What Do I Do with Miso?
When my dad was a teenager, he spent two years living in Japan, fully immersed in the local culture. Luckily for me, the culinary traditions made a lasting impact on him, so meals at our house were often punctuated by Japanese staples: rice, seaweed, umeboshi plums. Perhaps the most versatile Japanese export consumed at our house was miso, a thick, salty-sweet fermented paste typically made from soybeans (though it can also be made with barley, rice, or other grains).