Originally Posted by
LapLap
Thanks for clarifying your points. On the whole your assertions seem quite sound to me, but I have a Tokyo focus, so I can't dispute or support the claim that 99% of dashi (made from scratch) is made from bonito flakes.
The reason I'm uncomfortable with it is that everything I've read about other areas having a preference for dashi made with niboshi is supported by its availability at Japanese food shops in London. These tend to act as microcosms reflecting the prevailing cooking styles and requirements of people from throughout Japan. Anything too obscure or used too rarely just isn't stocked.
Once again I was typing faster than I was thinking. I checked with a fairly definitive source.
Probably 80 - 90% of all [restaurant made] dashi is made with katsuo. There are regional differences as well as within the type of restaurant. Sushi restaurants almost always use katsuo. Traditional soba restaurants tend to use niboshi, iwashi, or other similar fish.
Also, to clarify for those who haven't studied Japanese cooking, dashi isn't only used as a base for soup. Much like other stocks in western cooking, it is used very widely in many different dishes to add flavor, for braising, stewing, etc.