Ginzu Girl
4th July 2002, 23:31
One result of living so far removed from the Pacific Rim is that I have learned to make my own pickles. This one turns out sort of like an old-fashioned takuan, the kind that's dried and packed in rice bran. The best part is that it gets better with age--I've got some in the fridge dated August 1999!
Daikon Misozuke
2 daikon roots, quartered lengthwise
1 C. sugar
--
1 C. miso--a darker one like akamiso or hatchomiso
1/2 C. sugar
1/4 C. madeira or sweet sherry
First, prepare the daikon for pickling
* Choose a plastic or glass container that's big enough to hold everything with a few inches to spare. Otherwise, you're going to end up with sticky mess in your fridge! And no metal!
* Put the daikon and 1 C. sugar into the container. Make sure the daikon is thoroughly covered with sugar.
* Refrigerate for 1-3 days. During this time, you'll notice that the daikon will become shriveled and soft. At the same time the sugar will be turning into syrup.
* Remove daikon strips, rinse with water and dry with a dishtowel.
* Unless you have some creative way to use sugar syrup that smells very strongly of radishes, throw it out.
The pickling bed
* Again, use a plastic or glass container with a good tight cover--no metal! The daikon will have to marinate for at least a month.
* Mix the miso, sugar and madeira together thoroughly and pour into a large bowl.
* Add the daikon strips to the pickling bed and mix everything around so that the daikon is completely covered. This is very important--any uncoated daikon may spoil.
* Pour half the pickling mix into your container. Pack the daikon strips into the container and pour the remaining pickling mix.
* Make sure all the daikon is covered with pickling mix or it may spoil! If you run out of pickling mix, just make more and pour it in.
* Once filled, gently thump the container on a counter a few times and/or run a chopstick along the sides to release any air bubbles.
* Seal tightly, put in the back of your fridge and forget about it for a month (or longer).
* To serve, either rinse or wipe off the pickling mix (it's perfectly edible) and slice. Serve with steaming hot, fresh rice.
Ja, oishi desu ne? :D
Notes:
1. If you've never made pickles before, this may seem like a lot of work. But compared to making real takuan, this is about as complicated as a stir-fry.
2. Using sugar to "suck" the water out of the daikon is also what you do to prepare uri for pickling, as in nara-zuke. Sugar seems to work better than salt, perhaps because sugar molecules are so much larger and can't pass through the cell membranes.
2. It's very important that you use a tightly covered container or your fridge is going to stink. My boyfriend claims that regardless of what he finds in the fridge, or how it looks, he never throws anything away because he can't tell what's spoiled and what's edible. (And to be fair, I actually like natto and funyu!)
P.S. Oh, and if anyone calls me okusan, may the wrath of Marishiten fall upon your head ! :p
Daikon Misozuke
2 daikon roots, quartered lengthwise
1 C. sugar
--
1 C. miso--a darker one like akamiso or hatchomiso
1/2 C. sugar
1/4 C. madeira or sweet sherry
First, prepare the daikon for pickling
* Choose a plastic or glass container that's big enough to hold everything with a few inches to spare. Otherwise, you're going to end up with sticky mess in your fridge! And no metal!
* Put the daikon and 1 C. sugar into the container. Make sure the daikon is thoroughly covered with sugar.
* Refrigerate for 1-3 days. During this time, you'll notice that the daikon will become shriveled and soft. At the same time the sugar will be turning into syrup.
* Remove daikon strips, rinse with water and dry with a dishtowel.
* Unless you have some creative way to use sugar syrup that smells very strongly of radishes, throw it out.
The pickling bed
* Again, use a plastic or glass container with a good tight cover--no metal! The daikon will have to marinate for at least a month.
* Mix the miso, sugar and madeira together thoroughly and pour into a large bowl.
* Add the daikon strips to the pickling bed and mix everything around so that the daikon is completely covered. This is very important--any uncoated daikon may spoil.
* Pour half the pickling mix into your container. Pack the daikon strips into the container and pour the remaining pickling mix.
* Make sure all the daikon is covered with pickling mix or it may spoil! If you run out of pickling mix, just make more and pour it in.
* Once filled, gently thump the container on a counter a few times and/or run a chopstick along the sides to release any air bubbles.
* Seal tightly, put in the back of your fridge and forget about it for a month (or longer).
* To serve, either rinse or wipe off the pickling mix (it's perfectly edible) and slice. Serve with steaming hot, fresh rice.
Ja, oishi desu ne? :D
Notes:
1. If you've never made pickles before, this may seem like a lot of work. But compared to making real takuan, this is about as complicated as a stir-fry.
2. Using sugar to "suck" the water out of the daikon is also what you do to prepare uri for pickling, as in nara-zuke. Sugar seems to work better than salt, perhaps because sugar molecules are so much larger and can't pass through the cell membranes.
2. It's very important that you use a tightly covered container or your fridge is going to stink. My boyfriend claims that regardless of what he finds in the fridge, or how it looks, he never throws anything away because he can't tell what's spoiled and what's edible. (And to be fair, I actually like natto and funyu!)
P.S. Oh, and if anyone calls me okusan, may the wrath of Marishiten fall upon your head ! :p