but is wasn't guide/cookery book
enough for me - 'Of Cabbages' hit the right note, and I've been working
my way thorough it all.
I'm a little obsessed with fermented chilli sauces, and have been using
the brine to make an excellent hot ketchup, than friends keep asking
for more of.
(HTM) [1]: https://fermentingchange.substack.com/p/on-my-bookshelf-of-cab...
vman81 wrote 3 hours 54 min ago:
About half of all Faroese traditional food is fermented mutton or fish
- air dried and boiled/roasted it triggers a lot of savory flavors that
simply aren't on the spectrum of food you can buy at a supermarket.
All of these methods were developed out of necessity before
refrigeration was a thing. You needed the october meat to last till
summer of next year in a subarctic climate. Methodical drying and
curing did the trick. There is a wonderful spectrum of
aged/fermented/dried before actual inedible rot/decay.
teekert wrote 4 hours 38 min ago:
As someone who bakes about 4 sourdough breads a week I can appreciate
this :)
KaiserPro wrote 6 hours 25 min ago:
The food programme is excellent and wide ranging. It talks, more often
than not to subject matter experts. Its what the BBC does best.
If you are not british and want to understand britian's approach to
food, then [1] is your programme.
(HTM) [1]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01klvhq
anfractuosity wrote 6 hours 35 min ago:
Thought that podcast was very interesting. I bought the book -
'textbook of sake brewing' a while ago. I've brewed beer before, but
rather fancy trying making sake.
frogulis wrote 9 hours 0 min ago:
It occurred to me at some point that what many "fine" foods have in
common is fermentation. Tea, coffee, chocolate, cheese, alcohol, cured
meats, dry aged meats, others I can't think of right now. Makes sense,
as the complex biological processes are of course going to lead to the
culinary complexity and variety that is necessary for connoisseurship.
jfengel wrote 25 min ago:
It's a good observation, though many of those are also food for poor
people. Wealthy food is often a refined version of what everyone else
eats, usually requiring a lot of extra effort and time.
Lobster is a famous example (though I am skeptical of the story that
prisoners revolted over being forced to eat it too much; I have been
unable to find a reliable primary source). A beautiful example is
from the film Ratatouille, where the eponymous dish is contrasted
between his mother's peasant stew and the $50 a plate Thomas Keller
version.
teekert wrote 2 hours 27 min ago:
Makes sense, the process is complex, the mixture of micro organisms
is complex, and generates many complex molecules giving fermented
foods a depth of flavor, a broadness and finesse. Especially when
compared to bland, few-ingredients-taken-from-crude-oil "highly
processed" foods.
I experience this with my sourdough bread, the smell of the sourdough
and the bread vary and are subtle, deep and nice. The bread is dry
and stale in a day though, so the bread is the family's favorite, but
only when it's fresh. Although freezing it after it has been properly
cooled is not half bad.
fuzztester wrote 4 hours 34 min ago:
Sourdough bread too?
bane wrote 10 hours 58 min ago:
Some anecdotes:
- My wife is Korean, and a lot of Korean food is fermented, preserved,
or otherwise kept using a traditional pre-refrigeration method. There
are a number of really beautiful traditions that come from the
logistics of keeping stuff around for months, or even years. The idea
of things being diverted off at various stages of fermentation for
different uses was a massive revelation to my American mind.
- That being said, my Korean relatives are completely blown away by
some old Western methods of fermentation especially around land mammal
meats -- various sausages, smoked meats, salted meats -- and fermented
milk products like cheeses.
- The best restaurant in the world, I think in Norway, featured a
dedicated fermentation R&D lab as part of their core restaurant menu
development process.
- The global trade in alcoholic drinks in based on truly beautiful and
sophisticated battles between various micro-organisms.
- My friends in the bio-world recently (in the last few years) have
taken an interest in fermentation as part of the thinking on long-term
food sources for space habitability. Nothing produces the incredible
complexity in microbiology, specifically ones good for food sources for
humans, creates anything close to the complexity of fermentation. The
thought it using stages of fermentation to produce all of the feed
material needed for complete human nutrition. But it's perpetual.
Bonus - you might also divert some parts of the process into fuel, air,
and other required processes. It's incredibly compelling, highly
technical (informed by modern AI models) research.
fuzztester wrote 4 hours 32 min ago:
>a lot of Korean food is fermented
Examples, other than kimchi and probably some fish sauces? Don't know
much about Korean food, but I liked what I tried, the few times I ate
at a Korean restaurant.
jurip wrote 4 hours 25 min ago:
Gochujang and doenjang are two fermented pastes that are used a
lot.
fuzztester wrote 3 hours 14 min ago:
thanks.
Melatonic wrote 9 hours 14 min ago:
Check Natto and the equivalent Korean bean ferments !
awesome_dude wrote 10 hours 24 min ago:
The fermented food that has always blown my mind has been
Chocolate
I have no idea WHY that should come as a shock to me, but it does
Honorable mentions also go to Tea and Coffee
bane wrote 9 hours 40 min ago:
Oh whew, when I finally learned how Chocolate is made....mind
blown.
The Western 19th and 20th centuries's approach to foods have been
an incredible disservice to culinary and health history and
modernist trends.
awesome_dude wrote 9 hours 27 min ago:
My GUESS is that canning really changed Western diets because
food could last indefinitely in good condition
MengerSponge wrote 10 hours 50 min ago:
The Noma Guide to Fermentation: [1] It's beautiful and useful too!
(HTM) [1]: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/rene-redzepi/the-no...
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