Soup
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Written by George
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Saturday, 16 February 2008 |
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Soup is an important entry on any basic menu of Japanese cooking. It is generally served along with the main part of the meal rather than prior to it as in Western serving. Its main function in the meal is to facilitate the eating of the rice. Because it is sipped between bites of the various dishes, it also enhances the flavor of the entire menu. Soup is also occasionally served near the end of a meal to complete it and remove any unpleasant tastes remaining in the mouth.
The methods of preparing Japanese soups are various. The key consideration in all soups, however, is to create a sense of season through choice of seasonal ingredients, color of ingredients, and so on. Special effort is also made to achieve harmony among flavor, aroma and coloring.
Japanese soups can be generally divided into two types—clear soups and miso soups.
Clear soups (sumashij-jiru): Clear in color, they are generally made by flavoring dashi (bonito fish stock) with salt and a small amount of soy sauce. The two major ingredients of basic dashiare katsuobushi (shaved bonito fish flakes) and konbu (kelp). Since the flavor is decided mainly by the quality of the dashi, one should use high-quality katsuobushi and konbu. In addition to bonito fish stock, stocks made from other fish, shellfish or meat are also used occasionally to make clear soups.
For solid ingredients to serve in clear broth, fish or shellfish, meat (mainly lean chicken), egg, tofu, seasonal vegetables, and so on, are used. Some condiment with pleasant aroma is generally added just before serving.
Miso soups (miso-shiruJ: Miso (fermented bean paste) is added to dashi to create this soup. It regularly appears at everyday meals but is not generally served to guests.
Miso is made all over Japan. Consequently, the flavor of miso soup differs a little by region and family. For solid ingredients, one generally chooses two items from among vegetables in season, shellfish, seaweeds, tofu, abura-age (thin, deep-fried tofu), and so on.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 February 2008 )
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