In this special feature, we’d like to introduce basic procedure to make “Dashi” from various ingredients such as “kombu kelp”, “dried bonito”, “dried sardine” and so on. Besides, we also show you how to convert hard water to soft one, which is consider to be the core for nice dashi-flavor. In japan, we use soft water. So first of all hard one should be converted to soft one to brew savory Dashi. We hope you can take a lot of cues from these contents. Let’s try it.
Head chef of Japanese cuisine of Tokyo Kaikan
How to convert hard water to soft water
Hard water is high in calcium and magnesium. As calcium binds to umami factors (glutamic acid and inosinic acid) of Dashi, the problem is that it makes difficult for us to recognize the flavor on our tongue…
kombu kelp
After collecting kombu kelp, they are exposed to the sun light to boost the content of glutamic acid also known as an umami factor. As they have been resting in the warehouse for many years, they are aged and we can…
dried bonito
There are two kinds of dried bonito; arabushi without the coating of mold and honkarebushi with the coating of mold. In some cases, we use blended the flakes of arabushi and honkarebushi to cook broth soups. …
other dried fish (Coming soon)
About the flakes of dried fish without the coating of mold, they are directly put into seasoned broths such as soba sauce, tempura sauce and miso soup most of the time…
dried sardine (Coming soon)
Most of dried sardines are produced with sardines. In order to preserve a large amount of sardines caught by fishermen, they are dried in the sun…
dried shiitake mushroom (Coming soon)
Both donko and koshin is shiitake mushroom. They are harvested in different season and the thickness and aroma are also different. Young shiitake mushroom, donko is very expensive…