Like wine and cheese, some things get better with age

[delphipsmith]

Just read a fascinating article from the NY Times that explores the opposite end of the food spectrum from an apple fresh off the tree or baby peas fresh off the vine: the foods that are best, or at least interestingly robust, with a bit (in some cases A LOT) of aging. There's even a Japanese mold that appears as a character in a mange series -- who knew???

...noorook, a mold that is known more widely in the West by its Japanese name, koji, as the base for a creamy porridge of fermented grains, stained pink by beets. (The mold appears as a character in the Japanese manga series “Moyasimon,” under its scientific name, Aspergillus oryzae.)...The century-old restaurant Otafuku, in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, specializes in a long-simmered stew called oden, with a base of dashi broth first made in 1945....the sell-by date on goods [is] “kind of a con game,” he said. “We need it because we can’t trust our nose — we’ve lost that language.”

Read the rest ==>

Comments

[lash_larue]

I have never encountered dry aged beef, and I expect that the cost would send me into shock, but I can believe that it would be good. I habitually look for beef that has been "marked down for quick sale". Not just for the savings, but because even a moderate bit of aging makes it better.

The best venison I have ever had was a hunk of leg that we took out of the freezer to make room and threw outside into the snow. We lived up north then. The thing spent months out there, unwrapped and nearly forgotten. We cooked it just to see, and it was wonderful. Very tender, and a bit less gamey than venison aged for a week or so.

L

[hikorichan]

Fermented foods are also supposed to be really good for you! Definitely a lot more common in Asia from my experience. I think we in North America have been conditioned that old = bad (and I don’t just mean with food). Sad.

I love oden. We make it at home in winter, but obviously I lack the ancient unclean pot, lol. I’d love to get my hands on some koji to make amazake (so good!).

Now I am craving kimchi and really old cheese... though, maybe not together...