Eric Wolfinger, renowned food photographer and director of the short documentary "Dashi Journey", cracks open his recipe box to share his tips for preparing the perfect chawanmushi. This traditional Japanese dish hinges on the umami-rich flavours of dashi, a light and fragrant broth created from seaweed. Often found in the likes of miso soup, dashi gives this savoury egg custard its unique character. To serve, top with a touch of yuzu ponzu and garnishing like fresh crab or uni, making the chawanmushi a delightful appetiser.

For the ultimate, silky chawanmushi, carefully steam the custards in a basket over water. However, there are more factors that can affect the texture of your custard. Giving the dashi time to cool after straining is crucial, along with the way it's mixed with the eggs – do it too fast or when the dashi is still hot and you might end up with scrambled eggs. Additionally, air bubbles can leave the custard with a spongy texture, so straining the egg mix before placing it in the dishes will help. Seasoned cooks may even opt to let the eggs rest for a while before steaming them.

Despite many broths being rich in vegetables, bones or shellfish, it's the simplicity of dashi that counts. Dashi's distinct taste stems from combining dried kombu (a variety of kelp) and katsuobushi (smoked bonito flakes) and slowly infusing them in water. For the time-pressed, you can find bottled dashi concentrate in most Japanese grocery stores. It's important to remember, substituting the dashi for another broth will change the final flavour.

The recipe provided is simple and takes roughly an hour, yielding roughly 2 quarts of dashi, of which you'll only need a small fraction for chawanmushi and can save the remainder for future use. Both kombu and katsuobushi can be sourced from your local Japanese grocery store or purchased online.

Wolfinger's Chawanmushi recipe involves making dashi and custard from scratch, as well as garnishing suggestions. For the garnish, he recommends uni, crabmeat, steamed enoki mushrooms, scallions, and cilantro though these are optional. Once ready, enjoy this delectable custard by crowning it with a blend of yuzu ponzu and dashi, before serving it straight away while it is still warm.