Yes, that’s what this is- our barley that we have carefully inoculated and cajoled into a lovely firm matrix of taste augmenting mold. Taste transforming.

The barley grains are still intact, but the mold has fully penetrated and the primary metabolite, amalaze, has broken down the complex carbohydrates, producing a slight sweetness. All the other wonderfulness of the grain has also been subsequently released and enhanced.

Better. Smarter. Faster.

So we merely sliced our “loaf”, yes it does slice like a cake, and fried a piece in a pan for a bit of maillard. And to warm it through of course.

It was amazing.

Sweetness, with a palatable umami. Still a proper flavor from the barley.

René found traces of iberico fat- and it is certainly does have a intense nutty luxury.

The process is relatively simple:

Soak organic virgin barley for 24 hours.

Steam for 1.5 hours.

Cool to room temperature (or at least 30c)

Mix in Aspergillus orzyae.

Place in a 30c full-humidity environment. This is almost 100% humidity and is rather like a bathroom after a shower.

Mix well after 8 hours.

Leave alone for the next 28 hours.

We hope some one out there gives it a shot-

We would like to thank Kunal Chandra for the photos, he stopped in to say hello and spend an enjoyable day with us.

A new face stirring the pots and rocking the boat.

Nordic Food Lab increases the crew on the houseboat with Michael Bom Frøst as director.

Michael has a background as a sensory scientist, and has delved into gastronomic and culinary research[lw1]  with a scientific approach over the last 5 years at University of Copenhagen. In 2012 he will share his work load equally between Nordic Food Lab and the University, where he remains the Director of Studies for the MSc-education in Gastronomy and Health.

‘Both Lars and I look forward to increase the exploration of the culinary potential in the magnificent raw materials of Nordic origin together. We continue our endeavors with new techniques and[lw2]  flavors as well as reviving older and more traditional techniques.’ says Michael.

Nordic Food Lab aims at becoming a robust and ever increasing source of knowledge and inspiration to the curious chefs and gastronomers,[lw3]  ranging from professionals from all backgrounds as well as foodies and the general public. The appointment of Michael increases Nordic Food Lab’s ability to perform with scientific rigor and precision, adding to Lars’ immense creativity and his inquisitive mind. Michael’s background as a sensory scientist, adds to our tool box a range of methods to document sensory properties in the foods we investigate. We expect to increase our dissemination both through web-based media, lectures and events.

Great times and good food ahead!

Like most people, we wish we had the capital to purchase whatever equipment we deem utterly necessary, unequivocally critical to our happiness and well being.

Of course, this being the really real world, that is not how it goes, especially for a small non-profit. We depend on the charity of others (thank you PolyScience) or our ingenuity. So when we find ourselves lusting after some particular tech that we can’t afford, we often take a shade-tree approach.

For much of the fermentation processes we are exploring the ideal temperature is between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius. This happens to be beyond the scope of the balmiest of Danish summers, and certainly unrealistic when the entire bay freezes over in the winter (see photo).

A quick search online garnered this PID controller from Auber. It can utilize any heat source (hot plate, light bulb, crock pot, etc.) which just plugs in the rear of the device, to hold specific temperatures within .1 degreee C. Looking for an strong even heating source we strolled the isles of our local home improvement and came across electric underfloor heating. Laid in a thermal box it works exceptionally well with minimum energy loss. We have linked two of the thermal boxes together with no problem.  This allows us to keep our Garum trials and solid state vinegar fermentation at an optimum temperature while also providing space to inoculate barley with mold for our yellow pea fermentation. But the controller can be used anywhere a precise degree of heat must be maintained. Reducing stocks at steady temperatures is rather easy. Hooked to a crock-pot or rice cooker it becomes sous vide machine. It could quite easily be adapted to become a dehydrator, or with a small fan, a controller for a grill. We used it in conjunction with a humidifier and heater to transform a small room into a meat curing facility. A adaptable device such as this assists creative solutions to difficult problems.

All in all, we greatly recommend picking one up, and letting us know what uses you guys come up with for it…

view out the lab this past winter

A ballotine can take many forms, but in one of its classical and perhaps most common guises, it takes the form of a chicken, with all of its bones removed, wrapped around a stuffing of meat and vegetables and roasted. We’ve taken it a small creative stage further, and wrapped it up in a salt dough. We decided to make this with charcoal, the effect being decidedly rustic and theatical.  When removed from the oven it seems a loaf of black bread, primal in every sense this really appeals to some basic human urge, especially if cooked in a wood fired oven, this is gastronomy using techniques available to very early man. When cracked open, using the heel of a knife, a plume of aromatic chicken steam explodes into the surroundings, the chicken inside is steamed, keeping all of its juices. We added to the perfume with one of our favorite aromas, that of roasted hay. The hay, which is wrapped around the chicken serves the dual purpose of keeping the salt dough  from direct contact with the chicken at the same time imparting its flavor and perfume onto the meat. It seems natural, a happy chicken, bobbing, clucking and searching in the hay of a farmyard, then finally being cooked in the same flavors. So, how to make this dish and impress?

