Vegetable Charcuterie

I love the pursuit of techniques that push culinary boundaries and propel vegetarian cuisine into the future. Enter Rich Shih and Jeremy Umansky’s Koji Alchemy. In their book, the authors detail experiments that leverage koji (aspergillus oryzae) to make meat and vegetable charcuterie. The concept at work here is that the protein itself (vegetables, in our case) becomes the substrate on which the koji grows.  Enzymes break down proteins into amino acids, creating new and amplified flavors. A great deal of complexity is achieved in a week’s time, rather than 3 months.

The process from start to finish is pretty simple: steam, smoke, cure, inoculate, dehydrate. 

For this recipe I chose beets, carrots and butternut squash as my proteins. I borrowed a charcuterie spice blend from Jeremy Fox for an extra kick of flavor. The flavors of the three vegetables are rich and unique to themselves: The carrot charcuterie tastes very, very much like Brie! The beet charcuterie is quite savory, reminiscent of salami. The butternut squash is sweeter than its counterparts, with a distinct perfume and flavor that is difficult to describe.

In addition to these vegetables, appearances by other koji fermentation projects made appearances on my charcuterie board: sour and savory amazake fermented reddish and fennel; plus my new favorite—pine nut miso. Made just a few weeks ago, I blended toasted pine nuts, salt and koji to make an amino paste. Finally, the paste is developing a complexity I could not have predicted: sweet banana and nutmeg notes, plus more. I will be dedicating a recipe to feature the pine nut miso very shortly.

Homemade pepper jam and homemade ricotta helped seal the deal, along with some manchego, grapes, and pistachios. Served with bread and crackers, it’s the best damn charcuterie board I’ve ever had.

For the vegetable charcuterie:

• Carrots
• Beets
• Small Butternut squash
• Salt for curing, equal to 1.75% of total weight
• Koji spores dispersed in flour (2 teaspoons koji to 1/4 cup rice flour)

For Jeremy Fox’s “Fox Spice:”

• 2 1/2 tablespoon black peppercorn
•  2 tablespoon ground mace
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves

To cook the vegetables: Steam your vegetables for approximately 45 minutes until tender. Let cool, then remove the peels using a peeler or a paring knife.  Smoke your steamed vegetables for 30 to 45 minutes. For this I bought a couple single-use hickory wood planks made for the grill. I first soaked the planks in water for an hour before using, then placed the steamed vegetables on the planks in my grill preheated to 375 degrees. Remove the veggies and let cool.

To cure the vegetables: Salt the vegetables to 1.75% of their total weight. Add the fox spice seasoning to taste. For reference, I used about a teaspoon of fox spice per vegetable. Once finished rubbing the salt and spices onto all the surfaces of the vegetables, wrap them individually and tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 days.

To inoculate the vegetables: Remove the veggies from their plastic wrap and pat them dry. Over a plate or a sheet pan, drizzle the koji flour blend through a fine sieve to powder the entire surface of the vegetables. Place the koji coated vegetables in an incubator set to 90% relative humidity and incubate for 36 hours.

To dehydrate the vegetables: The veggies are ready for dehydration once fully covered in a thin veil of koji. Log the weight of the vegetables. Dehydrate until 50-60% of their weight is lost.

To serve as charcuterie, slice thinly on a bias. Serve with pickles and other ferments, nuts, cheeses, jams and crackers.