The fermentation may have a little flame return to our tables, the practice is as old as the world. As proof, the myriad of stories and debates surrounding the origin of our favorite foods (bread, cheese, beer, wine, etc., are all from fermentation). And yes, did you know, for example, that in the 1950s, archaeologists and anthropologists were quarreled to decide who bread or beer was born first? It’s Jean-Claude Ameisen, in his delicious podcast On Darwin's shoulders, who returns to this history ! And if the researchers are so interested in fermented foods, it is because behind a leaven, a sauerkraut or a kimchi, hide stories that bear the appetite and the ingenuity of the human world. Supporting examples with tasty anecdotes and recipes:
Sourdough bread: ferments that fall in time.
If you have succumbed to the madness of sourdough bread during confinement, then you may have found yourself in front of the following situation: fermentation that lives its own life and some bakers. Do not panic, because it is the small errors that make great myths and the big loaves. Do you need an example? The first sourdough bread would actually be the result of a blunder, as explained to us This item of journalist Cody Cassidy.
We tell you: 9000 years ago, a stove, would have overturned beer mousse on her bread dough (a sort of cake without yeast). But, "unlike all those who would have got rid of the swollen dough resulting from their error, she had the courage and the genius to put hers in the oven. And the result must have been magic ”. His technique has surely spread, since "in one of the oldest existing descriptions of sourdough bread, the old one describes how the Gauls used the moss of their beer to cook what he described as "Sort of bread lighter than that of other peoples". Proof that in cooking you must have the audacity to experiment and persevere - even in front of a somewhat mysterious leaven.
So if you want to (re) try the experience, we recommend that you read This little guide for Levain's parents, edited by Marie-Claire Frédéric from the blog neither raw nor cooked, Papese made in France of fermentation!
Kimchi: preserve the link
In the category fermentations that make history, we cannot miss the Kimchi (which could be translated by submerged vegetables) icon of social networks and fermenters for a few years. Except that, Kimchi is much more than a fashion, it is " to Koreans what bread is to the French. It is the basis of Korean culinary culture, to the point that the homes devote almost all a refrigerator to him ”, as we can read in this paper Signed Jacky Durand for Liberation. Yes, fermentation does not only keep food, it also preserves stories and transmits a culture. Because the preparation of the Kimchi, called "Kimjang" is a millennial ritual as explained on the site Geo.fr : "Each fall, Koreans come together to concoct a beautiful amount of Kimchi, which will be used to face winter. The opportunity for neighbors to renew the links of solidarity, and for families to transmit know-how. »»
Do you want to try this jar of good values and delicious flavors? Here are the two-star recipes from the Belgian-Korean chief of Blood-Hoon Degeimbre:
The cousin of sauerkraut
In the cauliflower genre, do you know the spectacular cousin of sauerkraut, "the "Fosse cabbage"? In This item From Jacky Durand for Liberation, we discover that a few centuries ago, in the mountainous regions of Austria, we buried whitewashed cabbage and drools in pits 4 meters deep that we then covered with stones, larch and straw wood, sometimes for 4 years! If you do not have patience, or the garden necessary to reproduce the experience, no problem: we still have recipe and jars under the elbow to upgrade your fermented cabbage preparations!
Ferment house, upgrade patience
And since we are talking about patience, we would like to offer you the beautiful words - read here -of the author Luna Kyung about fermentation " Here, patience is synonymous with passion, and the measure and silence replace the active effervescence and the immediacy of the kitchen ”. It is perhaps for these reasons that in these times when nothing moves, we have everything to gain home ferment.
This is what one of our favorite journalists offers us, Camille Labro, In This item : revenue of jars and lacto-fermentation to learn to wait. On the menu? Kimchi, salsify fermented by the star chef Blood-Hoon Degeimbre, or even Romain Meded's old boy's jam (that we also share you here). And as a watchword? “It will take twenty-four hours, weeks or even months, to be able to taste them. But, at the moment, time is not what is missing! »»
Did we convince you? Here is A small recap on the good gestures of the fermented, so that you can, in turn, write and taste new tasty stories!