Oigatsuo

This term, which literally translated means ‘following bonito’, is the name given to flakes of katsuobushi that are added to a stock or dish that has already been created, in order to lend the dish extra katsuobushi aroma and umami taste. This technique can be carried out on a number of dishes, including nimono (simmered dishes) and hitashimono (a dish of green vegetables boiled and flavoured with dashi and soy sauce). The flakes are usually, but not always, wrapped in a piece of gauze and then placed either into a cold dish and heated or a warm dish and allowed to cool. Adding this to hot dashi is good for increasing aroma, while adding to cold stock increases the umami.