Know your katsuobushi from your kombu.
. Though the most common form of dashi incorporates dried fish, there are also equally satisfying vegan variations that make excellent alternatives to vegetable stock.The word "dashi" is often used to refer to a stock made from mild oceanic kombu and smoky katsuobushi, shavings of dried, smoked, and sometimes fermented skipjack tuna or bonito.
As such, dashi can basically be viewed as a liquid flavor enhancer created with whole ingredients, which is why it's used in a great number of savory dishes in the Japanese recipe book. But different cooks treat the kombu and katsuobushi in different ways, so let's tackle them separately.Though a number of different species of kombu are used in culinary applications, the method for turning any one of those species into dashi should be the same, in theory.
Another, quicker way to infuse kombu in water is to simply place it in cold water and bring it to a simmer. The Cooking Issues test deemed this method essentially worthless, but it's important to remember the multiplicative effect of glutamates and inosinates—while the kombu dashi produced by this method may be insipid on its own, it'll get a big boost from the addition of katsuobushi.
I took the first pot off the heat immediately. The second I maintained at a steady simmer for five minutes, while the third I brought to a boil for the same period of time. After the five minutes was up, I strained all three pots through coffee-filter-lined strainers into separate containers. Once they had cooled to room temperature, I gave them a taste.