Discover why David Schneider believes fermentation isn’t just a method to preserve food but a powerful way to enhance flavour and stay true to the essence of genuine, thoughtful cooking.

David is the chef and partner to Liam and Jan Tomlin at Eat Out star restaurants Chefs Warehouse at Maison in Franschhoek, and The Red Room by Chefs Warehouse at Mount Nelson, a Belmond Hotel. Most recently, he’s partnered with the Tomlins – and working with young talented chef Adrian Hadlow – in three new operations at 91 Bree Street, including a revamp of the original Chefs Warehouse & Canteen, an events space called Room 91, and Merchant Bar & Grill, which both heroes local producers and goes deep into fermentation and preservation. 

Here’s why he’s so into the age-old processes of fermentation and preservation, which he says not only preserve food but expand flavour. 

Have you always been intrigued by fermentation? 

David: I come from a German family and we’d often visit my grandpa in Durban when I was young. We ate rollmops and sauerkraut with him, and he’d always give us the most intense flavoursome cheeses; cheeses that would clear a room. But I loved them and was intrigued by how he further aged cheeses he bought to make them even smellier and stronger. 

Later, when I took a break from cheffing to be a butcher, I started learning about how many factors are involved in making biltong and why different biltong tastes different. The quality of the meat and the upbringing of the animal are more obvious factors, but also whether it was a quick or a slow dry, the quality of the other ingredients, mediums for marination, and many other considerations. 

You say that Merchant Bar & Grill is built around old-school practices of butchery, fermentation and preservation. Why do this in 2024? 

David: I think it’s necessary to create your own products, particularly today when everything is becoming so much more commercial, and as chefs, we’re all fishing in the same ponds, trying desperately to create something different with the same products.  

I don’t want people to come to any of my restaurants and have a product that anyone can get anywhere. For example, I’ve always strived to make my own charcuterie. Because there’s a romance in the idea that something as seemingly familiar and simple to guests as this has taken months and months to create; even years of experimentation. It excites me that whilst you can get a charcuterie board or a steak in so many places, this is the only place in the world where you can get THIS charcuterie board or THIS steak.  

As an industry, we’ve also drifted far away from the basic skill set and practices of food preparation. I wanted to make this integral to our offering, not only for our guests, but for our chefs, who are off-the-charts excited to be learning these skills, and even our front-of-house staff, who are super keen to expand their knowledge. This also helps our industry, as it’s a way of holding on to our young chefs, and not just watching them all chase Michelin-star restaurant or yacht positions. 

What is it like to incorporate fermentation into a restaurant setting? 

David: I have tried my best to pickle and process my own charcuterie at Maison, but the space has its limitations when it comes to full-scale butchery, preservation and fermentation. I always felt that if you want to fully incorporate these processes into a restaurant, then you need to design the restaurant around it. Merchant Bar & Grill was structured this way from its inception; with the space for butchery, a fermentation tank for ferments, and our temperature- and ventilation-controlled glass-encased room called The Larder. This is a focal point in the middle of the dining room, which is used both for longer slower ageing and to beautifully showcase our products.  

It might seem like it’s all hands-on work, but a big part of doing this properly is admin. We keep careful records in a Merchant Fermentation Journal of all our ferments, with dates, times, weights, temperatures and observations about the products.  

What should we know about fermentation?  

David: There are a couple of types that we practise here. Lacto-fermentation, which uses lactic acid-producing bacteria to break down the sugars in food and is done at warmer temperatures for bacteria to thrive: between 29 and 32 degrees Celsius. This includes kimchi, pickles, koji and a number of other products. Other preserved products, like black garlic – which has an intensely earthy and aromatic flavour – are fermented at a much higher temperature of 60 degrees Celsius, so are almost “cooked”. The proteins are denatured and the product is transformed into a different structural integrity. 

Then there is the charcuterie, which is maintained at a temperature of around 10 to 12 degrees Celsius in our Larder, which is strictly temperature and humidity controlled. Penicillin thrives at this temperature, which is good, as it’s the type of bacteria we want to thrive and keep our products safe and healthy. 

Over time, all of these practices add depth and interesting flavour that cannot be accessed in any other way. 

What are some of the ferments you’ve developed for Merchant Bar & Grill? 

