Floating cloud miso dressing

May 29, 2011 at 8:57 pm (B plus (3.5 stars, like a lot), Derek's faves, Miso, Other, Sauce/dressing)

After using miso in so many of Ron Pickarski’s recipes, I decided to pull out this old dressing recipe that I used to make in my co-op days.  It’s a very rich and salty dressing, with lots of umami flavor.  I had no idea where the recipe originated, so I did a google search and found a few different recipes entitled “Floating Cloud Miso”, but none of them quite lined up with this one.

Whisk together:

• 6 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 Tbs. rice vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 Tbs. miso
• 1/2 clove garlic, crushed
• dash of ground ginger
• dash of dry mustard

I made this tonight for our salad dressing and it seemed quite thick and greasy.  I couldn’t get a really good emulsification.  I added some extra vinegar because it just didn’t seem acidic enough.  I also used quite a bit of black pepper and two whole cloves of garlic, because it’s healthy and tastes so good.

I found a similar recipe in “The book of miso”, but in addition to the above ingredients it calls for 2 Tbs. of vinegar and a 1/4 cup of water.  That actually sounds quite a bit better.  I think I’ll try that next time.  I might also try cutting down on the vegetable oil a bit (I used canola) and increasing the sesame oil.  The recipe says it makes about 1 cup.

I also found a version called “miso floating cloud dressing” on the Yogi Kitchen blog.  The blog says it was adapted from the Tassajara Cookbook, Lunches, Picnics and Appetizers by Karla Oliviera.  It’s a bit different, and (oddly) is lacking any acid at all.

• 6 Tbsp neutral oil
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 3 tbsp red miso
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger minced