Fermented fennel

  • Ferment
  • 10
  • 30 minutes
Not yet rated

This fermented fennel recipe makes an appearance in an array of dishes at Sorella. It's delightfully crisp and tangy as any good ferment should be – keep tasting during the fermentation process and place in the fridge once it reaches the level of sourness that you like. The fermentation liquid from the fennel is used in thisfennel sausage ragù recipe, so don't throw away the liquid once you've eaten all the fennel. This recipe was developed by Dean alongside Robin Gill at Sorella, where Dean is head chef.

First published in 2018

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Fermented fennel

Equipment

  • 3l Kilner jar
  • Juicer

Method

1
To begin, weigh the 3 litre jar and note down the weight. Trim the tops off the fennel, remove the outer layers and pass the trimmings through a juicer – you should be left with 100–150ml liquid
2
Toast the seeds and chilli in a hot dry pan and after 2 minutes, add a dash of pomace oil, reducing the heat to medium. Add the garlic, cook until golden then add the white wine. Bring to the boil, add the lemon zest and bay leaves then allow to cool
3
Add the fennel juice to the jar, along with the cooled wine mixture. Cut each fennel bulb into six wedges, place in the same jar and top up with the filtered water until completely submerged
  • 2l filtered water
4
Weigh the jar again and subtract the original weight of the empty jar. Divide the number you get by 100 then multiply that by 3 to find out the amount of salt needed (3%). Add the salt, place the lid on the jar, shake well and pour in pomace oil to create a layer so no air can get in
5
Seal the jar and leave to ferment for 2 weeks to 1 month – the length of time needed will depend on the warmth and humidity of the room it is stored in
First published in 2018

With an unwavering dedication to finding the best ingredients around and amplifying their flavour through a variety of techniques, Dean Parker is an exciting young chef who rose through Robin Gill's restaurant empire and now heads up his own restaurant in Glasgow.

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