[Special and Ordinary Soup Stock]

How did you spend your New Year's Day? At the New Year's table, we enjoyed osechi, ozoni, kinton, oshiruko, and other sweet foods... When I was a child, all I enjoyed were sweets, but as an adult, especially recently, I have come to love the warming feeling of ozoni with dashi (soup stock) that warms the body from within.

The term "dashi wo kiru" is said to refer to the natural "drawing out" of the umami of the ingredients. This umami has played a leading role in making Japanese food culture known to the world. It is still fresh in our memories as the fifth taste after sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, but it has been 20 years since it was recognized.

The dashi soup stock carefully prepared for "hare (special) occasions" such as annual events is exceptional, but it is a time-consuming task in the daily kitchen work. So, on "ke" days, which are the days of everyday life, I often use dashi packets. Nowadays, there are many special dashi packs on the market, and it is easy to make delicious dashi soup stock.

Preparing dashi in Noda Horo's Square Stocker with a Lid makes it very easy to make miso soup every day. To prepare the soup stock, put the dashi packet in a little water and heat it slowly over low heat, turning off the heat when you can see a hint of steam. Enamel is a material suitable for food preservation because its glassy surface prevents bacteria from breeding. In our house, we use it for 2 to 3 days and make miso soup in the stocker as it is on the last day, so one less pot is also a comfortable point.

Noda Horo's Square Stocker with a Lid
https://www.shokunin.com/en/noda/