Add Any One of These Ingredients to Punch Up Flavor

The secret of soy sauce, dashi, sake, and miso

Illustrations: Kaki Okumura

The seasonings for traditional Japanese food are usually quite simple: soy sauce with a bit of grated ginger, or soup with miso paste and a bit of wakame in it. In recipes, the ingredient list tends to only be a few lines long and the directions can be pared down to just a few statements.