You know when you’re introduced to a new-to-you concept or word, feel particularly interested in its existence and then see it everywhere, even places you know you’ve looked before? This is what happened to me last year with tsukemono, traditional Japanese pickles. My brain clicked in on them last year when I bought Karen Solomon’s ebook, Asian Pickles: Japan. It was a revelation for me. This is kind of embarrassing, because after my fascination with a few, specific tsukemono techniques developed, I referred back to two important, well-worn books on my cookbook shelf wondering why they hadn’t covered the topic in-depth and I was surprised to see that they were prominently featured (if you’re wondering, the two books were The Art of Fermentation and Kansha: Celebrating Japan’s Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions). I now vaguely remember reading about nuka-dokos and and amazake beds and kojizuke and kasusuke all those years ago. Who knows why? Maybe I was so submerged in the brine of lactopickles at the time that my eyes were closed to pickles of the cultured variety.
But the time for Japanese pickles is here, in my house and in my life. I am continuing to have that “you’ve been here all this time?” sensation, and every time I make a batch of ‘zuke, I feel more and more grateful to Asian Pickles for awakening my interest.
The best part is that these pickles are extremely diverse. Some require a massively long fermentation time and lots of prep, others give new meaning to the term “quick pickle” taking 5 minutes from start to finish. With most, you have some discretion, something we, the fermenters adore. I borrow techniques and ideas and then do what works best for me and my family. I recommend that you do the same!
If you’re using a very watery vegetable, you’ll probably want to salt it first to draw out the water. Then rinse and squeeze all excess water out before you proceed with the recipe.
What vegetables should you use? The market, or your garden, is the limit! I have yet to try something I didn’t at least like. And quality of miso definitely matters here. I’ve used homemade for a few batches and they were indeed superior, but as my homemade miso is precious, like a tiny, mewling puppy that I hold to my breast and protect with all of my being, I do frequently use store-bought miso to make these. Just find the best quality miso you can for both flavor and microbial benefit.
MISOZUKE
Adapted from Karen Solomon’s Asian Pickles: Japan
Two things about this miso bed. You can have fun by adding powdered spices (try a couple teaspoons per cup of miso) instead of the garlic and ginger and playing around with different vegetables. Also, importantly, you can reuse this miso bed many times before it gets a bit watery and flavorless. At that point, I throw it into some soup. It won’t be like adding actual miso, but it will have enough left in it to bring a little salt and seasoning.
Ingredients
- 1 cup red miso
- 3 tablespoons mirin (you can substitute sake)
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 1 inch of peeled ginger, minced
- 1 cup vegetable of your choice, peeled and sliced (a few great choices: beets, carrots, rhubarb, radishes, turnips, rutabaga)
How-To
- If pre-salting vegetables, do it first, while you mix your miso bed.
- Thoroughly mix together first four ingredients.
- In a small, glass container, such as a 2-3 cup pyrex dish, place about half of the miso mixture.
- Place vegetables on top of the mixture, and thoroughly cover them with the remaining half of the miso mixture. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap.
- Let the vegetables sit for 2 hours-3 weeks. Vegetables at 3 weeks will be wilted, altered in texture and thoroughly infused with the flavors of the mixture. Vegetables at 2 hours will be quite flavorful but not substantially altered in texture.
- Remove vegetables from the miso mixture and give them a rinse. It’s best to consume them quickly, but they’ll do well in the fridge for a couple of days.
- Either reuse your miso bed immediately with fresh vegetables or cover tightly and put it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it again, within a week.
narf7 says
They look delicious. I love anything to do with miso. Time to make me some tasty Asian pickles methinks. Cheers for the heads up 🙂
Amanda says
Thanks for reading, as always!
Ann says
This is one of those pickles that has been on my to-do list for years. I am excited just seeing you do it! Your post just may be that extra little push I need to get me finally making it. Thank you!
Christine says
Ohwow. I want to try these asap! I always put daikon in my miso soup, but this brings it to a whole new level.
Amanda says
They are divine, Christine! I definitely recommend checking out Karen’s book if these float your boat. So many wonderful creations!
