Dashi
Condiment
Top 10 pairings
Dashi is the clear, golden Japanese stock at the foundation of the country's cooking — most classically a quick infusion of kombu (dried kelp) and katsuobushi (shaved, smoked, fermented skipjack tuna) in hot water. Light-bodied yet profoundly savoury, it carries little colour or fat but a deep umami that underpins miso soup, simmered dishes, noodle broths and dipping sauces.
Picking a good onedrag
Clear amber, cleanly savouryCloudy, sour, fuzzy
Second drawEveryday bestA niban re-simmered from the spent kombu and flakes, or a sound pack brew: stronger and coarser, and the right stock for miso soup and simmered dishes.
Colour and clarityDeeper gold, with a fine bonito dust settled at the base - pour off it or strain again
Smell over the panFrankly smoky and fishier: a bonito-forward Edo draw, or a niboshi dashi - that is the style
The pack or the granulePack open a while: flakes duller and softer in the hand, granules just beginning to cake together
Read the labelKelp and bonito lead, with salt, a little sugar and yeast extract behind - the everyday granule