The old man and the bonito flakes

Mission the Nishiguchi Bonito Flake Co (researched 18 Sep 2013)

 

 

 Bonito Flakes=Katsuo-bushi (鰹節)

 

I've told you two recipes to cook Japanese dishes on this blog so far.

 

I suppose bonito flakes would be the one that is very crucial ingredient As well as a wonder in recipe.

 

To day, I'll tell you Nara's unique specialized bonito flake grocer and a bit about bonito flakes.

 

The bonito flakes (鰹節)= small pieces of dried bonito shavings, mainly used to make dashi stock to cook Japanese food.

Generally, dashi stock is made out of combination of kelp and bonito flakes. Therefore, the quality of bonito flakes is significant in Japanese cuisine.

 

The brief steps of making bonito flakes (鰹節)

1, filleting bonitos, taking bones and bowels away.

2, boiling bonitos for 60min~90min

3, let  'em cool out doors.

4, dry 'em on heat from burning wood

5, dry 'em once again under the sun right.

6, shape 'em into what they are with a specially designed knife.
(the above step make 'em looking what thery are as well as looking trimed)

7, putting edible mould on the processed bonitos. Keep 'em in "muro" (a room that provides high temps and humidity) to boost mold growing, get 'em back on drying process. The above "muro" process generally repeated some times . At last, let 'em fully dry to complete making dried bonitos

8, shaving dried bonitos into flakes by a plane.

Also, dried bonitos are known as the world's hardest food.

 Bonito flakes remind  me  wehn I was in practise at a specialized Japanese restaurant in Toyohashi, Japan.

 "The owner-head chef shaved a dried bonito into flakes by a plane to make dashi stock. And then, I went for a bin run (taking rubbish out). That was just another cold cloudy winter morning."

 

 Nowadays,  bonito flakes are mass produced to sell every supermarket across the nation, the products are packed in small amount to be sold.

 The major bonito flake producers are trying to make  flakes more convinient for domestic use.

 On the  other hand, the Nishiguchi Bonito Flake Co is run by an old man. The old man does all those processes at his place to sell his products by weight.

 

 

 How ever, his business is obviously old fasioned, he is far behind the main stream.

 

 If you cook Japanese food at home. I urge you to try the Nshiguchi Bonito  Flake Co. You will know  that the old man’s products are as good as the foods can get.

 

How to get there.

 

 

 It is located 300m from the Kintetsu Nara station, is in front of the Nara Women's university.

 No car park is available.

 Ph 0742-22-4389

 Open 11am-7pm

 Close on Sundays and Public holidays.

 We went there by car, parked our car in front of the grocer to shop.

 The old man (store runner) get you whatever you want to your request.  ( Japanese language is required to communicate)

 The accesblity  for wheel chair doesn't exist here. Assistance is essential.