Start by boning the chicken, (If you need a helping hand watch this – www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAekQ5fzfGM) Its really very simple to bone a chicken, infact, if you can carve a roast chicken, you can definately debone a raw one.

Then you need a stuffing, I would recomend some coursely chopped chicken with some sausage meat, chestnuts, diced apple, onions, garlic, a little freshly grated nutmeg and a dash of cream, be creative and use what ever is available to you, keeping it solid enough that the chicken can be wrapped around it, but soft enough that you can slice it neatly afterwards.

Then you are ready to wrap the chicken in your crust. Make a dough with about 150g powdered very high quality charcoal (if you dont have the absolute best, then miss this out) mixed with 125g coarse salt, 125g fine salt, 500g flour, some aromatics, for example bay and juniper berry powder. Add to this dry mix some water, add it slowly as you may be surprised by how little you need, but you need to bring it into a stiff and relatively smooth dough consistency. Once you have the right texture, put the pastry in a bag and allow it to rest for at least an hour, or perhaps over night if possible.

After the pastry has rested, roll it out until it is large enough to fit around the chicken. Place some hay in the centre, and lay the deboned, stuffed and tied chicken, breast-side down on top. Wrap the chicken in hay and pastry and smooth off the surface. When it’s ready, roll it over onto a baking tray, so as the breast side of the chicken and the smoother side of the pastry is now on top. Bake in a hot oven until you reach around 70°C in the center, then remove and leave the roast to rest for 20 mins, then bring it to the table and crack it open, watch out as all the chicken juices will be inside the dough, so you might want to crack it and drain it in the kitchen. Remove the chicken from the crust (which, in case you’re wondering is NOT edible), rub off any remaining hay and remove the string. The chicken can now be sliced like a loaf of bread as it has no bones, start at the head end. Good luck cooking and bon appetit!

Originally most products were made with mineral salts. The nitrous compounds contained in mineral salts help with preservation. Sea Salt (which is iodized) and in modern use is frequently mixed with nitrates to assist the process. Legally, one must have salt checked for impurities. Salt (NaCl) does not kill microorganisms but a change it’s surrounding’s osmotic properties. This change in the osmotic relation to the environment leads to less available water leaving less for the microorganisms to metabolize. This leads to an overall   lower count of microorganisms.

In cooked products heat must reach a level, which kills pathogens. Curing process must contain a fermentation stage, which leads to the competitive expulsion of pathogenic organisms, for example the spread of preferable lactobacilli over salmonella or E. coli.

Salting consists of two steps, firstly the physical addition of the salt and secondly the absorption of the salt into the meat. As the meat absorbs the salt its osmotic and ionic properties of the meat are altered which kills a lot of the microorganisms. Appropriate salting is useful for selection of microorganisms to assist fermentation but also for the prevention of enzymatic action within the muscle tissue.

The decrease in a_w value is crucial for the creation of successful preserves. A_w is the system of measurement for water molecules available for action, i.e. a count of the unbound water molecules available for reaction. It is the measurement of vapor tension, i.e. the ability of water to transfer into steam within a cell.

The a_w value of a glass of water at normal pressure is always 1

At:       0.82 to 0.83 -bacterial growths inhibited but not mould.

0.7 -(jam) water bound but on surface can form moulds.

0.63 -no development of microorganisms possible (or at least nothing relevant).

Proscuitto has an a_w of 0.9 and salami of 0.85.

Salting can be done in four different ways: – By massaging the salt into the meat, by placing the meat into a large quantity of salt, by placing meat into a salt solution (brine) or also through the injection of the meat which happens through numbers of needles going into the meat then injecting solution as they are taken out. Needles can also be used by injecting arteries, which then distribute the salt through the meat.

