All of the dishes I make are inspired by one cuisine or another - whether it’s gochujang fried rice, tahini ice cream or miso mushroom pasta - and that’s thanks to the incredible array of ingredients from all around the world that we’re now lucky to have within arms reach in our supermarkets. But more often than not, the use of an ‘unknown’ ingredient can be somewhat daunting, especially for the risk-averse cook who likes to play by the rules, never daring to stray away from the listed "1 tsp paprika" in a recipe.
However, I want to dispel those fears, and explain why I believe these ingredients should become your new pantry staples that you’ll use time and time again. For any ‘unknown’ ingredient - the first step is to rip off the band aid and buy it. I’m the queen of food curiosity, and I love walking into Asian or Turkish supermarkets, or having a wander down the world food aisle, and finding so many ingredients or spices that I’ve never used before and playing around with them.
Miso’s properties are salty and umami, similar to soy sauce. I like to think of it as salt on steroids
Let’s take a look at miso, which is my favourite pantry staple because it is packed with flavour, extremely versatile, and is slowly making its mark on the food scene. It’s a fermented soy bean paste, often cultivated from rice or barley, that originated in Japan. With any new ingredient, the first thing to do is to identify the flavour - whether it’s spicy, sweet, salty, tangy etc. And miso’s properties are salty and umami, almost similar to the properties of soy sauce. I like to think of it as salt on steroids. Once the flavour is identified, then it’s time to experiment, because believe me, miso does not just belong in miso soup – it’s golddust, and can be used in so many different ways, to revamp both your sweet and savoury dishes.
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Crystelle's debut cookbook 'Flavour Kitchen' is available to buy here
Because of the salty, umami flavour, I found that miso works well against sweet and sharp flavours like maple and vinegar, which, when combined, make a great marinade for fish or vegetables for example. Most miso pastes are vegan, and it can essentially take the place of a stock cube to add a lovely rich and meaty flavour base to your noodles or stir fries. Additionally, when mixed with a bit of butter and lemon, the freshness and richness offset with the salty miso create the perfect base for a pasta sauce. Finally - miso is not only reserved for savoury dishes. The salty properties work wonders in desserts to offset the sweetness and create something perfectly balanced, that is not too sickly sweet. Miso caramel is a favourite of mine (think salted caramel’s cooler, older cousin) – but it also works in banana bread, and chocolate chip cookies.
The recipes for these miso-fuelled dishes can all be found in my new cookbook, Flavour Kitchen, which showcases the versatility of this humble ingredient (as well as many others like tahini, gochujang and harissa) and hopefully inspires you to start getting a bit more experimental in the kitchen, and appreciate fantastic ingredients like miso that really should be your new storecupboard essential.
