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I've come to think of miso paste as a distant cousin of the Marmite family. Less salty, less acrid, still packed with umami, and with much more discernible flav
by twic 3y ago
I've come to think of miso paste as a distant cousin of the Marmite family. Less salty, less acrid, still packed with umami, and with much more discernible flavour. A more civilised cousin, really. Although it's not traditional, you can use them in similar ways; miso paste on buttered toast is quite nice.
- edem 3y agoi second this. to me marmite (and all the rest) is inedible, but i really like miso paste
- fifilura 3y agoI am probably way off here but I also think of Norwegian brunost or Swedish messmör. Essentially boiled down whey. It is certainly much sweeter than vege/marmite, and I am not sure the remainig taste could be classified as umami. But it has a very distinctive taste. And, if I am completely wrong, at least I can claim that the consistency and color is similar to vege/marmite.
- twic 3y agoThat's a really interesting comparison. I think brunost has a lot of flavours that are nothing like Marmite - it's creamy, it's sweet, and it's a bit sour. But they are certainly similar in that they have a sort of concentratedness to them, and in that sensible people hate them.
- wiredfool 3y agoIs that like gaitost, the brown whey cheese? It’s basically solid whey that’s gone through a Maillard reaction to make a sweet, salty cheese like stuff. We made some a few years back, but couldn’t get it to turn out as aell as the commercial stuff.
- fifilura 3y agoI also made it once. The electricity for boiling all that liquid should be what makes up most of the manufacuring cost. Hm I should ask Fjällbrynt how they cope with that. If I remember correctly the trick was in the stirring. Either not stir at all (with the risk of burning), or stir all the time to keep it from crystalizing. Edit: and yes geitost is the goat-whey version.
- fifilura 3y agoThat is why my comment was full of caveats! I also felt like maybe the taste was not really comparable. But I think you nailed it with the last sentence!
- marssaxman 3y agoWhen I make a grilled cheese sandwich, I like to smear one slice of bread thinly with miso paste (and the other with dijon). Vegemite suddenly made sense once I realized it is used in much the same way.
- DyslexicAtheist 3y agomiso paste with raw vegetable sticks like cucumber, carrot or cabbage is awesome.
- simondotau 3y ago20 years ago I introduced a Japanese person to Vegemite and, I think because I described it to him as like miso, he really liked it. I wonder if the shock value is derived from an expectation of chocolatey sweetness. If you’re expecting Nutella, Vegemite is guaranteed to disappoint.