In Northern Europe the ancient meat preservation techniques  have used smoke to create a physical layer on the salted meat which keeps it from spoiling. in the photo above is a shoulder of venison which we have put to salt, making our version of the Norwegian Fenalaar. Normally the meat used for this process is Lamb, we’ve chosen to experiment with different meats, this example being Red Deer, we started it yesterday, we’ll keep you updated with the progress!  We’re looking forward to setting up the cold smoker and smoking this baby with some beech wood, or perhaps some wood from old whiskey barrels.

Products which are designed to age for a long time are traditionally made during the cold months November or December. This allows the drying process to happen in cool temperatures, the aging process, a slow enzymatic process can then occur over the summer months to then have your cured product ready to eat thinly sliced the following winter. Now is the season, get experimenting!

so… a couple of ideas to get your mind and hands working,

Culatello Di Zibello  - collected Zibello 2008 by B.R.

8Kg Rump Side of Hind Leg of fat Pig

Tie into neat bundle

Big Sea Salt (as much as will stick to the meat) with some black pepper in it

Douse with 100ml of white wine macerated with garlic

1.5°C for 1 week

wash off salt with a cloth

Clean and rehydrate pigs bladder

Sew meat into Bladder

Bind in traditional style

Puncture well with pins

Hang in cellar  for 1 year

Remove from bladder – if dry put in water for 1 hour, if very dry put in white wine soaked towel until ready.

Slice thinly and eat immediately with bread and, especially in winter, butter.

Lucanian Sausage – provided by Apicus (2 4)

Pound together cumin, savory, rue, parsley, mixed herbs, laurel berries and liquamen.

The berries need to be roasted and ground to release more flavor.

The spices were pounded next into well beaten meat.

Then Liquamen, peppercorns and plenty of fat and pine kernels were added.

The mixture was inserted into a sausage skin, drawn out very thinly and hung in the smoke to dry

Or, the big time classic, Parma style:

Firstly the hind leg is trimmed and salted, as much salt as will stick on it really, the leg is then left flesh side up 1-3C for 1 week. some producers are more calculated, putting an exact amount of salt per kg of meat. 20/30g per Kg on lean parts and 10-20g wet salt on the skin is massaged in.  The ham can then be left to absorb the salt – 14-21 days – after this period can be brushed down and the leg is left in the same temperature for 3 weeks.

Next the leg is hung for around 60 days in cool ambient temperature during this time the outer layer of exposed fat and flesh is removed with particular attention being paid to the area directly surrounding the bone .

After these 60 days the meat is washed using a pressure washer then dried thoroughly, the open side of meat and fat is covered in a layer of fat mixed with salt, salt and pepper.

This must be then hung for a further 9 months and checked for its quality before being eaten/sold.

For a more visually appealing ham, the peppery fat is removed and replaced with pure white fat that gives the ham a cleaner feel. Some flour can be mixed into the lard to firm it.

The liquid is transparent, it looks like water, but the smell… to say it smells of chicken is an understatement, a couple of drops of the good-stuff will make anything become like essence of chicken.

By switching the collection bottle throughout the length of the process, we were able to seperate different levels of distillate. This is a really simple way of collecting this surprisingly strong, essence of chicken.

For those without the means to access a Rotary, or (supercool) Rocket Evaporator, this is a great way to get into flavour collection in the kitchen. The same setup can also be used to steam distill, the best way of extracting aromatic compounds from plant material. By putting a steam basket into the pressure cooker, hot water underneath and choopped herbs, flowers, or anything else for that matter on top, the vapour which leaves will have the smell of whatever you put into the pot. By doing this you will collect both tiny quantities of essential oil and  lots more the aqueous part, known as a hydrosol (for example rosewater)  which can be used to explore the fantastic world of aroma.

Once the best smells have come off from the stock, the stock can be reduced, and as it cools, and the gelatin begins to set, some of this essence can be added back into it. The gelatin helps capture the aroma, but make sure you don’t do it when the stock is too hot, because these molecules are extremely volatile and so evaporate very easily. and make sure you keep a lid on it, otherwise your rich aroma will disappear into thin air.

Anyway, Marmite and other yeast extracts are such a great source of umami taste that we couldnt resist making some ourselves. But we didnt want to copy the original, we wanted a luxury version, one plump and full of juicy flavours. This one in the photo is one of our more successful attempts, and were stil working on it.

This “marmite” is not the commercially available, super salty and fairly plain flavour, we have completely avoided any chemical addititves, by adding juniper ash and apple, wonderful. Juniper and apple umami. this isn’t only a great treat with toast or crumpets but a wonderful vegetarian stock base or an ingredient to adding unforeseeable depth to a myriad of dishes… wait till we’ve got the recipe properly tuned and we’ll share it with you all!