Anja says
I just made some pickled radishes (black and red) and some kohlrabi according to your recipe yesterday with some leftover miso. I tasted some today and they already are amazing! Could eat all of them in one go, but want to see how they develop over time. Great recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Amanda says
Thanks for reporting back, Anja! So glad you’re liking them. I found some in the back of my fridge after about 7 months. They were completely transformed. Obviously insanely salty, but also crispy and so complex! We totally eat them at 1 day, though, too. 🙂
Charzie says
I adore your adventurous spirit! Where some websites will admonish you to not use or do this or that because of some arbitrary or obscure reason they are just repeating because they heard it somewhere, instead of thinking it through (such as “the veggie is ‘too watery’ to be used as a pickle”), you encourage us to develop common sense to play and experiment! Some of my favorite concoctions were born that way!
I am so into this whole fermenting thing, everyone thinks I’m nuts, but then that’s nothing new! Being able to do science experiments in the kitchen AND eat them when I’m done is right up my alley! It’s all so fascinating! I can’t believe how resistant so many people are though to the whole idea of “good microbes”, having food stored out of the fridge on your counter at room temperature, and the absolute fear of food poisoning, no matter how carefully I explain it! We have become a culture of misdirected paranoid germophobes! LOL! I just want to thank you for all you do to counter that, you’ve made my life healthier, tastier and a lot more fun!
Amanda says
Thanks so much, Charzie! You definitely made my day.
Rod Primrose says
I have been pickling all sorts of vegetables like this for a while now but have never considered rhubarb! Must do as it is the perfect season now. Cauliflower flowerets and stems have been the favourite. Thanks for your ideas.
Amanda says
Agreed on the cauliflower stems. I hope you enjoy pickled rhubarb!
Ste says
Hi Amanda. Thanks for a very informative post! I recently bought Karen Solomun’s Asian Pickles and I too have had a lightbulb moment. I’ve got so many books on Japanese cooking but have yet to delve into it until now.
Anyway, I was wondering if you’ve ever used miso beds to pickle aubergine/eggplant? If so could you possibly tell me how you did it? Did you salt the aubergine before it went in the bed? And how long would you recommend keeping it in the miso before? Also, do you keep it at room temperature or in the fridge?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Ste
Chieko says
Salt the eggplant first to get rid water. A good way to do this is to salt the eggplant in a bowl then transfer to a colander set over a bowl. The liquid will drip out and you won’t lose much salt and the eggplant won’t absorb too much salt. Then prepare the eggplant with the miso as above. I am Japanese and have cured numerous veggies in miso.
Chieko says
My mother’s Japanese and she usually didn’t use garlic but that was based on what vegetable she used. I feel pre-salting the vegetables to remove moisture is necessary plus it adds more saltiness to the pickle. I let mine ferment on the counter top. It’s summer so it should take about 7-10 days for my daikon batch to be ready. My kitchen hovers around 79-80°. In the winter, it can take 2-3 weeks.
Thanks for sharing this so more people will learn about misozuke!
Leslie Tago says
What a coincedence….. I was watching a tv documentary by TV TOKYO(aired here in Japan January 12,2017).It was about some foreigners who are interested about Japanese culture.And it happened an American woman was featured and was invited to visit Japan….. I was impressed by her love of miso,making her own miso.
I tried to googled miso pickles and want to read in English,a lot have pop up.I was reading some comments….. I was surprised to see that the name was Amanda….. same name on the tv (^_^) documentary I was watching.
Amazed when I saw your profile picture….. the same on the on the tv I was watching,what a coincidence.
I’m going to read your recipes and will try too (^_^)v
Amanda says
Haha! That’s so great! I’m about to start posting a series on my trip to Japan (starting with filming the TV show). I’m waiting on the production crew to send me the episode, since it doesn’t air in the US. I’m very excited to see it for myself. The Fujii family were wonderful ambassadors for Japanese culture and Dansirou miso is really delightful!
I am definitely in love with Japan (beyond the cuisine that I’ve always been a fan of) and I can’t wait to return. Thanks for watching! I hope it was fun!
Tom says
This is great. I’ve tried courgette, parsnip and turnip so far and have mooli on the go. Turnip is king. Thank you for sharing!
Jari says
Why is the mirin/sake needed? Im trying to figure it out what is going on in this kind of ferments, but I have no idea of the role of mirin in this beautiful cocoction.
Great article!
Amanda says
It’s just for flavor. It’s possible it served an anti-microbial purpose in the very olden days, but I use it in small quantities and rely on salt and refrigeration to keep things safe.