Sam's Backup Page

Yeah, dashi is ridiculously easy to make. If you don't want to buy it in instant bouillion-style form, you can make it using only two things (well, three counting the water): bonito flakes (which is basically a type of tuna which is smoked, dried, and then chipped into sawdust-like flakes) and kombu, a type of dried kelp sold in big stiff sheets. Don't take my word for it, though - take Alton Brown's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lld2TBlZDZg).