Dojo-jiru Loach and Udon Soup
Quick answer
- Total time
- 115 min
- Level
- Hard
- Servings
- 20 servings
- Ingredients
- 16
About this dish
Dojo-jiru is a Kagawa summer soup from the Chusan region and part of Tosan, simmering whole loach with burdock, eggplant, taro, fried tofu, leek, and fresh udon in miso broth.
Read more
After rice planting, men once caught loaches from ponds and rivers and cooked them in large cauldrons to share with neighbors, making the dish part of communal work and gatherings. Thoroughly simmered fish that can be eaten with its fine bones and noodles cooked directly in the broth create a substantial bowl. Raw freshwater fish can carry parasites and environmental contaminants. Never use self-caught fish; obtain only farmed, professionally purged and processed cooking-grade loach from a licensed supplier, cook it the same day, separate raw-fish tools, and heat every fish completely in the soup.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Heat
Obtain refrigerated loach professionally purged and processed for food by a licensed supplier, transport sealed at 4°C or colder, and cook the same day. Separate the raw-fish tub, colander, gloves, and tongs from vegetable tools.
- 2Season
Place 1kg loach and 360ml sake in the lidded raw-fish tub, close, and refrigerate 5 minutes.
Discard sake, rub with 200g salt for 2 minutes using gloves, then rinse three times in a colander under low-pressure cold water and drain.
- 3Season
After fish handling, seal and discard used sake and salt liquid and isolate the tub, colander, and gloves.
Wash sink and handles with detergent, sanitize with a food-contact product, and wear fresh gloves before vegetables.
- 4Heat
Bring 6L water to a boil.
Peel and cut 20 taro to 3cm, cut 10 eggplants to 2cm and 5 tofu sheets to 2cm strips, add, and boil 7 minutes. Shave 2 burdock roots thinly and slice 5 leeks 1cm, keeping aside.
- 5Control
Add loach to the boiling pot with long tongs and cover immediately.
Once a full boil returns, boil continuously for 10 minutes and skim foam. Do not taste broth or fish before this point.
- 6Heat
Loosen and add 20 portions fresh udon and boil for the package time or 10 minutes.
Stir only gently so the loaches remain intact.
- 7Heat
Add burdock and leek and boil 5 minutes.
Dissolve 1kg medium miso in broth, add the remaining 180ml sake, and cook 5 minutes more. Confirm loaches from several areas are at least 75°C in the center and fully opaque.
- 8Finish
Serve 30ml soy sauce, 50g chopped thin scallions, 5g chile, 20g minced garlic, and 30g shredded myoga separately.
Within 2 hours, divide leftovers into shallow containers, chill to 4°C or colder, consume by the next day, and reheat to a full boil.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- One kilogram whole loach and twenty udon portions
- Finish cue
- Confirm loaches from several areas are at least 75°C in the center and fully opaque.
- Avoid this
- Do not taste broth or fish before this point.
- Storage and reheating
- Obtain refrigerated loach professionally purged and processed for food by a licensed supplier, transport sealed at 4°C or colder, and cook the same day.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official food safety guidance.
This recipe
115min, 16 ingredients
Category median
45min, 8 ingredients
Based on 242 recipes
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