Katsuo Bushi

A tuna-like fish called bonito or bonita in English and katsuo in Japanese is found in fairly temperate waters. The best-known area of Japan is Tosa, on the Pacific coast of the island of Shikoku. Fresh bonito is an early summer delicacy in Japan; year-round the dried fillets are flaked and used to make stocks and sauces.

Most packages of dried fish flakes combine bonito with other less expensive fishes such as mackerel and sardines. The price will tell you. Traditionally, every kitchen kept whole dried fillets, which were then rubbed over a sharp blade attached to a wooden box. A drawer in the box fills with shavings, which can easily be removed. Just as freshly ground coffee beans are far superior to beans ground weeks before, so freshly shaved bonito is far superior to preshaved flakes. Today, though, it is hard to find these boxes or people who use them. Instead, it is more common to see scissors cutting open 5-gram packets of preshaved flakes. If you will be using katsuo bushi only occasionally, it is best to buy these small packets, affectionately labeled “fresh pack.” Five or six of these packets are sold as a unit in either a cardboard box or a large plastic bag. Large bags of flakes go rancid rather quickly once opened.