KITCHEN PRACTICE 3 — Make Niban Dashi and Compare Against Ichiban Dashi
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TASK
Make niban dashi from the spent kombu and katsuobushi from Kitchen
Practice 2, and compare it against the original ichiban dashi.

WALKTHROUGH

Step 1 — Reuse the spent ingredients.
Take the kombu and katsuobushi you strained out in Kitchen Practice 2
- don't discard them.

Step 2 — Simmer them again, longer, in fresh water.
Cover with fresh water (roughly the same volume as before) and
simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes this time - longer than the
brief steep used for ichiban dashi.

Step 3 — Strain.
Strain through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth, exactly as before.

Step 4 — Taste both side by side.
Compare this niban dashi against a small amount of the awase (ichiban)
dashi saved from Kitchen Practice 2, if any remains, or against your
memory of how it tasted.

Step 5 — Note the difference in character.
Niban dashi should taste noticeably stronger and more robust, but
less delicate and refined than the ichiban version - a real, usable
stock, just suited to a different job.

Step 6 — Think about which you'd use where.
A clear soup meant to showcase the dashi itself calls for the
delicate ichiban version. A miso soup (with miso's own strong flavour
already in the bowl) or a simmered dish (Chapter 4, with soy sauce and
mirin also in the pot) can use the more robust niban version without
losing anything, since it's not the star of the dish on its own.

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WHY THIS MATTERS
Understanding that "spent" dashi ingredients still have real flavour
left in them - just a different kind - means nothing here gets wasted,
and it builds the judgment needed to pick the right dashi for a given
dish rather than treating "dashi" as one single, interchangeable
ingredient.