Dashi, umami, seasonality, and a philosophy of subtraction rather than addition.
Japanese cooking is built on umami rather than on fat or spice. The foundation is dashi — a stock of kombu seaweed and dried bonito flakes that takes fifteen minutes and underpins soups, simmered dishes, sauces, and dressings.
Seasoning is restrained and precise: soy sauce, mirin, sake, miso, rice vinegar. The goal is to reveal an ingredient rather than transform it, which means ingredient quality carries more weight than in almost any other cuisine.
Section 02
Essential pantry
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Kombu and katsuobushi (bonito flakes) for dashi.
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Soy sauce (koikuchi for general use, usukuchi for lighter dishes).
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Mirin, sake, rice vinegar.
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Miso — white (shiro) for mild and sweet, red (aka) for deep and salty.
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Short-grain rice, panko, nori, sesame oil and seeds.
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Wasabi, shichimi togarashi, pickled ginger.
Chef's tip
Never boil kombu. Steep it below a simmer and remove it before the water boils, or the dashi turns slimy and bitter.
Section 03
Core techniques
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Dashi — the fifteen-minute stock that everything else stands on.
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The rule of five: five flavors, five colors, five cooking methods in a balanced meal.
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Precise knife work — katsuramuki and fine julienne are their own discipline.
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Tempura: ice-cold lumpy batter, hot oil, minimal handling.
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Grilling (yakimono) over binchotan charcoal.
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Simmering (nimono) in seasoned dashi rather than boiling in water.
Section 04
Signature dishes
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Miso soup — dashi, miso, tofu, wakame. Miso is added off the boil or it loses its aroma.
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Ramen — a broth-first discipline with regional schools (tonkotsu, shoyu, miso, shio).
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Tempura — the lightest fried food in the world when done properly.
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Katsu — panko-crusted cutlet, crisp and shatteringly light.
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Teriyaki — soy, mirin, sake, sugar reduced to a glaze. Not a bottled sauce.
Section 05
Seasoning order: sa-shi-su-se-so
Japanese cooking has a traditional order for adding seasonings, and it is genuinely functional. Sugar (satō) first because its large molecules penetrate slowly; then salt (shio); then vinegar (su); then soy sauce (seuyu); then miso (miso).
Vinegar, soy, and miso all carry volatile aromatics that are destroyed by prolonged heat, which is why they come last.
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Make dashi fresh. It takes fifteen minutes and instant granules are a genuine downgrade.
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Add miso off the heat, dissolved in a ladle of broth first.
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Rinse short-grain rice until the water runs clear — Japanese rice depends on it.
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Toast sesame seeds right before using them. The difference is enormous.
Avoid these
Common mistakes
Boiling kombu and extracting sliminess and bitterness.
Boiling miso soup after adding the miso.
Using long-grain rice where short-grain is required.
Overworking tempura batter into something smooth — lumps and cold are the point.
Treating teriyaki as a bottled marinade rather than a reduced glaze.
Get your hands dirty
Practice exercises
Make dashi from kombu and katsuobushi, then make miso soup with it.
Make tempura with ice-cold water and deliberately lumpy batter.
Cook short-grain rice properly — rinsed, rested, and fanned.
1. What is dashi made from in its most common form?
Chicken bones and vegetables
Kombu seaweed and dried bonito flakes
Pork bones simmered for hours
2. Why is miso added off the heat?
Boiling destroys its aroma and beneficial cultures
3. What does the sa-shi-su-se-so order describe?
The traditional order for adding seasonings
Courses in a kaiseki meal
If you remember nothing else
Key takeaways
Takeaways
Dashi is the foundation of the entire cuisine.
Umami replaces fat and spice as the primary depth.
Add aromatic seasonings — vinegar, soy, miso — last.
The philosophy is subtraction: reveal the ingredient, do not bury it.
Cook it
Practice on these recipes
Weeknight Miso Ramen
Japanese · Dinner
Chicken Katsu
Japanese · Dinner
Teriyaki Chicken Breast
Japanese · Dinner
Miso-Glazed Sea Bass
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Shichimi Butter Udon
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In your pantry
Key ingredients
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The On The Fly Kitchen · Updated 2026-07-29