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Goae
Goae — ground soybean paste tossed with vegetables and mushrooms
Boiled, ground soybeans called "go" are tossed with vegetables and mushrooms as a dressing. Passed down in Nichinan Town, a heavy-snow district in the mountains of the old Hoki region, it makes use of soybeans grown on steep, rice-unfriendly slopes as a prized protein source, served to guests at Buddhist memorial gatherings.
- Origin: Tottori Nichinan
- About 590 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Goae coats vegetables and mushrooms in "go," a paste made by grinding boiled soybeans, a dish handed down in the town of Nichinan in the western region. Soybeans, sometimes called "meat of the fields," are rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals, and are said to have been treasured as a valuable source of nutrition. Made when the soybeans are still young edamame, the dish takes on a vivid, attractive green.
How it's made
Dried soybeans are soaked in water overnight, then boiled and ground in a mortar with a pestle, a little water added along the way. This ground paste, called "go," is mixed with vegetables and mushrooms. The same paste also goes into miso soup as a dish called "goshiru." Some households add salted mushrooms or konnyaku, and the basic method is to work sugar, miso, and dashi broth into the paste in the mortar before tossing it with vegetables.
Why it took this shape
Nichinan borders Shimane, Hiroshima, and Okayama prefectures, a mountainous, heavily forested district in the Hoki region that is one of the prefecture's heaviest snowfall areas, with very little land suited to farming. In the brief window before winter snow arrived, villagers are said to have burned steep hillsides to prepare "yakiyama" fields, growing daikon, beans, buckwheat, and rapeseed on nothing but the nutrients left in the ash. Soybeans in particular are reported to have been prized as a vital source of nutrition, and the dish is said to have been served to guests at Buddhist memorial gatherings and at local festivals.
Before you go
- How to shop at a supermarketHow to choose prepared foods, sashimi, and packaged sushi, when discount stickers tend to appear, region-only specialties, buying by weight, the checkout and bagging flow, and sampling etiquette at a local supermarket.
- Osechi and zoni for the New YearA guide to the meaning behind osechi's tiered boxes, the regional differences in zoni (square vs. round mochi, clear vs. miso broth), and the nanakusa-gayu custom.
- Setsubun: ehomaki and lucky beansA guide to ehomaki, the uncut sushi roll said to be eaten facing a lucky direction on Setsubun, and to mamemaki, the bean-throwing custom with roasted lucky beans.
Dishes in the same style
- Agonoko UmaniThe roe of egg-bearing flying fish, caught only in early summer, is simmered in stock and soy sauce as an Oki bar snack. Its large grains and dense, sticky texture are prized as a delicacy said to be scarcer even than the fish's flesh.
- Funa MisoCrucian carp is simmered slowly with soybeans for around five hours, then finished in a sauce of red miso and coarse sugar. A freshwater fish dish of the Kiso rivers' lower basin, made with fatty winter carp simmered until the bones soften through.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Tottori
- Ago ChikuwaChikuwa made from the surimi of flying fish, called "ago" in Tottori. A knife through the firm grilled skin sends up a fragrant crackle, and it turns out darker than ordinary chikuwa. It's a taste of early summer, in season through the fish's spawning run from spring into summer.
- Akagarei no KomaburiRoe-bearing red flounder is sliced into sashimi and tossed with its own boiled, crumbled eggs, a dish from around the Amijiro area of Iwami Town. Said to have descended from a similar dish made with crucian carp roe, it pairs rich eggs with mild, fatty winter flounder for festivals and New Year's.
- Azuki ZouniSoft round rice cakes are added to a broth of simmered red beans, the mainstream style of New Year's zoni in Tottori. Red beans have long been thought to ward off misfortune, and the dish is said to be simmered on New Year's morning with the year's first water and a purified flame, then shared among family.
- Daisen-doriA branded chicken said to be raised end-to-end, from breeding stock to processing, by producers at the foot of Mount Daisen — free-ranged longer than usual on an antibiotic-free feed aimed at balancing fat and flavor.
- Daisen OkowaShiitake, burdock, and chicken are cooked into sticky rice seasoned with soy, a dish from the foot of Mount Daisen. Said to trace back to warrior monks preparing it before battle to pray for victory, it was later served at the horse-and-cattle market by Daisen-ji temple and carried on into festivals and hospitality since.
- Daisen RubyBred at Tottori Prefecture's livestock station by crossing a sow of the oleic-acid-rich Daisen Akabuta line with a Berkshire boar, said to inherit both breeds' fat quality and tenderness.