Jan 05,2024
You see domestically grown lemons more often in the stores these days. The great thing about Japanese lemons is that you can use not just the flesh and juice but also the rind. After all, they’re fungicide- and pesticide-free (or grown with minimal pesticide) and unwaxed. And what better time to preserve lemons than winter, when they come into season?
Food coordinator Kotera Miya has written an entire book of meal and dessert recipes made with Japanese lemons. Here she shares her recipe for salted lemon confit, which is much more versatile than plain salted lemons. Further, she explains how to use a more refined version of the same, salted lemon confit paste, in your cooking. Finally, she talks about preserved foods in general, which she’s devoted her life to making. She also discusses kasu-jiru or “sake-lees soup,” which she couldn’t do without in the cold winter months.
Salted lemons are a traditional Moroccan flavoring made by salting and aging lemons. They combine a mildly salty, sour taste with a zesty aroma and the umami derived from the aging process. Whatever you’re cooking, they tie the flavor together beautifully. While salted lemons are a familiar ingredient in Japan, however, many people aren’t sure what to do with them in the kitchen. Miya used to be among them.
“When you preserve lemons the Moroccan way, by cutting them into wedges, just about the only thing they’re good for is tagine”—a stew prepared in a shallow earthenware dish. “Then one day I tried cutting them into thin slices before preserving them, and when I stewed them, even the lemon rind disintegrated and blended with everything else. It was delicious.”
Miya’s salted lemon confit evolved further. “Having aged the lemons, I then pureed them. Well, that let me do a lot more with the confit in the kitchen. It can be used to pre-season meat and fish. It can be used as a flavoring for stir-fries, dressings, and sauces. Or you can add a little to a meal. It’s a flavoring I could no longer do without.”
Salted lemon confit paste. With its smooth consistency, it can easily be spread on or mixed with anything.
Miya has a spacious garden on her veranda, where Meyer and Lisbon lemon trees grow. She got into making lemon preserves and flavorings after these started bearing lots of fruit.
“The confit turns out differently depending on which variety of lemons you use. Meyer lemons are mildly acidic, while Lisbon lemons have a robust acidic taste and aroma. Also, I’d recommend making the confit with fully ripened lemons, which result in a mellower flavor. The best time to buy lemons is around January or February.”
The taste varies greatly depending on how the lemons are aged, and for how long.
“Leave them for about two weeks at room temperature, then let them slowly age in the fridge. The juice thickens as they age, and after about six months, the rind easily disintegrates, making the confit easy to use in your cooking.” (See the right-hand jar in the photo at the beginning of this article. The jar in the center is of lemons that have just been prepared.) “Confit that hasn’t been aged for long has a really fresh taste. It assumes a fuller flavor after about a year, which however takes getting used to. That’s why I prefer confit aged for about six months. It’s a lot of fun experimenting.”
The only ingredients required are lemons and coarse salt. Remember that the salt is equivalent to 40% of the weight of the lemons. That way it’s easy to calculate the sodium when you add the confit to your cooking.
1. Wash the lemons and wipe dry. Cut off both ends. With the rind still on, cut into 5mm-thick slices. Remove the pips with a bamboo skewer or similar utensil. Weigh the lemons and prepare the corresponding amount of salt.
Cut the lemons into 5mm-thick slices, rind and all. Before cutting, you can remove any dirt from the rind by scrubbing the surface with a scouring brush using fairly hot water.
2. Place the lemon slices in a bowl. Coat evenly with salt.
Massage the salt in well as you coat the lemon with it (left). You can tell when the salt is evenly mixed in because the rinds will turn soft and a large amount of juice will build up (right).
3. Tightly pack all the lemon slices from Step 2 in a clean container. Press down hard until immersed in juice. If there’s not enough juice to immerse the slices, add enough squeezed lemon juice to cover them. (Weigh on your kitchen scales.) Add salt equal to 40% of the weight of the squeezed juice.
Pressing down on the lemon slices as you put them in the container squeezes out the juice so they become immersed (left). Don’t forget to add the salt and juice left in the bowl (right)!
4. Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly over the lemon slices, then put the lid on the container. Leave in a cool, dark place for about 2 weeks. Then store in the fridge and age to taste. The finished confit will keep for about a year in the fridge.
The lemon slices will spoil if exposed to air. Cover them directly with a sheet of plastic wrap so they remain immersed in juice (left). Salt will build up at the bottom of the container during aging. It’s a good idea to shake the container sometimes and turn the lemon slices over (right).
Once your salted lemon confit is properly aged, you can puree it with a hand blender or a food processor and turn it into a paste. Then put it in a clean jar and stick it in the fridge. It can be used for all kinds of cooking.
This confit is a cinch to puree, as the aging process softens even the rind.
Here Miya describes how to make two dishes: cod sautéed in lemon and spinach sautéed in lemon, which makes a great side. In both dishes, the salted lemon confit paste is the defining note.
“It’s an easy way to define the favor, yet it creates a more refined taste experience by adding the aroma and mild acidity of lemon. Plus it lends the cod a hint of yellow. Isn’t that a treat for the eyes?”
Cod sautéed in lemon: Preseason a fillet of cod with a little salt and sake and dust with flour. Heat a frying pan with olive oil and cook the cod in it. Add 10g of butter and half a teaspoon of salted lemon confit paste per fillet and lightly coat the fish with it.
Spinach sautéed in lemon: Cut a bunch of spinach into bite-sized pieces and stir-fry. Then stir-fry with half a teaspoon to a teaspoon of salted lemon confit paste to finish.
Everywhere in Miya’s kitchen there are jars of pickles and preserves. Preserving foods has become part of her life. Just a few days ago, she says, she came across some mini cucumbers and promptly made pickles with them. Even the containers she uses are beautiful. The sight of foods fermenting away leaves you spellbound.
“The sight of a nice glass container makes me want to preserve something in it. Part of the fun of making pickles and preserves, I find, is watching or observing how the fermentation process transforms them.”
Pickling jars made by glassmaker Washizuka Takanori
Ever since Miya was a little girl, there’s one thing she could never do without in winter: kasu-jiru or “sake lees soup.”
“I had it almost every morning before I went to school. My mother would make it for me. It really warms you up. And if you ask me, it also improves the condition of your skin.”
Miya, a native of Kyoto, adds a little white miso to her sake lees soup. “I like it thick like potage, with lots of sake lees. Julienned radish and carrots and deep-fried tofu are a must. Chikuwa fish paste tubes also taste good in the soup, because they add umami. Different households use different ingredients. I have friends who put pork or konjac or seri (Japanese parsley) in their soup.”
Julienned radish and carrots give you something to chew on and blend well with the soup. They deliver a different taste experience from vegetables cut into half circles.
Miya has her favorite sake lees which she buys in bulk. She puts the portion she’ll be using immediately in a rectangular dish and sticks it in the fridge. The rest she keeps in the freezer year-round. “There are a lot of products to choose from nowadays, but I prefer old-fashioned sake lees in sheets. They have a more robust flavor. Different brands taste completely different, which is all part of the fun.”
Miya gets her sake lees at a liquor shop she knows she can trust. She often uses Takijiman sake lees produced by Takijiman Brewery in Iga, Mie Prefecture. One of her favorite sakes is Denshu, brewed by Nishida Shuzoten in Aomori. So when she came across Denshu sake lees, she promptly bought some.
Food coordinator and culinary expert.
Food coordinator and culinary expert.
Kotera Miya is renowned for her culinary creations and preserved foods leveraging the fragrance of spices and aromatic vegetables. She works in a wide range of food-related fields, including food styling. She is currently instructor on a popular cooking program on TV. She also gardens on her veranda, where fruit trees, herbs, and flowers grow, and that too has generated a lot of buzz. Her books include Lemon Dishes and Desserts (published by Yama-Kei Publishers) and Cooking That Makes Cooking Fun (published by Anonima Studio).
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