Sesame Aioli

Posted on by guseraph Leave a comment

Aioli and alioli are basically the same thing except for the eggyolk. Aioli is French and it has the eggyolk, alioli doesn’t have eggyolk and is Spanish I think, don’t quote me on that. Now that you know that bit of useless information, I always go for the eggyolk. I love eggs beyond any other food because they are magical. They can turn almost anything into something decadent. This mayo, which is basically what this is, can be used as a spread, a dip, or just by the spoonful if you’re into that kind of thing.

Ingredients
– 1 large garlic clove (peeled)
– 1 large egg yolk
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1.5 cup peanut oil (can be substituted with canola)
– Quarter cup sesame seed oil
– 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
– Yuzu juice (to taste) (substitute with lemon or lime)
– Black pepper (to taste)

Put the egg yolk in a big bowl with the mustard and whisk until homogeneous. Drizzle the peanut oil while you’re still whisking so it doesn’t separate. This is where you’ll be testing your forearm strength. Add the sesame oil next until it’s all incorporated. Once done with that, smash the garlic with the salt so it’s a paste and add it to the mixture. Add yuzu juice to taste and season with salt and pepper to taste. If you need larger amounts, you can add as much oil as you want, the egg yolk is a magical vessel that can emulsify an almost infinite amount of oil, just make sure you season it so it’s delicious.

Lacto-Fermented Ginger and Garlic

Posted on by guseraph 6 Comments

I finally get it, why all the recipes online have pages and pages of a backstory behind the dish. It’s an excuse to write, and it feels good to troll you into reading my thoughts before giving you my delicious knowledge nuggets.

Lacto-fermentation is one of the easiest things in the world. Just put some salt on whatever you want to keep for a long time and let it do its magic. It has something to do with lactobacillus bacteria converting sugars from fruits and vegetables into lactic acid, which is a natural preservative. The salt is used because the lactobacillus bacteria can live in a salty environment while everything else dies a salty death. Food that has been fermented this way can stay edible for a very long time. My aunt once gave me some five year old kimchi that was actually really good. It tasted very different from any kimchi I had (obviously) but it was still delicious and very much edible.

This ginger and garlic mixture is so delicious and versatile that I can’t recommend it enough, so make a lot of it.

Ingredients
– Ginger (peeled)
– Garlic (peeled)
– Non-iodized salt

Rough chop up ginger and garlic into small pieces. The size of the chop only matters if you’re not going to process it at the end. In that case, chop it to the size you want.
The ratio of ginger to garlic also doesn’t matter. It’s up to your personal taste but I recommend a 50/50 split.
Weigh the mixture and calculate 2%. Add that in salt. If you have one of those sea salts that feel like wet sand, add a tiny bit more. How much more? Doesn’t matter, just a tiny bit more.
Mix it well and let it sit in a corner of your kitchen for a week or two. Once it stops producing so much gas (burp it), pulverize it in the food processor if you so desire and keep it in the fridge. It should last for months, maybe even past a year but the jars I make don’t make it that far, and neither will yours.