Grilled
Orido Nasu Dengaku
Orido nasu dengaku — a native eggplant variety grilled and topped with sweet miso
Orido nasu, a native eggplant grown in Miho, Shizuoka, is grilled on both sides and topped with red miso simmered with sake, sugar, and mirin. Said to be the eggplant of the "first Fuji, second hawk, third eggplant" New Year's luck saying, its richness is said to suit miso well.
- Origin: Shizuoka Shizuoka (Miho, Shimizu Ward)
- About 150 km southwest of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Orido nasu no dengaku is made by grilling orido eggplant, a heirloom variety from the Miho area of Shimizu ward in Shizuoka city, on both sides and topping it with a sauce of red miso worked together with sake, sugar, and mirin. Orido eggplant is round, sharply thorned, and deep purple-black in color, with a richer sweetness than ordinary eggplant that is said to pair especially well with miso-based dishes.
How it's made
The orido eggplant is cut in half lengthwise. Red miso is heated with sake, sugar, and mirin and worked together carefully, watching for scorching, until it turns thick and glossy. The eggplant is grilled on both sides in a pan, then topped on one side with the miso mixture. It is made at home and reportedly appears often on school lunch menus as well.
Why it took this shape
Orido eggplant is said to be the eggplant referred to in the lucky New Year's dream saying 'first Fuji, second hawk, third eggplant,' and is said to have been a favorite of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Its cultivation reportedly lapsed after the Meiji era, but seeds preserved at a national research institute were later obtained, and growers working with the local agricultural cooperative and other bodies are said to have revived it in 2005.
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 Shizuoka
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- BokumeshiSteamed eel and shaved burdock are simmered together and folded into freshly cooked rice. Its name is said to trace to oversized eels unfit for sale, used in staff meals at eel farms along the Oi River — a mixed rice dish of the region.
- Fuji KinkaBred by Shizuoka Prefecture by crossing its own Duroc line, Fujirock, with Jinhua, a rare breed from China's Zhejiang province — found only in Shizuoka. Said to combine Jinhua's tenderness with Fujirock's marbling.
- Fujieda Asa RamenA town that eats ramen at breakfast — often a hot bowl followed by a cold one.
- Fujinomiya YakisobaIt grew up as a postwar snack at Fujinomiya's candy shops and okonomiyaki stalls. Its identity rests on three local staples: chewy steamed noodles, pork-lard cracklings called nikukasu, and a sardine-powder topping called dashiko.
- GawaRaw bonito is minced and mixed into a chilled miso broth with cucumber, pickled plum, and shiso. Its name is said to come from the "gawa-gawa" sound of stirring miso into ice water aboard a fishing boat — originally a summer meal made at sea.