At noma - four times named the world's best restaurant - every dish includes some form of fermentation, whether it's a bright hit of vinegar, a deeply savory miso, an electrifying drop of garum, or the sweet intensity of black garlic. Fermentation is one of the foundations behind noma's extraordinary flavour profiles. Now Rene Redzepi, chef and co-owner of noma, and David Zilber, the chef who runs the restaurant's acclaimed fermentation lab, share never-before-revealed techniques to creating noma's extensive pantry of ferments. And they do so with a book conceived specifically to share their knowledge and techniques with home cooks. With more than 750 full-colour photographs, most of them step-by-step how-tos, and with every recipe approachably written and meticulously tested, Foundations of Flavor: The Noma Guide to Fermentation takes readers far beyond the typical kimchi and sauerkraut to include koji, kombuchas, shoyus, misos, lacto-ferments, vinegars, garums, and black fruits and vegetables. And - perhaps even more important - it shows how to use these game-changing pantry ingredients in 100 original recipes. Fermentation is already building as the most significant new direction in food (and health). With Foundations of Flavor: The Noma Guide to Fermentation, it's about to be taken to a whole new level. “A significant [marker of] culinary culture. . . . A fresh set of transformative cooking fundamentals, one in which misos, shoyus, magic molds called kojis and umami-laden garums make ferments something cooks reach for as readily as salt.” —The New York Times, Fall’s Best Cookbooks “[A] window into the magic . . . of what is arguably the most famous restaurant in the world.” —Food & Wine, The Best Cookbooks Coming Out This Fall “A wildly practical and fascinating examination of one of the world’s oldest methods of food preservation.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “This book on fermentation is the master class.” —Eater, The Best Cookbooks of Fall 2018 “Refreshingly accessible.” —Grub Street, The Best New Fall Cookbooks “Without question, you need this book. Even if you already have a basic understanding about lacto-fermenting; fermenting kombucha, vinegar, and working with koji; and making your own vinegars, this volume is a treasure trove of inspiration. . . . Beyond the fermentations themselves, Redzepi and Zilber share clever ideas for using each ingredient, such as a blended fermented blueberry paste to smear on fresh corn [and] a coffee kombucha soaked into ladyfingers for tiramisu. . . . [I]ndispensable.” —Plate, The Best Fall 2018 Cookbooks “A new way to create the building blocks of great dishes that will really set your cooking apart.” —Robb Report, The 6 Cookbooks You’ll Want to Add to Your Shelf This Fall “Perfect for every experience level of readers interested in fermentation.” —Mother Earth News “If you’re eager to dive into the wonderful, funky world of fermented food (and you should be, as the effects on your health and taste buds will be nothing short of extraordinary), this book will be your new go-to guide.” —Mind Body Green, The 10 Best Healthy Cookbooks for Fall “Techniques for achieving the tangy, deeply savory, overall extraordinary flavor that fermentation can bring to a dish.” —Epicurious “Highly original. . . . Throw yourself into it and the rewards are many. The book comes alive when it lists ways to serve and share the end results – black garlic, for instance, can be slathered on crusty grilled sourdough bread, tossed with pastas and pesto, or turned into a black onion soup. . . . All-embracing, nerdy, driven, cultish and compelling.” —Australian Financial Review “With The Noma Guide to Fermentation, René and his team have written the definitive guide to creating fermented foods. We’re all smarter for the years of research that went into this book, and I’m thrilled that home cooks and professionals alike have access to this information.” —David Chang, chef/founder of Momofuku “René Redzepi and the Noma team bring extraordinary creativity to the ancient and universal practice of fermentation. Accessible enough for novices, The Noma Guide to Fermentation is sure to elevate the practices of those of us already enchanted with the vast realm of fermentation.” —Sandor Katz, award-winning author of The Art of Fermentation “After reading The Noma Guide to Fermentation, I want to lacto-ferment every single thing in sight! A whole new world of ideas has been opened. As ever, René and his Noma team generously share their knowledge of their initial fermentation ‘accidents’ and how the alchemy of mold, yeast, and bacteria can completely transform one’s cooking.” —Kylie Kwong, chef and co-owner of Billy Kwong “The Noma Guide to Fermentation gathers detailed recipes for the restaurant’s most successful discoveries, documents the current state of the craft they’ve helped advance, and offers a superb introduction for chefs and home cooks alike to the practicalities and pleasures of cooking with microbes.” —Harold McGee, award-winning author of On Food and Cooking “The science lab at Noma is the perfect culinary incubator to take on an in-depth study of fermentation. I am thrilled that Redzepi and Zilber have given us access to their diligent research as they offer us the recipes for their most successful, and delicious, results!” —Alice Waters, author of The Art of Simple Food
