— Cynthia Dudak

Holy cow. A couple of big, uh, topic areas here. Um, I'm gonna start by answering this question, uh, Cynthia by saying, go out and buy some, buy some different types of things and start using it. Um, in the case of the miso, open 'em, open the containers, the bags, you know, the, the, the, the, the plastic containers and just taste them side by side is the best way to understand how, uh, ingredients taste. And, uh, we, we refer to this sort of, um, uh, a taste comparison as a cutting. Uh, that's a, a, a restaurant industry term, a cutting, where we have multiple samples of, of a like item, and we land 'em up side by side, and then we'll taste them, and then we'll start doing things with them, right? We'll start cooking with them and, and see how, uh, how they, how they fare, right? When applied, uh, to, uh, uh, against time and, and temperature. And, uh, so, um, you know, with, with miso, I mean, generally speaking, um, uh, there, there are many types of miso in the world, well, in, in Japan anyway, but, uh, you know, here in the us, uh, broadly speaking, you'll find white miso. You'll find a red miso, this darker brown colored miso. There's others in, in between, but, uh, white miso tends to have a sweeter profile, uh, and a and a overall lighter flavor intensity. Red miso is a more robust, salty profile. Um, you can, uh, choose, uh, between varieties based upon the season. Um, you know, maybe you want a more robust, sort of a hearty, uh, flavor profile imparted in the cooler months, kinda like brazing, uh, is associated with, um, cook cooking methods, uh, for the cooler months. Uh, whereas a, a lighter miso soup might be more appropriate for light, um, hot weather soups. But again, totally up to you. Okay. Um, some misos are, have been strained and are very smooth in consistency. Uh, others have, um, koji or, or elements of, of the, uh, the base rice, uh, or soybeans are still in, uh, the, the paste. Um, some, uh, miso paste, um, will have dashi incorporated into it. So dashi is the Japanese stock, which is traditionally made separately, right, as the flavorful liquid that goes into making miso soup. Anyway, um, so that's gonna be a convenience product. Um, give it a try, see if you like it. Um, I'm a, I enjoy the process of making dashi and doing this and that. Um, and, uh, so I buy miso that's plain miso without the addition of dashi, but that's totally up to you. Okay. Um, when it comes to seaweed, there are many, many different kinds. Okay? There's, um, a naughty or laver, which usually comes in sheets, uh, that's commonly associated with rolled sushi. Okay? Um, but you can also just tear it or cut it into smaller pieces and use it to informally, uh, pick up rice or other food items. You, um, like at that point, it becomes a kind of a, uh, a small wrap that you can just pop in your mouth. And, um, you know, we see that in Japan as well. So I'm not just making that up, uh, for the US audience or folks outside of Japan. Okay? Um, you know, you've got kbu, uh, you know, which can be, uh, a couple meters long or more. And, um, generally speaking, kbu uh, is associated with making, uh, a one category of dashi, right? Or the stock that I just mentioned a couple of minutes ago. And, um, you can eat the, the khumbu as well. After you finish making the stock, you know, simmering, um, the, the kbu, uh, consider just slicing it up into, into thin pieces, an eighth of an inch or a quarter inch thick, and then put that into your soup. Um, add it into a different, uh, stew that you're making, or a casserole or something else. Uh, other things are made from that as well. Um, but, uh, it's a great food item so you don't have to discard it as many recipes suggest, okay? After making stock or after making dashi. Okay? Um, I mean, there's hijiki, which are these, uh, short sort of pine needle shaped, um, uh, type of, of seaweed that's, uh, then soaked, and then, um, combined with tofu dishes or vegetable dishes or put into soups. Um, so they create a, a certain visual effect, a certain, um, mouth feel or aesthetic, and they have a certain flavor associated with 'em. And there's so many, many, many more varieties of, uh, of seaweed. But, uh, you gotta give it a try. Okay? And if you can, um, uh, you know, do some side-by-side testing, uh, that's really gonna push your understanding down the path very, very quickly. Okay? So I hope you'll give that a try. Thank you.