First home made Dashi

[BarbaraY]

I have always used dashi powder until now. Yesterday I needed some dashi and had no powder but I did have kombu and Katsuo-bushi so I made it. My what a difference in flavor.

A plus is I have the kombu left to make tsukodani which Is why I bought the kombu in the first place.

It was really very easy to make.

[mkayahara]

Isn't it amazing how much difference there is in flavour? I try to avoid using instant dashi as much as possible now - a feat that's presumably made easier by the fact that I rarely make Japanese food more than once a week - and whenever I succumb and use the granules, I'm always reminded why I make it from scratch.

[Jon Savage]

Dashi is certainly an example of something that requires little effort to make but is so very much better than the instant stuff.

[CDRFloppingham]

Disagree. I've had both and the instant is more consistent. From scratch can be good or bad.

[mkayahara]

Disagree. I've had both and the instant is more consistent. From scratch can be good or bad.

Maybe, but the instant is consistently not that good. At least from-scratch offers the diner the possibility of a good to sublime eating experience... and offers the cook the ability to improve it.

That said, there are two times when I wouldn't hesitate to use the granules: first, when the ingredients for homemade are unavailable; second, when you want the flavour-boosting abilities of the extracted glutamates without the liquid. Of course, in those cases, one might find pure MSG to be more consistent.

[Tri2Cook]

Disagree. I've had both and the instant is more consistent. From scratch can be good or bad.

I don't know. That's kinda like saying tossing a Hungry Man Mexican Fiesta in the oven is better because you've had good homemade enchiladas and bad ones. The bad homemade shouldn't even enter into the equation. If you're making it yourself, just don't make it bad.

[_john]

if you use dashi every day it is very easy to get a system going for perfect results. for "household use dashi" I recommend weighing your water at room temperature. Add 1% of the water weight worth of kombu and let it steep overnight. In the refrigerator if possible. Remove the kombu and bring to a boil. Skim any foam and turn off the heat. When the kombu dashi reaches around 180°F (83°C)add 1% of the total weight of the water worth of katsuobushi and let it steep until the katsuobushi sinks (usually less than a minute). Strain through a fine strainer, coffee filter is best, and let it cool. 1000g water + 10g kombu +10g katsuobushi for example. change the percentages to suit your tastes.

On a side note I think it is wasteful and disrespectful to throw away the steeped kombu and katsuobushi, especially in a professional setting. I have two tupperware containers in my freezer where I freeze the kombu and katsuobushi. When the container gets full I make okaka or furikake from the katsuobushi and use the kombu for kobumaki, tsukudani, shiokombu, etc.

[helenjp]

I agree with John - it's not that hard to get good results. I think the most likely problems are 1) boiling the dashi too hard, 2) leaving the konbu in too long, or 3) trying to store the dashi too long - it's not a product that keeps at all well even refrigerated. UNBOILED konbu soaking in water keeps better than dashi does in the refrigerator.

John's method works wonderfully for fine dashi for clear soups etc. But for family use, it is fine to use the kind of dashi people make for noodle soups - same amounts of konbu, and you can either use the same amount of katsuobushi, or if you want it really strong (or you are using konbu and dashi that have already been used to make clear dashi once), double the katsuo, or add another 1% amount of some other type of fish shavings. Bring the water to the boil with the konbu in it, and either remove the konbu straight away, or keep it at a very low simmer while you add the fish shavings. Some people leave the konbu in until the end, but I prefer to take it out after 2-3 minutes. Continue to simmer for about 15 minutes, then strain. This type of dashi will not be clear but cloudy, but that is not an issue if you want it for miso soups and nimono etc.

[_john]

For those who don't want to water extract the kombu overnight I recommend bringing it to a boil with the water over a span of 10 minutes. This takes some experimentation but the closer you can get the rise from ambient temperature to boiling to 10 minutes the better. There is a flavor difference between boiling and water extracting but unless you are using very high quality kombu I don't think you will be able to tell the difference in anything but a clear soup. Doing it overnight saves you 10 minutes in one place and loses you 12 hours in another.

[helenjp]

I'll try that thanks John...fridge space is a problem for me. I'd noticed that gentle heat was best, but had not thought of noting the exact time or temperature. I'm just about to break a new gas table out of the box, so now I have the perfect way to figure out how sensitive the settings are.