Fermented Cabbage in the Amour Style by yusuke goto

“Fresh, tender spring vegetables are typically easy to ferment and taste better for it. And temperature-wise, spring is a good season for fermenting.” So says Goto Yusuke, executive chef of celebrated French restaurant Amour in the Ebisu district of Tokyo, which the Michelin Guide Tokyo awarded a star for seven straight years.

One of the foods served at the restaurant is lactic acid bacteria-rich fermented cabbage. Here Chef Goto shares his recipe for making it in your own kitchen. What he has to say about eating natto (fermented soybeans) and yogurt to stay healthy is also a must-read. After all, he’s a chef, and physical fitness is one of his biggest assets.

Fermented foods are now standard at restaurants worldwide.

Chef Goto started serving fermented vegetables at his restaurant six years ago. A major inspiration for doing so was the renowned Danish restaurant Noma, which has become a global sensation by topping the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list five times. Noma triggered the global fermentation boom by setting up a fermentation lab on the premises to research and develop its own fermented foods. These are incorporated into everything it serves.

“Back then, more and more restaurants in both Japan and France incorporated fermented foods into French dishes under Noma’s influence. That was a little while ago, but fermented foods weren’t just a passing fad; they’ve become standard on the menu. At Amour, we lacto-ferment and serve a wide variety of vegetables, including onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms.”

Amour’s fermented cabbage is fresh-tasting and low in salt.

Of the fermented vegetables served at Amour, Chef Goto particularly recommends the fermented cabbage for making at home. While recipes for lacto-fermenting cabbage are legion — German sauerkraut, French choucroute, and so forth — Chef Goto believes that fermented cabbage should above all taste fresh.

“I pickle the cabbage in salt equal to 0.8 percent of its weight. That makes it just salty enough, with a mild, refreshing taste so it goes well with French cuisine. With 1 percent salt, it has a noticeably salty taste. The greater the salt content, the more it tastes like Japanese pickles.”

The fermented cabbage at the restaurant is served as soon as it’s ready to eat. “It doesn’t keep for long because of the low salt content. You should eat it no more than two days.”

The cabbage served at Amour is fermented in a vacuum using a special piece of equipment. Once it turns yellow and the bag swells up, that means it’s ready to eat.

Recipe for making fermented cabbage

Delicious ways to enjoy fermented cabbage

With its mildly salty, fresh taste, this fermented cabbage is so good that you can’t put your chopsticks down. So how does Chef Goto serve it at the restaurant?

“I dress it in olive oil after wringing out the moisture. That way it tastes even milder.”

“Fermented cabbage particularly comes into its own when used to garnish fish. Its fresh, mild acidity enhances the delicate flavor of fish without getting in the way. It’s a nice extra touch.”

On the day of our visit, Chef Goto prepared a meal in which cabbage played the starring role alongside Japanese Spanish mackerel. It featured fermented cabbage garnished with herbs, served alongside delicious-smelling Brussels sprout fritters. You thus got to enjoy more than one variety of cabbage. The fresh-tasting fermented cabbage that punctuated the meal highlighted the fine flavor of the sautéed mackerel.

Sautéed Japanese Spanish mackerel in beurre blanc sauce served with fermented cabbage and Brussels sprout fritters. This spring dish delights the eye with its delicate colors and the palate with its refreshing flavor. Beurre blanc sauce is a butter sauce that pairs beautifully with fish.

The food routine that sustains me as a chef: eating natto & yogurt

Chef Goto eats on the job all the time, sampling food before it’s served to guests and trying new menu items while they’re still under development. He often has a drink as well. He’s therefore extra careful about his health: his physical condition, his energy intake, getting a balanced diet.

What’s his secret to staying in top form when he’s constantly busy?
“Eating natto and yogurt at the same time virtually every day.”

The two products Chef Goto eats routinely: Okame Natto S-903 (right); and Hokkaido Zero Fat Plain Yogurt (left), sold under the Smile Life brand, the private label of Japanese supermarket chain Life.

He eats it after work at one or two in the morning.
“First I eat the natto; then after having a few snacks with a drink — and there’s nothing I love more than a drink — I finish up with some low-fat yogurt. I almost never get colds anymore thanks to this routine. It also keeps my stomach in good condition. When you have an upset stomach, nothing you sample tastes good, and that’s fatal for a chef. I now appreciate the benefits and importance of eating fermented foods more than ever.”

He downs a single container of natto after thoroughly mixing in the accompanying sauce. “This snack is a source of lactic acid bacteria — from the sauce — as well as natto bacilli.”

“The natto and yogurt I eat are so ordinary that I can pick them up at the late-night supermarket if I ever run out,” says Chef Goto. “Once I’ve decided to eat a particular variety of something, I insist on sticking to it.” In addition, he goes to the gym before work three or four times a week, and he’s in the habit of eating a boiled egg at lunchtime — the nutritionally perfect food.

“I guess you could say it’s like feeding my body the same bacteria all the time so they’re permanently in my system. For me, natto and yogurt are like medications. They keep me in good working condition.”

Chef Goto eats a generous half containerful (approx. 200 g) of yogurt drizzled with honey. “I’ve got a sweet tooth, but I try not to overindulge it. I just finish the day with something sweet.”