Salt Tare (Shio Tare)

Ingredients

• 500 ml spring water
• 55 g fine non-iodized sea salt
• 10 g dried Japanese kombu
• 15 g dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi)
• 12 g small dried niboshi sardines
• 8 g dried shiitake mushrooms
• 80 ml Japanese cooking sake
• 60 ml Japanese mirin
• 2 tsp Japanese rice vinegar

Method

1. Quickly wipe the kombu with a barely damp cloth, without removing all the white powder on its surface, which contains some of the umami. Split the small dried sardines open with your fingers and remove the heads and innards if they are very bitter or dark.
2. Put the spring water, kombu, dried small sardines, and dried shiitakes in a saucepan. Leave to infuse at room temperature for at least half an hour, until the kombu softens and the water takes on a pale straw-yellow color.
3. Heat very gently over low heat. When small bubbles begin to form on the sides and the surface barely trembles, remove the kombu before a full boil to avoid a viscous texture and seaweed bitterness.
4. Keep the liquid below a simmer, without large bubbles, until the marine aroma becomes clear but clean. The surface should quiver gently, not crackle.
5. Add the dried bonito flakes off the heat. Let them sink naturally, without pressing or stirring roughly, until they fully moisten the liquid and perfume the saucepan with a smoky, iodine-rich aroma.
6. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth or a reusable coffee filter. Let it drain by gravity and do not press the solids, to keep the tare clear and free of cloudiness.
7. Rinse the saucepan, pour in the sake and mirin, then bring to a medium simmer. Let the alcohol evaporate until the sharp smell disappears and the aroma becomes soft and rounded.
8. Return the strained infusion to the saucepan with the sake-and-mirin mixture. Add the fine sea salt and whisk gently until completely dissolved. The sauce should become homogeneous, glossy, and slightly amber.
9. Cook at a very gentle simmer until lightly concentrated. The tare is ready when it barely coats the back of a spoon, remains fluid like a concentrated salted broth, and tastes too salty on its own but balanced once diluted in broth.
10. Add the rice vinegar off the heat to lift the salinity without making it overtly acidic. Stir, taste a drop diluted in a spoonful of hot broth or hot water, then adjust only with a very small pinch of salt if the finish seems flat.
11. Let it cool to lukewarm, then transfer it to a sterilized jar. Refrigerate. To serve shio ramen-style, place a measure of tare in the bottom of a warm bowl, pour piping-hot clear broth over it, then mix before adding the noodles and toppings.

Nutrition

Per serving

Energy

82 kcal

Protein

3.72 g

Carbohydrate

8.93 g

Fat

0.57 g

Fibre

0.87 g

Calcium

37.47 mg

Iron

0.43 mg

Magnesium

41.3 mg