Noodles and Rice

Cooking Tutorial: Dashi

by Stef on May 3rd, 2006

Japanese dashi is one of the easiest things to learn to make, and one of the most important as well. Because it is the cornerstone of most Japanese soups and sauces, where it serves as both stock and seasoning, making a good pot of dashi is a must in every Japanese food enthusiast’s repertoire.

The two basic ingredients for making dashi is fish and seaweed, which is why it is sometimes called “sea stock”. A basic dashi is made by bringing some water and a piece of kombu just to the boil, at which point the kombu is removed. Bonito flakes (katsuobushi) or other dried fish products are added, boiled very briefly, then removed from heat. The bonito flakes will fall to the bottom of the pot almost immediately, and the resulting broth is immediately drained for further use. The bonito flakes or shavings, as you can see, are used only for a couple of minutes and not steeped at all, giving you a delicate but highly flavorful liquid. Likewise, the kombu, in its short stay in the water, permeates it with savory minerals and amino acids. The liquid is now ready for use in making clear soups, as well as other Japanese dishes.

According to the Aji-no-moto website, dashi as we know it today was first made in the 7th century. From the site:

Boiling as a cooking method in Japan dates at least from the neolithic Jomon period, and it is thought that the broth obtained from boiling seafood and animals was also used to add taste to other dishes. Later, the concept of dashi emerged after people started making stock from local materials such as dried fish or mountain birds. Kombu seaweed and katsuo dried bonito were used to make dashi in the 7th century. As cooking techniques improved and the nation experience a distribution revolution in the Edo period, dashi evolved into the multipurpose seasoning we have today.

There are different kinds of dashi, and each kind has a particular use. In Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, Shizuo Tsuji says:

… it can be said without exaggeration that the success or failure (or mediocrity) of a dish is ultimately determined by the flavor and quality of the dashi that seasons it.

Most people will tell you that the best dashi is made with freshly shaved bonito. However, I’ve never found a bonito block here in the US — let me know if you’ve got a place for online ordering! My Japanese friends also tell me that besides needing a special shaver for the block itself, there’s a skill to it. More on this in my next post about katsuo-bushi. Most of them simply use pre-shaved bonito or even instant dashi. I expressed surprise once that my friend Sumi did this, until she pointed out that we Filipinos have our premade soup mixes too — I can’t argue that, even though I seldom use these myself.

Dashi is best when freshly made before use. And because it’s so easy to make, even from scratch, there’s really no excuse not to do this.

To make a pot of ichiban dashi (primary dashi), you need

4 1/4 cups cold water
30 grams konbu/kombu
30 grams dried bonito flakes

Put the kombu in the water in a saucepan. Heat on the stove over medium heat and bring to *just* the point where it’s about to boil. Remove kombu using tongs or other utensil. Bring the stock to a full boil. Add 1/4 cup cold water to stop the boiling, then add the bonito flakes. Return to a full boil by increasing heat to high, then remove from heat immediately. Wait for the flakes to settle to the bottom of the pot, then drain through a fine-holed sieve (or line with a coffee filter or cheesecloth if necessary). You can keep the bonito flakes and kelp for making secondary dashi.

Variations and types of dashi

Secondary or niban dashi: This is dashi made from the previous one, utilizing the bonito flakes and kelp leftover. It is made by putting them in more water (3-4 cups), brought just to the boil, then immediately lowered to a simmer. It cooks for 15-20 minutes to reduce the stock to about 1/2, and then 10-15 grams of fresh bonito flakes are added. Wait for the flakes to settle then drain using the instructions for primary dashi. Discard the flakes and seaweed. This type of dashi can be used for noodle broths or as cooking stock for vegetables, etc.

Kelp stock or konbu dashi is made with just konbu, no bonito flakes. 40 grams of giant kelp is simply soaked overnight in 4 cups cold water. This preparation can also be used to make primary dashi.

In the Washoku cookbook, Elizabeth Andoh suggests a similar procedure for making primary dashi; kombu is made to sit in the water for 10-15 minutes before cooking. She also puts the flakes in after the liquid is brought to the boil. In addition, she suggests making vegetarian stock using konbu and dried shiitake mushrooms.

Sardine stock or niboshi dashi is made with dried sardines. Forty (40) grams of dried sardines (trimmed of heads and entrails) are brought to the boil with 4 quarts of water or kelp stock. It is then simmered for 7-8 minutes, then strained. This makes a very good base for miso soups.

Interestingly, Shizuo Tsuji says that good niboshi or dried sardines should have “whole bodies that are relatively straight and well-formed”. In contrast, Elizabeth Andoh instructs us to “Look for bent fish”, because according to her, “The fresher the fish when brought on land, the more twisted they become when dried.” The sardine packages I’ve bought here contain mostly straight fish, and I have to say I don’t notice a difference when tasting either straight or bent fish. This I guess is one of those subtleties in flavor discernment that you acquire as you go along.

Instant dashi, of course, is also available in powder and liquid form, you can find it in Japanese and other Asian stores where it bears the label “dashi-no-moto”, meaning “stock essence”. Simply follow the manufacturer’s directions for making instant dashi.

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References:
1. Tsuji, Shizuo. Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art. Japan: Kodansha, 1980.
2. Andoh, Elizabeth. Washoku: Recipes From The Japanese Home Kitchen. Singapore: Ten Speed Press, 2005.
3. Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
4. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York: Scribner, 2004.
5. Shurtleff, William and Aoyagi, Akiko. The Book of Tofu. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1975.
6. Moriyama, Yukiko. Quick and Easy Japanese Cuisine for Everyone. Hong Kong: Kodansha, 2002.

Tags: asian-cookery, asian-cuisine, Asian-food, dashi, elizabeth-andoh, hon-dashi, japanese-cookery, japanese-cooking, Japanese-cuisine, japanese-food, japanese-recipes, japanese-soup-stock, katsuo-bushi, kombu, konbu, sea-stock, shizuo-tsuji, soup-stock, washoku

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POSTED IN: Cooking Tips and Tutorials, Japanese