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1
Place the kombu in 1 litre of cold water in a clean saucepan. Bring over medium-low heat, allowing the kombu to steep as the water rises slowly toward a simmer. Remove the kombu just before the water reaches a full boil — small bubbles will begin to form at the edges of the pan. The kombu has done its work when the water carries a faint sea scent and the kombu has softened and begun to uncurl. Discard the kombu or reserve for a second use outside suimono.
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2
Bring the kombu liquor to a full boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Add the freshly shaved katsuobushi in a single addition — do not stir. Allow it to steep undisturbed for exactly one to two minutes. The flakes will sink slowly as they saturate. This is ichiban dashi: the first, most delicate extraction. Second dashi is too heavy for suimono and must not be substituted. This is where the dish lives or dies — katsuobushi shaved fresh from the block, steeped once and gently, yields the volatile aromatics that define suimono; pre-shaved flakes or a second extraction will cloud both the broth and its intention.
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3
Line a fine-mesh strainer with sarashi cloth or an unbleached coffee filter set over a clean saucepan. Pour the dashi through without pressing the katsuobushi — pressure extracts bitter compounds and cloudiness. The finished ichiban dashi must be crystal-clear and pale gold. Hold it to the light: any turbidity is unacceptable in kaiseki suimono and the extraction must be repeated.
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4
Warm the strained dashi over low heat. Season with fine sea salt and the measured usukuchi soy sauce. Taste: the broth should register as complete — neither identifiably salty nor shoyu-forward. It should taste of the sea and of dried fish, and of very little else. Adjust in the smallest possible increments; the palate-cleansing function of suimono is destroyed by heavy seasoning.
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5
Warm the black lacquered suimono bowls by rinsing them with near-boiling water and emptying them immediately before service. Place the seasonal main garnish ingredient in the centre of each bowl. Add the mitsuba or kinome sprig so that it leans naturally against the main ingredient; neither element should touch the bowl's edge. Lay the yuzu zest strip across or beside the garnish.
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6
Bring the seasoned dashi to near-boiling. Ladle it into each bowl to fill three-quarters of the volume, leaving the upper quarter as negative space for the garnish to float and the eye to rest. Cover each bowl immediately with its lacquer lid and carry to the table without delay. Lift the lid at the bowl: the broth must arrive near-boiling, releasing a brief visible rise of steam — the lacquered bowl holds heat for only a short time. The correct order of consumption is to sip the broth first, then eat the solid garnish.