Clear Soup: Duck Nanban

Kamo nanban is a noodle dish served with hot broth, named for its use of duck meat and scallion (negi) as toppings - but this time we've prepared it as a soup course (wan) instead. Negi is called nanban, it's said, because the Western traders known as nanban-jin who came to Japan during the Edo period favored eating scallion to stay healthy.

Kamo nanban is a noodle dish served with hot broth, named for its use of duck meat and scallion (negi) as toppings - but this time we've prepared it as a soup course (wan) instead.

For clear soup (suimono), the quality of the ingredients matters, of course, but the key point is how skillfully you draw out the bonito dashi. First, put kombu into water and simmer gently over low heat for about 2 hours, keeping it below 100°C the whole time. Then remove the kombu, bring it to a full boil once, skim off the scum, and add 80 g of bonito flakes made from bled fish (chinuki-bushi) per sho (1.8 liters) to make the bonito dashi - at this point, keep the balance between the bonito dashi and the kombu dashi in mind. Then, once the other ingredients are added, form an overall impression of the flavor, but in the end it's essential to check it directly with your own palate.

① After prepping the duck meat, slice it into thin fillets, lightly salt it, dust with kuzu starch, and simmer briefly in hot water with kombu to just cook through.

② Cut the long green onion (naganegi) on the diagonal into leaf-shaped slices resembling bamboo-grass leaves, and grill.

③ Cut the daikon and carrot to your preferred shape, blanch them briefly, then let them absorb the flavor of the clear-soup dashi (suimono dashi).

④ Blanch the mizuna briefly to keep its color vivid, then let it absorb the flavor of the clear-soup dashi.