Grilled
Kaiyaki Miso
Kaiyaki miso — miso and egg simmered in a scallop shell over a fire
A large scallop shell is used as a pan to simmer broth and miso, finished with beaten egg — a fisherman's dish from Aomori's coast, richer with seaweed and shellfish in the Shimokita version.
- Origin: Aomori
- About 580 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
A large scallop shell doubles as the cooking vessel: miso is dissolved into dashi inside it, ingredients are simmered, and the dish is finished by binding it all with beaten egg. As the shell is set over the fire, a briny aroma rises from it, mingling with the bubbling egg and the toasty scent of slightly scorched miso. In the Shimokita region the dish often takes on funori seaweed, sea urchin and squid, making for an especially generous version, it is said.
How it's made
A scallop shell roughly 20 centimeters across serves as the pot: miso is stirred into dashi, brought to a simmer, and other ingredients are added. In Tsugaru the dish stays simple, built on egg and miso alone, while in Shimokita it is rounded out with funori, nori, sea urchin and squid. Beaten egg is poured in last to bind everything, and many households eat it piping hot or spoon it over a bowl of rice, it is said.
Why it took this shape
Around Tsugaru Bay, long known for its scallop beds, large wild scallops once came up when the seabed was dredged by net, and fishermen are said to have already been using their broad shells as makeshift pots for this dish as far back as the Edo period. The later addition of egg is thought to reflect a time when ordinary households finally gained access to eggs, turning the dish into a special, nourishing meal.
Dishes in the same style
- Abutte KamoSmall damselfish are salted overnight, then grilled whole, scales and innards left on — a bony fish often passed over elsewhere, but said to have caught on in Hakata Bay after a Meiji-era glut led someone to salt and grill the excess.
- Gohei MochiFreshly cooked non-glutinous rice is pounded, pressed flat on a skewer, and grilled with a miso glaze. Said to have originated in the mountainous Chubu region, it's traditionally made the night before a festival praying for safety in mountain work.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Aomori
- BekomochiColored strips of glutinous and non-glutinous rice-flour dough are bundled and steamed so each slice reveals a pattern — a Boys' Day treat from rice-poor Shimokita, its designs elaborated around Oma town.
- HittsumiHand-torn pieces of kneaded wheat dough are simmered in a chicken-and-soy broth with carrot and burdock — a dish from the old Nanbu domain spanning southeastern Aomori and northern Iwate, once a rice substitute in lean years.
- KakkeThin buckwheat dough is cut into triangles, simmered with daikon and tofu, and dipped in garlic miso — said to have begun when the Nanbu domain banned fine-cut soba, leaving people to eat the offcuts instead.
- Kujira JiruSalted whale blubber is parboiled to render off excess fat, then simmered in a big pot with daikon, carrot and potato — a New Year dish from around Hachinohe's old whaling grounds, said to deepen in flavor over several days.
- Mame ShitogiMashed boiled green soybeans are kneaded with rice flour and sugar into a log and sliced — a Nanbu-region sweet that stretched scarce rice with beans, once offered to the mountain and harvest gods.
- Aomori ShamorockSaid to be developed by Aomori's livestock experiment station over roughly two decades of research from a shamo and Barred Plymouth Rock cross; reportedly reared about 100 days for cockerels and 120 for hens, 50–60 days longer than a standard broiler.