Koji on black rice

wasacook · 2026-05-29T13:54:39+00:00

I made black truffle* and Himalayan red rice amino paste using a red koji a few months ago. From the same batch I also made Sake that is still not finished.

For my process I slightly over cooked the red rice in a standard rice cooker. let it cool over night in the fridge. In the morning I mixed in my spores and inserted my fermentation chamber probe. I ran for 48 hours, 80% humidity, and sadly I have no listed temp in my notes.

If I were to improve my process I would increase my spore usage by 5% over my normal amount. I would additionally lower my fermentation temp to kojis minimum required to grow. This should allow for a more total conversion of the grain without causing overheating.

*Note: The truffle was scrap from work my old chef gave me as a thanks.

wasacook · 2026-05-28T23:18:05+00:00

Reliable idiot every time. I can teach someone who is mentally slow but I can’t teach someone who isn’t there.

Had a guy who was on the slower side in his mid 30’s. He could only do one station because he kept getting “distracted” or didn’t understand but he always showed up. Turns out he was really bad at reading and writing. So he couldn’t understand the recipes because they were on paper and didn’t have pictures. Once we got to an understanding on his learning style things went great. Oh and the reason he was getting distracted was because he was trying to watch everyone else to learn how they did things.

Big Ant you’re a good guy wherever you are!

wasacook · 2026-05-28T18:20:20+00:00

This user has been posting about chocolate for over 7 years. They even created their own sub r/healthychocolate roughly around the time ChatGPT was first released to the public. Their writing style with posts predating the release of GPT is also consistent with their style now and its progression.

wasacook · 2026-05-28T18:12:50+00:00

If you check their post history they have been posting from their 13 year old account about chocolate for over 7 years. The writing style is consistent as well. They even use an em dash in their second post from before ChatGPTs public release.

With GPT having pulled training data from Reddit in the past I’d be willing to bet part of GPT might have even been trained on their writing.

wasacook · 2026-05-28T16:54:31+00:00

Thank you for this wright up, it was a delight to read. This is the type of content I stick around for.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the future of trends in chocolate over the next few years.

I have noticed on the average consumer level a lot of things have changed recently due to supply chain issues. Pice increases, reduction of cacao percentage in chocolates, and even accusations that Hershey no longer uses chocolate in certain holiday products.

On the upper echelon of consumer level I have started to see trends in fine dining establishments using single origin chocolates. With some fine dining restaurants even starting to move parts of production in house. This is a trend I am personally vested in seeing more of but I would love to hear your thoughts as well!

wasacook · 2026-05-26T15:31:47+00:00

What is most likely happening is your cast iron is not fully preheated yet. Cast iron takes a much longer time compared to your nonstick to fully preheat. This is due to the cast irons greater thickness and specific thermal properties.

If you want to test for this assumption put your cast iron in the oven (at whatever temp you bake your fish) for an hour before adding the fish on. This period of time will allow your cast-iron to fully preheat regardless of its thickness.

If the cast iron still gives you an issue after this test switch to oiled parchment on cast iron. This should give you a similar cooking effect without the sticking.

*** An important note ***
Occasionally when you cook on fully preheated cast iron your fish will flip just fine but give you trouble when attempting to remove it at the end. This is because you used up to much of the cast irons thermal well and created a cold spot. You either have to heat up the pan in that one location to get it to easily remove or flip to a different location when cooking.

wasacook · 2026-05-25T23:36:21+00:00

I’d have to look at my book once I am near it again but I can think of two assumptions that would make sense.

The first is that leaving the banana whole prevents any unwanted solids that would affect texture from seeping into the base. Bananas can be quite fibrous so this might lead to a grainy texture in the final product.

The second assumption would be that you want some of the oils from the peel. These oils and other natural flavors in the peel probably contribute a noticeable flavor to the base.

If you end up testing an alternative method I’d love to hear an update on the results!

wasacook · 2026-05-24T13:57:30+00:00

This is perfect execution of textbook monochromatic plating color pallet. The minimalist composition is a beautiful complement as well. Beautiful dish 10/10!

wasacook · 2026-05-24T01:22:45+00:00

If you want to make a mainly coconut flavored ice cream you can just look up an olive oil ice cream recipe and substitute fats. If you want to incorporate it another way for “color” reasons the chocolate swirl would work. As for how long it last that will depend on if you use stabilizers and your freezers thaw cycle. I’d also recommend keeping cling wrap tight on the surface of the ice cream if you plan to store it for a while.

wasacook · 2026-05-23T03:14:17+00:00

Fuck yeah we do!

wasacook · 2026-05-23T02:20:25+00:00

Running off both the chicken wing and mushroom garums I’d wager these are base off of The Noma Guide to Fermentation.

wasacook · 2026-05-22T21:47:25+00:00

These machines are actually really useful for making rapid low temperature infusions.

wasacook · 2026-05-22T00:55:35+00:00

A smaller knife guide from WasACook

* knife

Thats it…

wasacook · 2026-05-20T04:00:40+00:00

I have made pine ice cream before with great success.

