120 recipes. Page 5 of 5
As an Amazon Associate, we may earn from qualifying purchases.
Nanbu wheat crackers broken by hand into a soy-seasoned broth of chicken, burdock and vegetables soften at the edges as they drink up the liquid, while their centers stay chewy. In the Hachinohe area of Aomori, crackers have long gone into soup this way. Snack crackers tend to dissolve, and the ones sold for soup are used instead.
Shallow cuts in the thickest part of the rockfish let the sauce reach the center and help it cook at the same pace as the thinner flesh. The radish simmers first until its edges turn translucent, because radish that is still hard when the fish is added stays firm while the fish dries out.
Straw ridges run along the outside of each slice, and inside, the crumbled tofu has knitted back together with tiny gaps that hold a sugary soy simmering liquid. That rough interior is the point: unlike a smooth block of simmered tofu, the cut surface drinks up the seasoning during the overnight rest. In central Ibaraki, villagers once pooled straw and made it in large pots for weddings and funerals, when meat was hard to come by.
Everything left after filleting a cod, from the head, backbone and skin to the liver, roe or milt, goes into one big pot here. Jappa means scraps in the Tsugaru dialect of Aomori, yet these parts make a full-bodied winter miso soup. Liver mashed into the broth near the end gives it a soft richness, and fresh milt is treated as a prize. In Tsugaru cod was the fish for welcoming the New Year; families bought a whole large one at year's end and dragged it home over snowy roads, which gave rise to the phrase tara shogatsu, cod New Year.
Along the Ariake Sea, tonguesole is called kuchizoko, and it is simmered briefly and hard in a generous mix of sake, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Unlike long-braised fish, these thin fillets cook in minutes and come out of the pot as soon as they are done, which keeps the flesh tender and flaky. Burdock cooked in the leftover liquid goes alongside.
In inland Yamagata, families and friends gather on riverbanks in autumn to share huge pots of this taro and beef stew at imoni-kai parties. The beef waits until a skewer slides easily into the taro. Added at the start, it toughens and throws off more foam.
Four fist-sized pork meatballs sit on a bed of napa cabbage and braise slowly in a light soy broth, staying moist and soft right to the surface instead of carrying a fried crust. The cabbage keeps the pork off the hot pot bottom and turns silky as it soaks up the meat juices.
Dongara refers to the head and bony trimmings of the cod. In the Shonai area of Yamagata, spawning cod goes into one pot from flesh to liver to milt or roe, and the liver melts into the miso broth, making it rich and savory. At home it is made from a cod hot-pot set cleaned by a fishmonger, with the gallbladder, gills and intestines already removed.
Turned out of its steaming bowl, this Hakka dish lands as neat rows of soy-darkened pork belly sitting on a bed of preserved mustard greens, with the juices poured back over the top. Over an hour of steaming, the salt and fermented tang of the greens works its way into the pork.
Square rice cakes go into the clear soy-seasoned broth without grilling and turn smooth outside and soft through the middle. Aichi is known for dark soybean miso, yet this New Year soup uses none, keeping the broth light in color. Mochina, a traditional green from the Owari area, looks like komatsuna but is more tender and slightly sweet. It is added only after the rice cakes soften so it stays bright. A pinch of bonito flakes is the only garnish.
A floury potato center, a thin crisp coat, and sweet-salty miso sauce come in that order with each bite of this Chichibu snack from Saitama, once eaten by farmers as kojuhan, a small bite between stretches of field work. The sauce is poured over rather than tossed so some crisp edges stay dry.
Etsu fried crisp in potato starch goes straight into a vinegar-soy marinade while still hot, so the fish absorbs it quickly and the thin-cut vegetables stay crunchy. The fish is caught only during a short season from May to July in the Chikugo area of Fukuoka, and its many fine bones call for closely spaced cuts along the body. Served chilled, it is a summer side dish.
