FOOD NEWS
Try David Chang's Technique For Making Dashi
BY HOPE NGO
Dashi is an essential broth used in in countless East Asian dishes. It provides a savory kick from umami-rich ingredients like kelp, tuna flakes, and sometimes anchovies or sardines.
Celebrity chef David Chang makes dashi by combining dried skipjack tuna, dried Korean smoked anchovies, and dried seaweed or kombu in a tea bottle with water.
Chang prefers soaking ingredients instead of boiling them. Many Japanese and Korean cooks also steep ingredients before finishing the dashi broth in a pan over medium heat.
Steeping ingredients, whether they're tea leaves or dashi, allows flavor molecules to move and distribute, creating either a beverage (tea) or broth (dashi).
If you decide to simmer the dashi, do not let it reach boiling point. While Chang’s method may not be the norm, he follows the tradition of making two batches.
Chang’s first batch is for soups and the second is for braised and spicy foods. He also adds some dashi into soy sauce to make a dipping sauce.