David: I’d say our foundational ingredient – the versatile mother for so many products and dishes we make here – is koji. Koji is made by inoculating a steamed starch with spores from a particular kind of bacteria and allowing it to ferment under moist temperature-controlled conditions. We use barley, because it is an important ingredient in Africa, as our starch. The koji can be used after several days or dried and added later to other foods for umami and depth. 

From koji comes a variety of products that everyone is familiar with, but most would not consider we could make ourselves: like soya sauce, fish sauce and miso. 

We make miso by cooking moong dal – the yellow split peas that have such cultural relevance right here in the Bo-Kaap  – and blending it with koji, water and salt. It’s then kept in a fermentation chamber for two to three months at 30 degrees Celsius. 

We also make a delicious sourdough bread, with a starter enhanced with rye and South African undertones of sorghum and umqombothi. 

Is any of this new to you? 

David: Kombucha, which we’re making, is something I haven’t done much of before. Here, we have a full programme with different flavours, a lot of them fynbos-based, using plants like buchu, rose geranium, rhino bush, Cape mountain sage and honey bush. We’re making some pretty nice cocktails with it, like a rhino bush and rose geranium old-fashioned, and a pineapple kombucha spritz. 

We’re also playing around with another very interesting technique at The Red Room, which serves pan-Asian cuisine. It’s a Japanese fermentation method which uses nukadoko as a base. This is essentially a ‘soil’ we create out of rice bran mixed with salt and water and use as a pickling bed under which we bury various vegetables – the finished pickles are called nukazuke. In Japan, these ‘beds’ are treasured starters which are regularly topped up and passed down through generations. This is a whole new way of preservation to me and it’s super exciting. 

How does meat come into the equation here? 

David: Because we’re committed to sourcing carefully reared meat and breaking down whole animals, this means we have lots of different parts to work with, many of which are best preserved. So, from our pigs, we make brawn (or headcheese), smoked pancetta, coppa and saucissons sec; from beef, we get bresaola and biltong. We do spicy Italian-style sausage that we use on our Scotch egg, and pork sausage filling for the dumplings downstairs at Chefs Warehouse & Canteen, as well as guanciale and some great pork and lamb sausages on our Larder menu.   

Other products we make are duck-liver parfait, snoek paté and a cornucopia of different aged and fermented condiments and preserves that are on our charcuterie platter – because charcuterie should not just be about meat! – things like olives, mustards, vinegars, sauerkraut, piccalilli, preserved guavas.  

You mentioned something about your unique way of preparing a steak. How does that fit into the fermentation profile? 

David: We do an 800-gram beef rib-eye on the bone that serves two, with meat from Frankie Fenner. It’s aged for over 40 days before it gets to us. I don’t normally marinate meat, but we do a short marinade and a basting with shio koji, a marinade we make from koji. It gives it a wonderful deep and umami flavour and breaks down connective tissues making the meat exceptionally tender. The steak is sliced and served with Café de Paris butter and wine merchant sauce, which is a jus enriched with various wines. There’s even a hit of the liquid from our fermented shiitakes, which gives it an even deeper flavour.  

What do you say to someone who thinks that fermentation in restaurants is a trend? 

David: I guess I’d say that things get popularised all the time, but I like to identify what’s not a fad. Fermentation is not some new craze or diet; it’s been ever present. Look at Noma… In their initial years they were on the brink of bankruptcy, perceived as a strange restaurant that would be there and gone. Through sheer persistence and belief in their philosophy, they’ve found themselves in the position as the trendsetters, rather than jumping on a trend. It’s inspiring to see chefs looking for something new and exciting.  

Even if you do see it as a trend, it’s a trend that benefits the entire ecosystem of the supply chain; allows us to use up all our produce and leave nothing to waste, and provides us with healthier, more interesting and unique products. 

What would you like your guests to experience at Merchant related to preservation? 

David: To appreciate that food is at face value quite simple, but the process in creating it is where all the work goes. To experience our unique version of what they are familiar with. To enjoy the simple things in life.  

We may be serious about our craft, but we want our customers to have fun with it and enjoy themselves. What better way is there to do that than with a shared Merchant Feast, or simply a gorgeous plate of charcuterie at the bar or at your table. 

 Images: Claire Gunn