Aka miso

Miso rouge (aka)

What it is

When Date Masamune founded Sendai around 1600 he built a miso works inside the castle town to keep his troops in rations — commonly counted as Japan's first miso factory — and his red paste was the one that held on campaign when other domains' spoiled. The colour is the record of that keeping: one to three years of Maillard browning, with nothing added to darken it.

In the kitchen

It carries roughly twice the salt of a white miso, so swap it in at half the weight and taste before going further. Where saikyo caramelises sweetly under a grill, aka simply goes acrid — keep it for soups, braises and long simmers, not glazes.

Goes with

Pork Leek Ginger Garlic Butter Potato Carrot Black radish

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