Have you ever thought, “I want to make decent Japanese food, easily and deliciously”?
If so, I have one recommendation for you.
That is, to start by making “dashi.”
Some of you might think, “Dashi seems like something complicated, doesn’t it?”
But Japanese dashi is actually quite simple compared to many other broths around the world, and it’s versatile that can be used in a variety of dishes.
In this article, I’ll explain what Japanese dashi is, its role, and the ingredients used to make it.
Umami
Dashi is a soup rich in “umami,” extracted from ingredients that are themselves rich in umami. Umami is a key flavor that has become a common term worldwide.
Humans can taste five basic tastes: saltiness, sourness, sweetness, bitterness, and then umami.
Umami is the most difficult taste to describe among them.
There is a method that I often use in food education classes to explain umami to children. I let the children lick a piece of kombu (sea kelp) in their mouths and close their eyes. After licking it for some time, they should swallow the saliva while still keeping their eyes closed. Then, they will taste something on their tongues. That is the “umami,” I tell the children.
By using great dashi, you will be able to have a wider range of tolerance for the amount of seasoning to add. In other words, even if you add too much or too little seasoning, it still turns out well and tastes good. Using less seasoning can still produce a balanced taste, creating a dish with lower salt content. So, for foods suitable for hospitals and low-salt diets, umami has also been gaining attention.
An experiment to recognize umami
I’ve done an experiment before, making a simmered dish using water instead of dashi.
Typically, simmered dishes are made with dashi, to which seasonings are added. It turned out that the dish simmered with water tasted like each seasoning was separate. However, the dish simmered with dashi tasted like the seasonings were harmonized.
This is also the effect of dashi, blending the tastes of seasonings together. I always feel that dashi is like the foundation of seasonings, much like the base of a building. With a strong foundation, a building built upon it is stable, whereas with a shaky foundation, a building can easily collapse.
Is it difficult to make dashi?
Many of you may think, “OK, now I understand that dashi is important. But it must be difficult to make.”
However, this couldn’t be further from the truth; dashi can be made quickly. Honestly, among all kinds of soup stocks in the world, I think it is the quickest to make. For example, fond de baud of French cuisine takes as long as 8 hours to make, whereas dashi takes just about 15 minutes.
Another plus of dashi is that it is versatile. French cuisine has many kinds of soup stocks that are used for different kinds of dishes but dashi can be used for vegetables, fish, meat, rice, or virtually anything.
Ingredients of dashi
Next, I’ll write about the ingredients used in dashi.
There’re quite many ingredients that can be used, like kombu, katsuobushi (bonito flakes), dried sardines, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried kampyo (gourd), soybeans and more. But you especially want to remember kombu and katsuobushi, two of the most important and frequently used choices.
When making dashi, we typically use a combination of two ingredients. The combination can vary, but kombu is one of the choices in most cases. Kombu has the most basic umami component, glutamic acid, which is also found in tomatoes and cheese. Glutamic acid becomes synergetic when combined with animal-based ingredients like bonito flakes and dried sardines.This effect of synergy doesn’t just happen with dashi; it’s important in all cooking.
By combining more than two ingredients to make dashi
Finding good combinations to create synergy is key. We chefs and cooks are always on the lookout for combinations that really work together.
In the case of dashi, the combination of kombu and bonito flakes is simple yet incredibly powerful. While 1 plus 1 usually equals 2, this mix can take it to as much as 7 or 8! You get a much stronger umami flavor this way. That is the reason why we combine more than two ingredients to make dashi.
Kombu and Bonito Flakes
For a basic dashi, you’ll need kombu and bonito flakes.
Kombu mainly comes from Hokkaido, located in the north of Japan. There are many kinds of kombu, like hidaka, rishiri, rausu, makombu, each used based on the region and type of dish prepared.
In Tokyo, where the water is relatively hard, hidaka kombu is preferred. In Kyoto, where the water is relatively soft, rishiri kombu is preferred. Those living near the Japanese sea or preparing Buddhist cuisine often use rausu kombu.
When choosing kombu, look for pieces that are thick and deep black. Sometimes, there might be white powder on the surface of the kombu, which is one of the components of umami called mannitol.
As for bonito flakes, the best way to maximize their flavor is to have a whole dried piece of bonito and a plane to shave it yourself. Make the bonito flakes and use them right away while the flavor is still fresh. If you find it a hassle to do this every time you cook at home, you can also buy individually packed bonito flakes, known as “hanakatsuo,” from a supermarket.
A dried bonito is undisputedly the “hardest” food in the world. I once searched for it in the Guinness Book of World Records, but somehow, there was none yet.
Anyway, a dried bonito is really, really hard, like a rock. If you tap two of them together, they make a sound like “tick tock.”
The next article is going to be “How to make dashi”. Don’t miss it!
