Just trying a new — by which I mean extremely old — recipe for making my own Chinese bean paste.
The first step of making 霉豆子 (moldy soybeans) is officially a success. From here the beans will be dried, reconstituted with brine and left to cure in the hot Beijing sun. After two weeks, I should have bean paste. From there, it’s a small step to becoming soy sauce.
Making the beans was surprisingly easy to do, and all it cost me was a pound of ordinary soybeans and a formerly white t-shirt that I will never be able to wear again.
Fermentation is oldest trick in the Chinese culinary toolkit. Evidence of ancient beer shows up in archeological finds that predate writing by thousands of years.
Both recipes, the beans and the beer are in my new book, China in Seven Banquets: A Flavourful History, now out with Reaktion Books!
Thomas David DuBois 