Sōda-bushi ✦

Sōda-bushi (auxide séchée)

What it is

Sōda-gatsuo covers two small tunas, and the rounder one, Auxis rochei, is what the dryers want: more dark muscle, more inosinic acid, less fat. That dark muscle is why the stock comes out brown and iron-edged — the flavour a Tokyo soba shop builds its dipping sauce on, and the wrong flavour entirely for a clear soup.

In the kitchen

Use it as the backbone and not the whole stock: about a third sōda-bushi to two thirds katsuobushi keeps the body without the metallic finish. Simmer it longer than bonito, five to eight minutes, since the flakes are cut thicker.

Goes with

Soba noodles Koikuchi shoyu Hon-mirin Kombu Negi Katsuobushi (dried bonito)

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