Achieving the Perfect Dashi

The moment that a guest tastes the food - that is the moment

Dashi is the foundation of all of Tsukiji Tamura’s cuisine. It is said that what is most important is not visible to the eye, and dashi is a case in point. Katsuobushi and kombu turn into umami and dissolve in the water. The resulting dashi does not assert itself, but brings out the charms of the other ingredients whilst maintaining the overall balance of the dish.

At Tsukiji Tamura, they use ma kombu from the Hakodate coast in Hokkaido, which they believe imparts an elegant taste and clear colour and honkarebushi from Makurazaki in Kagoshima prefecture which doesn’t include chiai (the dark flesh of the fish). They also use mejibushi which is yellow fin tuna karebushi without chiai; this is also known as magurobushi. Mejibushi is added to the katsuobushi because, with katsuobushi alone, the dashi lacks body. Together these ingredients produce a deep, full-bodied dashi. In summer, slightly more katsuobushi is used, and in winter more mejibushi, the combination changing according to season, weather and the like.