KITCHEN PRACTICE 1 — Make Kombu Dashi and Taste It Plain
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TASK
Make a batch of kombu dashi using either method in the chapter. Taste
it warm, on its own, with nothing added. Note what "umami" actually
tastes like in isolation.

WALKTHROUGH

Step 1 — Choose a method.
The cold-steep method (submerge kombu in cold water, refrigerate
overnight) is the easiest and hardest to get wrong. The quick-heat
method is faster if you're doing this same-day.

Step 2 — Make the dashi.
Use roughly a 10cm piece of kombu per litre (4 cups) of water. If
using the quick-heat method, remove the kombu just before the water
reaches a boil - not after.

Step 3 — Taste it warm and completely plain.
Don't add salt, soy sauce, or anything else. Sip it slowly, the way
you might taste a stock on its own.

Step 4 — Write down what you actually taste.
Common first-time descriptions: "savoury but not salty," "a background
depth rather than a strong flavour up front," "almost like the ocean,
but not fishy." There's no wrong answer here - the point is building
your own reference point for what umami is, separate from saltiness or
sweetness.

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WHY THIS MATTERS
Umami is genuinely hard to describe until you've tasted it in
isolation - most people's first exposure to it is already mixed into a
finished dish, where it's easy to mistake for "saltiness" or "savoury
seasoning" generally. Tasting kombu dashi completely plain gives you an
honest baseline before Kitchen Practice 2 adds katsuobushi on top of
it.