Sake-Lees Soup with Salmon (粕汁, Kasujiru)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Medium soup pot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Small sieve for dissolving miso and sake kasu
• •Ladle

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dashi

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in the cold water and bring it up slowly over low heat, about ten minutes. Pull the konbu when the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides. Bring the water to a gentle boil, add the katsuobushi all at once, take the pot off the heat, and leave it alone for three minutes. Strain through a cloth or fine sieve and let it drip without squeezing.

   Boiled konbu can turn bitter and slick, and squeezed bonito flakes press out strong oily flavors. Clear dashi is quiet work. Protect the clarity now, because the sake lees will make the soup cloudy later.
2. 2

   Prepare the salmon

   Lay the salmon pieces in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Wait ten seconds, then drain and rinse gently under cool water, rubbing away any clotted blood or loose scales. This quick blanch tightens the surface and removes harsh fishiness, so the salmon gives depth to the soup without muddying it.

3. 3

   Ready the vegetables

   Soak the sliced gobo in water for five minutes, then drain. Tear the konnyaku by hand rather than cutting it; the rough surface takes seasoning better. Pour boiling water over the aburaage and drain it, which washes off excess surface oil and keeps the broth from turning greasy.

4. 4

   Simmer the roots

   Put 6 cups of the dashi in a pot with the daikon, carrot, gobo, konnyaku, and aburaage. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 15 to 18 minutes, until the daikon edges turn slightly translucent and the gobo has lost its raw bite. Keep the simmer calm. Root vegetables season the broth best when they cook steadily, not when they are knocked about.

5. 5

   Soften the kasu

   Put the sake kasu in a bowl and ladle in about 1 cup of warm dashi from the pot. Mash and whisk until mostly smooth, then press it through a small sieve if it is very firm. This is the first secret of kasujiru. If the kasu goes in as lumps, you will chase them around the pot and overcook the soup while trying to fix it.

6. 6

   Add the salmon

   Add the blanched salmon to the pot and simmer gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until the flesh turns opaque and flakes at the edge. Don't stir hard. Salted salmon is already seasoned, and rough stirring breaks it apart before it has given the broth its clean strength.

7. 7

   Finish the soup

   Lower the heat and stir in the softened sake kasu. Add the miso through a small sieve or dissolve it in a ladleful of broth, then season with the usukuchi shoyu and sake if using. Warm the soup until it is just below a boil, tasting carefully. Once miso and kasu are in, a hard boil dulls their fragrance and makes the soup taste flat.

8. 8

   Serve with scallion

   Ladle the soup into bowls, giving each person salmon, roots, and cloudy broth. Finish with sliced scallion and a small pinch of shichimi togarashi if you like. Serve with rice and something crisp or vinegared beside it, because kasujiru is generous and benefits from one clean counterpoint.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh sake kasu in winter if you can, especially from a sake shop or Japanese market. It should smell pleasantly of rice and sake, not sour or harsh. If it is very firm, soak it in warm dashi longer before whisking.
• •Use salted salmon, shiozake, when you can. If you only have fresh salmon, salt it lightly with 1 teaspoon salt and rest it for 30 minutes, then rinse and blanch. That is a sensible stand-in, though the flavor will be gentler.
• •Do not season heavily at the start. Salted salmon, miso, and sake kasu all bring salt or depth of their own, so the final adjustment belongs at the end.
• •A wooden drop-lid (otoshibuta) is not needed here, but the lesson is the same as nimono: gentle movement protects shape. Once the salmon goes in, let the pot behave itself.
• •For a meatless table, make the dashi with konbu and dried shiitake, then use fried tofu, konnyaku, daikon, carrot, gobo, and satoimo. That temple-kitchen direction is honmono, not a compromise, but it is no longer salmon kasujiru.

Advance Preparation

• •The dashi can be made up to two days ahead and kept refrigerated. You can also soak the konbu in the measured water overnight for a rounder stock.
• •The vegetables can be cut a day ahead, with gobo kept in water and the rest covered in the refrigerator.
• •Kasujiru keeps well for two days refrigerated, but reheat it gently and do not let it boil. The fragrance of the sake lees and miso is best protected with quiet heat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 610g)