Dashi

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Soup stock (dashi, だし、 出し)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

Dashi is a kind of clear soup stock or broth.
It is used for many dishes including soups, dressings, sauces, broths for simmering broths and noodles.
Dashi is prepared in various ways, with konbu seaweed only or with small dried sardines or katsuobushi bonito flakes.

Dashi contans "umami うまみ (旨み／旨味)" , a natural flavor enhancers in the kelp.




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Dashi is Japanese stock, which becomes the base of many Japanese dishes, such as soup, dipping sauce, and nimono (simmered dishes). Since dashi is often used in Japanese cooking, it's useful to know how to make it. There are different kinds of dashi. It can be made from kombu (dried kelp), katsuo-bushi (dried bonito) flakes, niboshi (dried small sardines), hoshi-shiitake(dried shiitake mushrooms), and more. Kombu dashi and dried shiitake mushroom dashi are known as good vegetarian stocks. It might take extra effort to make dashi, but good dashi makes your Japanese dishes taste much better. Let's learn to make different kinds of dashi.

. . . . . Recipes
Kombu Dashi Recipe - for clear soup, nabe (hot pot dishes), and more.
Katsuo Dashi Recipe - for nimono, clear soup, miso soup, and more.
Kombu and Katsuobushi Dashi Recipe - for clear soup, nimono, noodle dipping sauce, and more.
Niboshi Dashi Recipe - for miso soup, nimono, and more.
Hoshi-shiitake Dashi Recipe - for nimono, and more.
Japanese dashi is best used on the day it was made. If you have some leftover dashi, keep it in a covered container. It can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Japanese dashi is best used on the day it was made. If you have some leftover dashi, keep it in a covered container. It can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Instant dashi powder is also available at stores. If you don't have much time, it's quick to use dashi powder to make dashi stock. Usually, about 1 tsp of dashi powder is used for 3 to 5 cups of water. Follow the instructions in the packages. Dashi powder includes some salt, so adjust the flavor of dishes as needed.
source : 　japanesefood.about.com


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UMAMI

Umami (旨味) is one of the five basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human tongue. The same taste is also known as xiānwèi (traditional Chinese: 鮮味; simplified Chinese: 鲜味) in Chinese cooking.

Umami is a Japanese word meaning savory, a "deliciousness" factor deriving specifically from detection of the natural amino acid, glutamic acid, or glutamates common in meats, cheese, broth, stock, and other protein-heavy foods. The action of umami receptors explains why foods treated with monosodium glutamate (MSG) often taste "heartier".

Glutamate has a long history in cooking: it appears in Asian foods such as soy sauce and fish sauce, and in Italian food in parmesan cheese and anchovies. It also is directly available in monosodium glutamate (MSG).

In as much as it describes the flavor common to savory products such as meat, cheese, and mushrooms, umami is similar to Brillat-Savarin's concept of osmazome, an early attempt to describe the main flavoring component of meat as extracted in the process of making stock.

Umami was first identified as a basic taste in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University while researching the strong flavor in seaweed broth. Ikeda isolated monosodium glutamate as the chemical responsible and, with the help of the Ajinomoto 味の素 company, began commercial distribution of MSG products.

taste receptors
Acknowledged subjectively as a special taste by Eastern civilizations for generations, umami has been described in biochemical studies identifying the actual taste receptor responsible for the sense of umami, a modified form of mGluR4named "taste-mGluR4".

Umami tastes are initiated by these specialized receptors, with subsequent steps involving secretion of neurotransmitters, including adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and serotonin. Other evidence indicate guanosine derivatives may interact with and boost the initial umami signal.

Umami flavor is strongest when combined with aromas (e.g., monosodium glutamate and garlic), a result leading to speculation that glutamate may stimulate umami effects by acting simultaneously with the aromas, texture, and appearance of food.
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Ajinomoto Panda Bottle 味の素パンダ


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WASHOKU
Dried bonito pieces or flakes (katsuobushi)



ichiban dashi 一番だし first brew of dashi
niban dashi 二番だし second brew of dashi

The first brew has a delicate flavor and fragrant aroma, it is mainly used for clear soups.
The second brew is not so refined in taste and rather used for simmering liquid.
erste Dashi, zweite Dashi


irodashi, iro-dashi いろだし【色出し】
prepare food to bring its natural colors alive. (not related to DASHI liquid.)


oikatsuo, oi-katsuo 追いカツオ "adding katsuo bonito flakes"
If a soup or dashi does not seem delicious enough, some more flakes are added for extra umami.



Dashi powder on shelves








. . . CLICK here for konbu dashi Photos !

. . . CLICK here for niboshi dashi Photos !


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dashimaki 出し巻き/ だし巻き/ 出汁巻き
mit Dashi zubereitetes japanisches Omelett
dashimaki tamago (出し巻き卵)
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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Worldwide use

Fischboullion; klare Brühe; Dashi (aus Bonito und Tang)



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Things found on the way


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HAIKU



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Related words

***** WASHOKU : INGREDIENTS

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