Dashi & Umami: The Essence of Japanese Cuisine

Dashi is a deceptively simple but essential element of umami. It is the stock that forms the basis of, and invisibly permeates much of, Japanese cuisine. Dashi differs from other kinds of stock in that, rather than using simple ingredients boiled over a long period, as is the case with Western bouillon, it uses carefully prepared ingredients. These ingredients are patiently matured and are only soaked in water or heated briefly so as to extract nothing but the very essence of the ingredients’ flavor.

By the seventh century, a dashi using kombu and katsuobushi had developed. This was refined further and has become Japan’s most indispensable cooking stock. It is generally used in two forms – ichiban (primary) dashi and niban (secondary) dashi. Despite its hidden role, dashi could be said to be the heart of Japanese cuisine, not because of the prominence of its own flavor, but because of the way it enhances and harmonizes the flavors of other ingredients. The secret of Japanese cuisine is this art of enhancing and harmonizing.

In 1913 and 1957, there followed the discovery of inosinate and guanylate respectively as sources of umami. Since the 1980s, further research has led to a wide international acceptance of umami as the fifth taste. The ingredients of dashi are all rich in the substances that have become the source of umami. Kombu has the highest natural levels of glutamate of any foodstuff in the world.

The Japanese stock known as dashi is an indispensable part of Japanese cuisine. It is made using a number of special ingredients and it serves to transform the flavor many dishes. The subtle flavor of most types of dashi might not be easily identified in a dish. What dashi does, however, is to accentuate and draw out the flavor of other savory ingredients, resulting in an increased depth, intensity, and complexity in flavor. How the dashi achieves this is intrinsically linked to umami.

Kombu, which grows in abundance off the northern island of Japan, Hokkaido, is harvested and dried before use. It can also be used on its own to make vegetarian dashi. The choicest kombu used to be shipped with great care from far off Hokkaido to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan that flourished for nearly a thousand years. In the Heian period (794-1185 CE), shojin ryori, a type of vegetarian cooking, was introduced along with the teaching of Buddhism.  Kombu dashi (kelp stock) is indispensable for enhancing the taste of the vegetables used in shojin ryori. The ingredients used in shojin ryori consist entirely of vegetables and soybean products – meat, fish, and seafood are never used.

Another ingredient common in vegetarian dashi is Japan’s best- known, indigenous mushroom, the shiitake. It is sun-dried to intensify the taste before being soaked in water to create a delicious stock that complies with the strict rules of shojin (Buddhist vegetarian) cuisine.

Classic dashi is made using kelp and katsuobushi (dried bonito). A range of stocks of different character can be created from just these two ingredients. The most prized is ichiban (primary) dashi, which is made by soaking or gently heating the finest kombu and briefly adding katsuobushi. It is used in dishes such as clear soups, where the aroma and quality of the stock is of utmost importance. Meanwhile, niban (secondary) dashi is made by reusing the ingredients from ichiban dashi to create a less refined but more versatile stock.

Umami Substance in Kombu dashi and Ichiban dashi from a luxurious traditional ryotei restaurant in Kyoto. The umami substance found in kombu dashi is glutamate alone, one of amino acids, while in ichiban dashi, were approximately same amount of the glutamate and inosinate, nucleotide.

Recent years have seen a growing shift in the developed world toward fewer calories and animal fats, as people look to prevent lifestyle diseases and maintain good health. As part of this dietary trend, Japanese cuisine has enjoyed burgeoning popularity, thanks to its health properties. Rather than relying on animal fats, Japanese cooking uses the umami of dashi to highlight the intrinsic flavors of ingredients, and chefs from all over the world have started visiting Japan to study these cooking techniques.