Ingredient

Miso

Miso is fermented soya bean paste, and it is one of the most concentrated sources of savoury depth available. It is also badly underused outside Japanese cooking, where a spoonful improves a great many things that have nothing to do with soup.

What it is

Soya beans, usually with rice or barley, inoculated with a mould culture and left to ferment for anything from a few weeks to several years. During that time enzymes break the beans down into free amino acids, chiefly glutamates, which is the same process that gives parmesan and anchovy their savoury power.

The longer the ferment, the darker, saltier and stronger the miso. That is the main axis along which the types differ, and it matters more than the labels.

It is very salty — around 10% salt — so it seasons as well as adding depth, and anything you add it to needs less salt elsewhere.

The main types

White (shiro)

Short ferment, high rice content. Pale, sweet, mild. The most versatile and the best one to start with — good in dressings, marinades and butter.

Yellow (shinshu)

Medium. A good all-rounder.

Red (aka)

Long ferment. Dark, salty, assertive. For robust braises and hearty soups; it dominates delicate things.

Barley (mugi)

Earthier and nuttier. Good in stews.

Hatcho

Very long-fermented, almost all soya. Intense and treacly.

A rough rule

Pale is sweet and mild, dark is salty and strong. Buy a white miso first; it goes in more things.

Where to use it beyond soup

• Miso butter — a spoonful mashed into soft butter. On grilled fish, corn, steamed greens, baked potatoes or stirred into pasta.
• In a dressing with rice vinegar, sesame oil and a little honey.
• As a marinade for fish, chicken or aubergine, with mirin and sugar. It seasons deeply and helps browning.
• In a braise or a stew, a spoonful stirred in near the end for depth. It works in entirely European dishes.
• In caramel and desserts, where a small amount does what salt does, only more so.
• Whisked into gravy or a mushroom sauce, in place of some of the salt.

Practical points

• Do not boil it. Prolonged boiling drives off its aroma and, if it is unpasteurised, kills the live cultures. Stir it in at the end, off the heat or at a bare simmer.
• Dissolve it in a little warm liquid first rather than dropping the paste into a pan, or it stays in lumps.
• Start with less than you think. A tablespoon seasons a dish for four.
• Reduce or omit other salt.
• It keeps for months in the fridge, sealed. It darkens over time, which is normal.
• It is a fermented product with live cultures in some forms; anyone with specific dietary or health guidance about fermented or high-salt foods should follow that.

Common questions