Kimchi

So, the other day Chef Windus showed me a lexan full of brussel sprouts and said "kimchi." I had already written down a recipe a week or so before, because I was talking with the junior sous chef about stuff in our walk-in that we could try the flavors with. So sure enough, I pulled out my notebook and said "I got this." Chef cleaned them and quartered them, and I soaked them for 4 hours at room temp in a salt brine. Then I made a paste from fish sauce (didn't have any shrimp paste), red pepper flakes (no Korean pepper either), garlic, ginger, scallions, sesame seeds and sesame oil. This paste would actually be a delicious dip for a crudite (in my opinion) if you can handle the heat. Next I grated some black radish over the drained and rinsed brussels, threw in some chopped scallions, and mixed everything together. We only fermented it for 3 days (according to the recipe), but I would like to try again and move to the fridge at different intervals and see how far we could take it. The true test comes Tuesday when we'll taste it. I know that it continues to ferment, but am nevertheless excited to taste it as soon as i can.


Here is a quick updated shot of the Merguez after 2 weeks of drying...


And here is a shot of my only spot to store the products for now...

From Left to Right: american honey bacon, smoked merguez, mole lonzino, lamb salami, and the dried merguez.