Tsuyu (Mentsuyu)
What it is
A concentrated Japanese soup-and-dipping base built from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin (and often sake/sugar). Sold as a bottled concentrate, diluted to taste.
How it's made
Dashi (kombu and bonito stock) is combined with soy sauce and mirin, sometimes simmered with bonito and kombu again for depth, then bottled as a concentrate. The classic balance hovers around a dashi-forward base seasoned roughly 1 part each soy and mirin to several parts dashi, adjusted by use.
Flavor profile
Savory, lightly sweet, deeply umami, with the smoky-marine signature of dashi underpinning everything.
Culinary uses
Diluted strong as a cold dipping sauce for soba and somen; diluted weaker as the broth for udon and soba soups; used to season simmered dishes, tamagoyaki, and tempura dipping sauce (tentsuyu). Pairs with noodles, tempura, egg, daikon, scallion.
Regional variations
Kanto versions lean darker and saltier (koikuchi soy); Kansai lighter (usukuchi). Concentration is labeled (e.g., 3x, 4x) for dilution.
Cultural & historical context
Tsuyu codifies the dashi-soy-mirin trinity at the heart of Japanese seasoning into a convenient bottle, democratizing restaurant-quality noodle broth for the home. Its ratio is a foundational lesson in Japanese flavor balance.