How to Make SHIO KOJI

Today we're going to be talking about shiokoji and how you can personalize it to your liking, ways to ferment it, different levels of salt, and how to use it in your meats and vegetables. To make the shiokoji, you can take either fresh or dried koji, weigh it out, then mix equal parts purified water, and then calculate your salt percentage anywhere from three to ten percent. Then you have the option to either blend your shiokoji or leave the grains whole, which if you leave the grains whole you can extract the liquid later on after fermentation and have a nice liquefied shiokoji, which you can then spray your vegetables, marinate your meats with a light coating, something that you won't have to wipe off later. It is then fermented for anywhere from five to fourteen days. When fermenting shiokoji with a lower salt, say three percent, fermentation is going to happen much quicker. It'll be a little funkier, there will be much more lactic acid buildup, as opposed to when you use a higher salt ratio, which is traditional, sitting somewhere around ten percent. This doesn't allow as much control when you're seasoning your dishes later on or curing, but it'll have a little bit more stability and a much longer shelf life. Just remember to never cross below two percent salt, as this can be a welcome environment for unwanted bacteria and harmful microbes. You can personalize it to your liking by adding flavorings such as dried mushroom, kombu, preserved lemon, it's really up to you. And this will allow you to personalize your shiokoji to your flavor profile. In this dish, we mixed in some nice preserved lemon skins into our shiokoji, and then we marinated some white sea bass for just about 30 minutes. Depending on the size of the cut of your protein, you'll want to marinate anywhere from a quick 30 minute to a full day. The enzymes will work on the protein surface and will convert the proteins into amino acids. This is the same process that would happen when you're naturally dry aging beef. It's just a sped up version using koji enzymes instead of the natural enzymes that occur over time. This is going to offer different flavor nuances, it's going to add a little bit more earthiness, it'll bring a little cheesy flavors, give it a nice sweet caramelized flavor when we cook it in a pan. Shiokoji naturally does have a lot of sugars, and this is because of the enzymes in the rice converting starch into simple sugars. For that reason, anything we marinate or cook after we've marinated in shiokoji, we'll have to cook very gently. And this is why I love the Control Freak, because we can adjust our settings to gently cook it while not scorching, not over caramelizing, and getting just the perfect temperature in the middle while forming a nice crust on the outside. In addition to being used to marinate proteins, it can also be used great with vegetables. You can use it as a pickling base, it can also be used as an all-purpose seasoning just like soy sauce. So for this dish, I made a simple risotto. Normally risotto is finished with parmesan cheese, which gives it nice salty umami. I decided to finish with miso paste, which is going to give it those same qualities with a little more of a personalized flavor. And if you wanted to omit the butter, this would be a great vegan option. I paired everything with a yuzu kosho vinaigrette, which I made with some local chilies, yuzu, calamansi, shallots, chives, a little bit of oil, and brought it all together and topped the fish. Then I plated it with a mix of roasted and pickled mushrooms and a dusting of smoked shoyu powder. Shio koji is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exploring koji ferments. It's a great way to personalize your style as a chef and to explore different options of how to enhance the flavor of different ingredients and to really bring out your personal flavor profiles.