Tsuji's Japanese Cooking establishes that dashi is not a single preparation but a family of at least six distinct stocks — each appropriate for different applications based on flavour intensity, clarity requirements, and the dishes they will season. The Western kitchen's single chicken stock has no equivalent complexity in the Japanese system, where the stock choice is as important as any other technique decision. · Sauce Making
This is the professional-depth technique entry for Dashi Variations: Beyond Ichiban, including full quality hierarchy, species precision, and cross-cuisine parallels.
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