Located in a residential area in Machida, Tokyo, Kreutzer specializes in handmade ham and sausages. The store is visited by a steady stream of regular customers, who come for the ham and sausages made with traditional, labor-intensive German methods.
Owner Yoshioka Manabu has developed a series of processed meat products using time-honored Japanese fermentation techniques, with the goal of spreading his completely original products from Machida to the rest of Japan and to the world. We spoke with him about his latest products — pork garum and salami fermented with shochu koji [rice malt for making shochu distilled alcoholic spirits] — that he recently began selling online on April 29, unofficially known as Meat Day.
Inspired by the shishibi shio loved by Heian aristocracy, pork garum is a versatile soy sauce that takes your cooking flavors to the next level
Pork garum is a seasoning made by fermenting and aging pork and features the distinctive sweetness of pork combined with the savory aroma of barley. A versatile soy sauce that enhances the umami flavor of food ingredients, Kreutzer’s pork garum took eight years of research to develop.
As sales of pork garum are limited to just 70 bottles, interested readers should not hesitate to seek it out. It is available at Kreutzer’s online store. Pork garum wurst — sausages flavored with pork garum — are also on sale by popular demand.
Kreutzer’s owner, Yoshioka, originally studied fermentation and brewing at the Tokyo University of Agriculture’s Department of Fermentation (now the Faculty of Applied Biosciences’ Department of Fermentation Science). After working at a pharmaceutical company, he left his white-collar job to take over the store as the second-generation owner.
While considering how to make processed meat products using Japanese fermentation techniques, he happened to meet a classmate from university at a trade fair. That classmate was Yoshida Tsutomu, president of Kenko Shokuhin Kogyo, a Miyazaki-based manufacturer of soy sauces and miso.
“Early on, I was making aged meat because I was told that the koji used in soy sauce and miso had the power to break down meat and if aged with meat, would produce plenty of umami. At the same time, I was approached by the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute’s Food Technology Center about creating a product using pork farmed under the brand name Tokyo X. As I was trying all sorts of things in an attempt to make products that no one else was doing, I came across shishibi shio, which was eaten way back in the Heian period (794 to 1185). Shishibi shio is made by fermenting meat with koji and is said to be one of the roots of modern soy sauce. Inspired by the idea of shishibi shio, I decided to make pork garum.”
Yoshioka looked for the best koji variety for fermenting pork and tried rice koji, soybean koji, wheat bran koji, wheat koji, barley koji, and others. The research was done jointly, among Yoshioka, Kenko Shokuhin Kogyo, and the Food Technology Center.
The research ran into a series of setbacks. “When we fermented pork with soybean koji or wheat koji, it tasted like normal soy sauce and had none of the meatiness of pork. We were convinced that it would work with rice koji and pursued this line of research until finally, in the third year, we had to admit it just wasn’t going to taste good.” (laughs) The group finally landed on barley koji. By fermenting and aging pork with barley koji, they were able to create pork garum with deep, rich umami and a sweet aroma.
Yoshioka was so taken by the taste of sausages he ate in Switzerland when he was a student, that he longed to open a ham and sausage shop some day
Pork garum is a seasoning that enhances the umami of ingredients and takes your regular cooking up a notch. Adding it to a stir-fry or hot-pot dish will boost the umami and richness. In fact, it can be used in a multitude of ways, such as coating it on gyoza dumplings or tofu, spreading it on grilled rice balls, or using it as a dip with mayo for vegie sticks.
“It’s delicious when making ginger-flavored grilled pork, and I recommend using it as a topping. Apparently, the Heian aristocracy ate shishibi shio with steamed vegetables. So it’s fun to spread pork garum on steamed root vegetables or mushrooms and think about how the nobles ate like this in the Heian period.”
Fermented shochu koji salami is perfect for shochu lovers
Another new product from Kreutzer is their fermented shochu koji salami, the world’s first pork product fermented with shochu koji. Sangenton (Three Origins) pork from Saitama is fermented with the barley koji used to make Shimajiman — a shochu from the Niijima Distillery, seasoned with salt, Niijima Island chili pepper, and other spices, and then smoked over wood chips.
Fermented shochu koji salami is sold on its own or as a gift box together with Shimajiman shochu. It’s a perfect summer present for the shochu fans in your life.
The salami was an idea that Yoshioka developed in collaboration with another university classmate, Miyahara Jun, owner of Niijima Distillery, a well-known shochu distillery on Niijima Island. While Yoshioka was touring the distillery, he became fixated with the idea that if he were to make salami using the barley koji used to distill shochu, the salami would likely taste really good. Salami is usually fermented and matured using lactic acid bacteria, but he reckoned that barley koji used for shochu could be used as a substitute because of its high acidity.
“We made some, and it was so delicious that we continued making trial batches. The salami not only uses the barley koji used in Shimajiman shochu, it actually contains some shochu as well, so it’s the ideal snack to go with shochu. I think it pairs well with a smoky scotch or whisky too, but I encourage people to eat the salami with Shimajiman.”
The fermented shochu koji salami is available at an izakaya pub on Niijima Island, where it has become quite popular
If you slice and eat the salami on its own, its smoky flavor will blossom in your mouth together with the meat’s sweetness and the subtle spiciness of the Niijima chili peppers. It tastes so good that once you start eating it, you won’t be able to stop. The salami continues to mature, so you can enjoy how its flavor develops over time.
“Even after the salami is vacuum-packed, the koji remain alive and continue to slowly maturate the meat and increase the umami. When fresh out of the pack, the meat’s flavor is stronger, but over time a richness will develop, making it even more delicious.”
Spreading the word about products relying on classic Japanese fermentation techniques, from Machida to the rest of Japan and the world
At any given time, there are some 50 products on display in Kreutzer’s showcase. Yoshioka says his goal is to increase the number of fermented items he offers.
“Fermentation is fascinating. It’s a series of failures — like not getting the taste you’d hoped for and taking years to understand the results of your research — but it’s a lot of fun. And what else is great about fermentation is not only does it make food taste better; it also has health benefits. The enzymes in koji break down the fibers in meat, making it tenderer and easier to eat as well as improving how easily it is digested and absorbed by the body. I think older people will delight in this salami too.”
To reassure their customers, Kreutzer does not use any synthetic preservatives, artificial coloring, or bulking agents in its ham and sausages, and it also strives to keep the salt and fat content to a minimum
At the store, Kreutzer sells its own original mustard, wine, and beer
Yoshioka hopes to spread the word about his products made using Japanese fermentation techniques to the rest of Japan and the world.
“I’ve studied pâté and sausage-making in Germany and France. One day, it dawned on me that we are always learning meat techniques from abroad. And that got me thinking about what we can offer from Japan. Japan has very advanced fermentation techniques, but they were very rarely applied to ferment meat, which I saw as a missed opportunity. My goal is to develop processed meat products that combine Japanese traditional fermentation with state-of-the-art technology and popularize them from my store in Machida in Tokyo.”
