Silver Dashi Glaze (銀あん, Gin-an)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small saucepan
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Small bowl for the kuzu slurry
• •Cooking chopsticks or small whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Make clear dashi

   Begin with clear first-pressing dashi made from konbu and katsuobushi. Wipe the konbu, steep it slowly in cold water, and lift it out before the water boils. Add the katsuobushi off the heat and strain without squeezing. Boiled konbu turns the stock faintly bitter, and squeezed flakes cloud it with stronger, oily flavors. Gin-an has nowhere to hide those mistakes.

2. 2

   Season the broth

   Put 1 cup dashi, mirin, usukuchi shōyu, and salt in a small saucepan. Warm it gently until it trembles at the edge of a simmer, then taste. It should be clean, lightly savory, and a little brighter than you expect, because the foods under gin-an are often mild.

   Use usukuchi shōyu here for its pale color and firm saltiness. Dark soy sauce will taste good, but it will no longer be gin-an's silver glaze.
3. 3

   Slurry the kuzu

   Crush the kuzu starch if it is in hard pebbles, then stir it with the cold water until smooth. Cold water matters. Add starch straight to hot liquid and the outside sets before the center loosens, giving you lumps instead of gloss.

4. 4

   Thicken gently

   Lower the heat so the seasoned dashi is barely simmering. Stir with chopsticks or a small whisk while you pour in the kuzu slurry in a thin stream. Keep stirring for 1 to 2 minutes, until the sauce turns glossy and lightly translucent and coats the back of a spoon.

5. 5

   Adjust and serve

   Taste once more and correct with a few grains of salt if the sauce feels flat. Pour it warm over chawanmushi, steamed tofu, simmered turnip, yuba, or greens just before serving. Add one thin strip of yuzu peel if the season gives it to you. The sauce should cling, not sit like paste.

Chef Tips

• •Use real kuzu if you can. Potato starch is a sensible stand-in for a weekday sauce, but kuzu gives the cleanest gloss and the softest body, which is why we use it when the sauce is meant to be seen.
• •Do not over-season. Gin-an is supposed to make the food underneath clearer, not louder. If the dish needs shouting, change the dish.
• •For a meatless table, make the dashi from konbu and dried shiitake. That is honmono in the temple-kitchen line, not an apology. Keep the shiitake flavor gentle so the glaze stays silver in spirit.

Advance Preparation

• •The dashi can be made two days ahead and refrigerated. Keep it covered so it stays clean and does not pick up refrigerator odors.
• •Gin-an is best thickened shortly before serving. If made ahead, refrigerate up to one day, then rewarm gently while stirring and loosen with a spoonful of dashi if it has tightened.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 70g)