The name leads with meat, but tofu is the center of the pot, with thin beef and Kujo negi, Kyoto's long green onion, in a sweet soy broth around it. It is a winter home dish in Kyoto. The slick gel inside the onion leaves is not rinsed off, and the onion cooks for only the last two minutes to keep its sweetness and aroma.
In Niigata's noppe, the broth thickens lightly from the taro's own starch, with no thickener added. Water from soaking dried scallops and shiitake forms the base, and taro, bamboo shoot, carrot, konnyaku, kamaboko fish cake, ginkgo nuts, and salted salmon are cut to similar sizes. Families make big pots for New Year, weddings, memorial services, and funerals, eat it warm or cold, and top each bowl with salmon roe.
Fishermen in Yui, Shizuoka, came ashore after the sakura shrimp catch and shared this hot pot, which is where the name okiagari comes from. The shrimp go in fresh, seasoning a sweet soy, sugar, and sake broth before large blocks of firm tofu soak it up. Each spoonful takes shrimp, tofu, and scallion together, eaten hot.
The sea bass is steamed whole and comes to the table head to tail on one plate, and you pull the flakes away with chopsticks. The soy and sugar sauce is poured on lightly enough that the fish still tastes of itself, and smoking oil goes over a pile of shredded scallion at the end.
In the Hida region of Gifu, turnip greens salted down for winter turn sour by spring, and that is when they went into the pot with dried sardines, soy sauce, mirin, and sake and cooked until almost no liquid was left. Kumoji is said to come from an old court word for pickles. The greens soak through several changes of water, but a little salt is left in on purpose: without it, all you taste is soy sauce.
When fresh salmon roe comes in each autumn, Hokkaido cooks free the eggs one by one and leave them in sake and soy sauce that has been boiled and cooled. The eggs take on the seasoning but their skins stay tight, so each one pops with a salty burst.
Two whole sea bream, opened along the back and packed with sweet-savory okara (tofu pulp) cooked with vegetables and ginkgo nuts, are steamed whole for this celebratory dish from the Kaga area of Ishikawa. The fish are set belly to belly on the platter, an arrangement that made it a regular at weddings. Each serving pairs mild bream with stuffing that has soaked up the fish juices.
Five kinds of chicken offal share one pan: liver, gizzard, heart, kinkan (unlaid egg yolks), and himo (oviduct). They go into boiling sugar-soy sauce together and are tossed over strong heat until the small amount of sauce reduces to a glossy coat. The dish comes from Kofu in Yamanashi, where a soba shop is said to have created it to use parts that were being thrown away. Kinkan and himo rarely turn up in standard offal packs, so a specialist butcher is the usual source.
In Gujo, Gifu, cabbage pickles that had gone too sour and salty over the winter were, by local account, soaked to draw some of that out and then cooked again in red miso broth. Leek, eggplant, shiitake, and konnyaku join them, and the pot sits over the lowest flame until the cabbage is very soft and only a little liquid is left.
Spring bamboo shoots, split, boiled, and sun-dried, curl into triangular pieces that look like dried squid, hence yama-surume, mountain squid. In Kumamoto the dried shoots were restored throughout the year for farm-season meals, festival Buddhist dishes in the Kuma area, and drinking snacks. Simmered slowly in strong dashi and light soy sauce, the strips become tender yet springy. Dry wood ear strips go in only at the end, soaking up the last of the broth while keeping their crunch.
Boned, opened loach and thin shavings of burdock simmer in sweet soy-seasoned dashi in a shallow pan, then beaten egg is poured over to bind it all softly. Unlike marunabe, which cooks the fish whole, this Tokyo hot pot uses split loach, and the burdock goes in first to give the broth its earthy flavor. A sprinkle of sansho pepper goes on just before eating.
A dish from Oita's fishermen: sashimi-grade yellowtail rests for just ten minutes in a cold marinade of toasted sesame, soy sauce, sugar, and sake. One story says the recipe was learned from fishermen from Okinawa (Ryukyu); another says the name drifted from rikyu-ae, a sesame dressing. It goes to the table cold, or over hot rice, sometimes with tea poured on as ochazuke.