My First Miso Soup

My First Miso Soup. That sounds like the name of a children's book doesn't it? When I set out to make miso soup at home I felt somewhat like a child- excited to learn something new, curious about unfamiliar ingredients, and laughing while trying to pronounce strange words. A beautiful and highly detailed post by The Paupered Chef introduced me to the steps of making miso. After seeing it broken down in such a clear fashion I thought to myself, "I can do this!" An upcoming trip to Whole Foods meant I could locate unusual ingredients without a problem so I made my list: Bonito flakes, Konbu, Wakame, Shiro Miso, Aka Miso, and Tofu.

Bonito Flakes and Konbu

Upon returning from my sojourn to Whole Foods (oh what a happy place!) I set out to make the soup. The first step was to make an ichiban-dashi (first stock). This required three ingredients: water, konbu, and bonito flakes. Konbu, I learned, is simply flat rectangular pieces of kelp. It looked and smelled a lot like the kelp my brother and I would throw at each other when playing on the beach as children. I used to pick up a long strand and threaten him saying, "I'm going to make you eat your salad!" While he in return lobbed seaweed at me, laughing when it stuck to my skin. (There's nothing quite like having a younger brother!)

Bonito flakes were also new to me. Apparently they are made by smoking and drying out skipjack tuna, pressing it into a block, and then shaving flakes off into bags. I cautiously opened the bag and took a whiff, expecting to be bowled over by a nasty fish odor. To my utter surprise the smell made my mouth water. It had a sweetly smoky fish aroma that was quite pleasant and made me think of an umami flavor.

Making the ichiban-dashi was rather like a dance of ingredients in sequences that were new to me. You bring part of the water and the konbu to a boil, then remove the konbu and add more water. When that boils you turn it off and add the bonito flakes and wait while they fall to the bottom of the pot. Then you strain out the bonito flakes and set aside the water for some other use.

Making the Niban-Dashi

Next with the leftover bonito flakes and konbu, you make the niban-dashi (second stock). Adding water and the leftover bonito and konbu to a pot you simmer it for a while and then add in more bonito flakes, again waiting until they float to the bottom. Then you strain everything saving the water and discarding the rest. When this is all finished you have your stock and can finally get around to making the miso soup. Yes, it is a lot of steps but I think the purpose is to achieve the correct level of flavor in the stock, one which will not overwhelm a delicate miso but still have complexity from the konbu and bonito flakes.

Wavy Wakame

Compared to making the dashis, the miso was simple. You re-hydrate wakami (seaweed) and at the same time bring the niban-dashi to a simmer. The miso is whisked in, tofu is added, and that is it. You place the wakami in the bottom of each bowl, pour the soup on top, and garnish with chopped spring onions. Voila, miso soup.

So how did it taste after dancing around with unfamiliar ingredients all afternoon? Well, I'm going to be honest. It was just okay. I learned that there are several different types of miso which vary on the flavor spectrum from sweet to savory. This recipe used a lot of Shiro miso, which is a sweet blond colored miso. It created a cloying almost muddy flavor and I think I prefer a more savory style Hacho miso. Also, in my efforts to make this soup more of a "meal" than an appetizer I ignored the recommended proportions of tofu and dumped in the whole package. This resulted in a miso-tofu stew. Not quite the delicate soup I was aiming for.

Will we try this again? Absolutely! Now that the ingredients and processes are demystified, I am eager to give this a try again with different miso. The broth was very satisfying and I think by tweaking the ingredients to match our preferences I will be able to make a miso soup that we enjoy on a regular basis.

The step-by-step process and recipe from The Paupered Chef can be found here.