Dashi

It’s Copper River Salmon time of year again!  This is one of my all time favorite fish and I look forward to its return every year.  The folks at the Alaskan Department of Fish & Game have taken great care to manage the runs each year to ensure that this delicious fish remains sustainable for a long time to come, so you can eat and feel good about the fact that you are supporting sustainable seafood.

All that field management comes at a cost for the consumer.  Limited runs means a higher price tag at the register, but when you think of the long term, it is worth it to pay a little more to support sustainable practices.  It’s an investment in not only our culinary future but the future of the wild life itself.  This type of management is something that makes sure that we have this delicious wild caught fish to enjoy for generations to come.

So this year I went out and picked myself up a whole Copper River Salmon and butchered it down to two gorgeous ruby red filets.  This left me with quite a bit of  ”trim scrap” and bones.  I do not like wasting food, especially when it is as special as this salmon.  I took the trim scraps and sealed them for freezing for a later use.  Which left me with the bones.

Lately, I have been getting really inspired by a friend of mine who goes by the name of Lovely Lanvin.  She teaches Asian cooking classes and currently has an upcoming class at Williams Sonoma on June 11th.  When I looked at my bones I thought I should make a fish stock.  Then I looked at them again, and in a fleeting moment her wonderful inspirations of late made me shout out DASHI!

Dashi is a beautiful Japanese soup base.  If you’ve had Miso Soup then you have had Dashi.  There are several kinds of Dashi – some of which depend on the ingredients and some of them depend on if those ingredients were already used to prepare a Dashi.  This particular recipe is my own version of this traditional soup.

Having made Kombu and Katsuo Dashi many times in the past, I figured I would start off there.  I really wanted multiple layers of flavor for this broth so I decided to use Kombu, Bonito flakes, Dried Shrimp and toasted Salmon bones.  Something that celebrated using and respecting every part of this beautiful piece of Salmon.

After preparing and straining it I put it in a clear jar.  When I first looked at it, a pale golden broth that was perfectly clear, I got a little worried thinking that perhaps it might be weak in flavor.  Then I took a taste.  It was so rich and flavorful, the Kombu lent it’s salinity for a slight taste of the sea as a solid foundation to the Dashi.  This was followed up by the richness given by the layer of flavor from the Bonito and Dried Shrimp… and finally the bold, savory, toasty finish of the Salmon.  As satisfying a Dashi as I have ever made.

Now I know for some, this sound exotic and daunting, but Dashi really is one of the easiest soups that you can make and it is extremely versatile.  It is a good recipe to have in your culinary repertoire, as it is a base to so many beautiful Japanese soups and sauces.

For serving my Dashi I chose to go with fresh Herbs, little Golden Enoki Mushrooms and some glass noodles to let the broth really shine.  I hope that my little culinary experiment, born of not wanting to waste a beautiful ingredient, is something that you will try for yourself.  And I hope that I made Lovely Lanvin proud with this one!