Mozzarella Cheese Marinated in Miso

An interesting fusion of Eastern and Western delicacy ;)

Good guess, everyone! :D Yep, it's cheese.
And it was marinated in something very Japanese.
Can you guess what it was?

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OK. Here's the answer.
This is mozzarella cheese marinated in miso. :D
Rosa's answer was correct, except that the cheese was not smoked.

I accidentally found a Japanese website talking about this interesting idea, and as usual, I couldn't resist the temptation to try it out myself. It didn't sound as strange as the combination of sweet bean paste and raw peach. I've read many times that fermented foods usually make good combinations.

But I knew I had to be careful about the miso I use. When I marinated tofu in miso before, it turned out too salty. So this time I blended a little amount of regular miso and bunch of saikyo miso, added mirin and heated it to make marinating paste.

This time it turned out a bit too sweet. But I agree with the favorable
comments I read about this food. It is a pleasant (well, at least, for
Japanese) harmony of salty miso and milky flavor of cheese. Adjusted the saltiness of the miso paste, this will be my favorite appetizer for sake. It's interesting. I don't think cheese is a great appetizer for sake as-is, but if added a little amount of very "Japanese" ingredients -- such as soy sauce, miso, bonito flakes or kelp -- it turns into a nice accompaniment for sake, our traditional liquor made from rice.

Well, thanks for participating, everyone! Hope you had fun ;)

Categories: Sake