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1
Put the water into the pot.
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2
Dampen a cloth or paper towel, wring it out, and use it to gently pat the surface of the piece of kelp- do not wipe it hard, just remove surface dust; some of the white powder clinging to it is clean pleasant flavor from the ocean.
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3
Put the kelp into the pot.
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4
Heat the water, and when you can tell it is about to boil, but before it does, remove the kelp.
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5
Add the bonito flakes and let the water come to a full boil.
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6
As soon as the water starts to boil, turn off the heat.
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7
Let the bonito flakes start to settle to the bottom of the saucepan.
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8
You can strain the soup as soon as the flakes start to settle- 30 seconds to 1 minute, or, for a stronger flavor (which you may or may not want depending on what you are making) you can leave them in a few minutes longer- some of the recipes I have seem to imply that the flakes will all settle within a few minutes, but perhaps that depends on the kind you have; mine never all settle, and I find that a soak longer than a few minutes does not improve the flavor much anyway.
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9
To strain: line a strainer with a piece of cheesecloth (optional, but neater), and filter the dashi through it.
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10
You now have ichiban dashi.
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11
This dashi will keep for a few days in a glass container in the refrigerator.
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12
You can also make secondary dashi (niban dashi) by re-using the kelp and bonito flakes once; I haven't practiced that yet.
