— Amazing McLeod

I don't have a recipe per se. Um, miso soup is based on stock, and Japanese stock is called Dassi. And you can use whatever stock you want, but most commonly you're gonna find stock that's based on Kashi, which is, um, dried bonito, which is, uh, a type of tuna, a relative of tuna. Anyway, I guess it's a type of tuna. Um, it's dried and shaved, and these little, uh, very, very thin wispy little shavings. Um, and actually not always wispy. Sometimes it's, it's kind of in, in, in flakes, uh, and chunks as well. But, um, so you have a, traditionally a fish component, and the type of fish is actually, uh, variable too. It's not always bonito. And then, uh, kelp and, uh, the, uh, you can use both of those together, or you can use just one or the other. Uh, I will sometimes use them both together. Um, if I am in, uh, a, a pinch of time, then I'll just use the kelp. And, you know, kelp, if you buy it at the store, it comes into these longer pieces. The pack sizes can vary. And I'll just break off a, a small piece and, um, put that in the soup enough for, you know, let's say three people, you know, something like that. It could be four or five portions. If there's leftover, then we eat that for lunch. But the kelp will expand by a few times. And so your little piece will end up being a piece like this. Once it, once it, um, gets pliable, I'll cut that into smaller pieces that are bite-sized and put it back into the soup and just eat that. A lot of recipes will say, you know, simmer your, uh, your BU or your, your kelp, and then discard it. Um, don't discard it. It's good food. Just cut it up and eat it. And, uh, so you've got your, your dashi, and then whatever internal ingredients you wanna put in there, do that. You know, I will often use, uh, things like carrots and cabbage. Uh, it could be, uh, some sort of a choy, like bok choy, and, uh, it could be something else, you know, a type of mushroom. You know, this morning it was, um, a, um, a what do you call 'em? A, a baby bella. I think they're sometimes called those little brown mushrooms. And it could be shi ta, it could be anything in, in terms of mushrooms, uh, and then other vegetables as well. And then I like to put tofu, that's, that's, that's that morning source of plant-based, you know, protein as we just discussed, uh, several minutes ago. And, uh, then you add your miso at the very end. So cook your vegetables. Uh, and you wanna avoid boiling your miso, 'cause that the, that's will just like, sort of neutralize any of the, the benefits that you might have from that, that living organism. Just put that in. And, uh, to taste, uh, you know, typically it's, it's fairly light on the palate. I'm, I'm saying this within a, a, a European, uh, uh, or I should say an American flavor, intensity context here. Um, you know, aim for a relatively light or delicate flavored soup. And also keep in mind that miso, uh, can have, uh, relatively high, uh, salt content. So if salt is a concern, it really should be a concern for, for most of us. Uh, you can make a more robust flavored dashi, and then cut back a little bit on the miso paste so that you still have a, an umami rich satisfying soup for your breakfast. Okay. So hopefully that helps. Um, our soups are different every day, and hopefully, you know, you enjoy that variation as well.