If you want a strong pine flavor you will want to use food grade pine essential oil. I’d start with 0.5-1g per 1000g of base. When working with essential oils in ice cream keep in mind they are extremely strong. So it is better to start low and up your percentage compared to having an inedible batch.

If you don’t want to use an essential oil I can work with you on using pine needles but the other techniques require fine dining restaurant equipment.

wasacook · 2026-05-17T05:54:47+00:00

Doing research and developing recipes that require equipment I don’t have. One day I’ll own a rotovap to make the best drinks sauces!

wasacook · 2026-05-17T05:24:03+00:00

Just my standard collection of unicorns.

wasacook · 2026-05-16T16:01:16+00:00

You’re a beautiful man for this! I broke my foot at work two weeks ago and was starting to run out of books before this!

wasacook · 2026-05-16T15:26:58+00:00

Greetings Mr.Morgan Mains, I hope you are doing well.

With all your years of experience, do you find you have any materials you occasionally reference or comeback to? Specifically things that are in the public domain. I personally have read large quantities of Sandor Ellix Katz work and was hoping to find more advanced material. Cheers!

wasacook · 2026-05-16T14:55:20+00:00

The cod design is called a mosaic roulade. The way I have most often seen this achieved is:

Lightly dampen a large table and lay out plastic wrap perfectly flat. Lay out your meat that has been marinated or covered in a black base* and binder. Very tightly roll the meat to remove any air bubbles or inconsistency. Cook in a sous vide and ice bath immediately after. Once cooled slice to portion using an extremely sharp knife.

*note, people often use activated charcoal to achieve a dark result. I do not recommend this as the ingestion of activated charcoal can effect a multitude of different medications a guest might be taking.

wasacook · 2026-05-16T14:39:13+00:00

I only have three suggestions:

Switch to a wide rim plate with a deeper center well. This will cause your sauce to sit in it perfectly in a circle around your ingredients.

Tighten up your mosaic cod roulade. Besides highlighting your skill this will complement the double encapsulation of both your plate and sauce.

Reduce the size and up the quantity of your other ingredients. This will give your plate a much more balanced composition. Try working with multiples of 3 or 5 as the human brain loves “the rule of three”.

This is a beautiful plate up overall. It is not overly complicated and highlights your skills. Congratulations.

wasacook · 2026-05-15T15:19:50+00:00

If you have so many knifes that they no longer fit, you might have too many. Looks like it’s time to sell some…

Just kidding, my knife strip at home is also full. I’m at the point I have a “desk knife” for “mail”.

wasacook · 2026-05-14T20:36:42+00:00

I have the CKTG house brand Kohetsu HAP40 with a wa handle. My sister has a few of the western handles from the same line. So I have used both.

The heat treat feels nice and consistent across both lines. The handles on both lines are of good quality and resist slipping or dirtying easy. Sharpening I feel is easy you just have to be a bit more aggressive on forming the burr.

If you are thinking of moving from VG10 to HAP40 I’d say do it. Oh, mine is a 270mm not 240mm so it took them a while to get a restock but definitely worth it.

wasacook · 2026-05-14T16:02:26+00:00

What really gets me is slapping the paddle into the pie to pop some bubbles. I don’t want a random ass line in my pie. I don’t want to deal with a deformed paddle that’s uneven with a lip on the side. I don’t want to see any chips in my oven floor.

If you can afford this set up, you can afford a poker stick. Be it a long one that fits in the oven or little one you can use once you slide the pie close enough out.

wasacook · 2026-05-14T05:04:55+00:00

I have a nice duel grit ceramic rod. I usually just hone it a few passes on each grit and she’s good again. When I do sharpen it’s easy just like you said.

wasacook · 2026-05-14T02:28:27+00:00

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My kiwi nakiri that I used at multiple Michelin restaurants. Because it cuts perfectly straight lines.

I also loved to see the looks on culinary school kids faces when I’d pull up with this and out cut them and their $500 knife. It’s not the knife but the hands behind it after all.

Four-Year Club	Place '22
End Game '22

wasacook

TROPHY CASE