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Dashi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Alternative meaning: Dasi, Taoyuan
- This article is about a Japanese cookery ingredient. For the character from Xiaolin Showdown see Grand Master Dashi
Dashi (出汁, だし) is one of several simple soup stocks considered fundamental to Japanese cooking. The most common form of dashi is a simple broth or stock made by boiling kombu (edible kelp) and kezurikatsuo, shavings of katsuobushi, and then straining the resultant liquid. Dashi forms the base for miso soup, Japanese noodle broth, and many Japanese simmering liquids. Fresh dashi made from kelp and katsuobushi is rare today, even in Japan. Most people use granulated or liquid instant substitutes.
Other kinds of dashi stock are made by soaking kelp, shiitake, or niboshi in water for many hours or heating them in water nearly to boiling and then straining the resultant broth. Kelp stock or kombu dashi is made by soaking kelp, or sea tangle, in water. Shiitake dashi stock is made by soaking dried shiitake mushrooms in water. Niboshi dashi stock is made by soaking small dried sardines (after pinching off their heads and entrails to prevent bitterness) in water.
Other important Japanese flavours include shoyu, mirin, rice vinegar, miso, and sake.
Umami was first identified as a taste in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University while researching the strong flavor in konbu dashi or kelp broth. Ikeda isolated glutamic acid as the ingredient responsible for the unique taste.