Hot pot & soups
Fuukashi
Fuukashi — miso soup from steamed asari clams
Asari clams are steamed, and their own steaming liquid is loosened with a little miso — said to trace to fishermen who steamed clams for transport before refrigeration existed and drank the leftover broth as a working meal, a bowl shaped by Tokyo Bay's fishing towns.
- Origin: Chiba
What it's made of
This soup dissolves miso into the broth left from steaming clams, a miso soup infused with clam umami and the scent of the sea. Clams are piled high in a bowl and the broth poured over them. It is a dish unique to a coast where large, plump clams were caught in abundance, simple yet deeply savory, and it has long been enjoyed as a seasonal soup possible only in the clam seasons of spring and autumn.
How it's made
Clams that have been purged of sand are put into kelp broth and brought to a boil, and once their shells open and their broth is released, a small amount of miso is stirred in. Clams are piled high in a bowl and the miso soup poured over them, so the broth carrying the clams' umami is drunk along with them. The miso should not be overdone, since the point is to let the clams' own broth shine, and the balance struck for that varies a little by household or shop.
Why it took this shape
In an age without refrigeration, fishermen are said to have steamed clams before shipping them, then added a small amount of miso — precious at the time — to the leftover steaming liquid and eaten it as a meal among themselves. Born in a bay where seafood was caught in abundance, this simple flavor rooted in fishermen's daily life is said to have carried on, still appearing at local family tables whenever clams are in season.
Before you go
- Foods to look for in winterA guide to foods often seen in Japan around winter — nabe hot pot, fugu, oysters, crab, year-end soba, and osechi — with rough pointers for finding them.
- At yakiniku, shabu-shabu, and hot potGrilling your own meat at yakiniku, swishing thin slices at shabu-shabu, and sharing from the pot — the customs behind each.
Dishes in the same style
- Aichi Miso OdenA pot of sweet red miso sits in the center of the simmering pot, and daikon, tofu, and other ingredients simmered in dashi are dipped into it before eating. While soy-based Kanto-style oden spread in Edo, Aichi is said to have settled on dipping in soybean miso instead.
- Aichi ZoniSquare mochi and mochina, a traditional Owari green, are served in a plain clear broth for New Year — a notably simple zoni. It's speculated that using miso so often in daily cooking is exactly why a clear broth is chosen for this festive occasion, deliberately leaving miso out.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Chiba
- Arirang RamenA soy ramen said to have started at a single restaurant on a mountain pass in Chiba's Nagara. Named, it's said, for the legendary Arirang Pass of Korean folklore, its soy broth carries the sweetness of onion and pork, layered with house-made chili oil and grated garlic for depth and heat.
- Barappa ManjuFreshly milled wheat dough is wrapped around red bean paste and steamed on a leaf of catbrier, called barappa locally — a bun said to be made in Chiba's Hokuso area when people gathered for summer festivals or Obon, each bringing ingredients to share.
- Iwashi no Unohana-zukeSalt-and-vinegar-cured sardines are packed into sweet-vinegared tofu lees with carrot and ginger — the pale lees are likened to unohana blossoms in the name, and are also said to keep the fish from breaking apart or oxidizing; eaten at New Year's and as an everyday pantry food.
- Rakkasei MisoPeanuts too small or misshapen to sell are stirred into miso and sugar and toasted into a pantry relish — said to have started as a way for farm households to use up peanuts the market wouldn't take, in leaner years.
- SumitsukareDaikon and carrot, coarsely grated with a rough-toothed oni-oroshi grater, are simmered with leftover setsubun soybeans and sake lees — said to have traveled from Tochigi into Chiba's Higashikatsushika area, offered to the local inari shrine on the year's first Day of the Horse before being eaten. Ibaraki and Saitama carry dishes of the same name.
- Yude RakkaseiFreshly dug peanuts, still in their shells, are boiled whole in salted water — a taste unique to the growing region, since raw peanuts start hardening the moment they're pulled from the ground and need to be boiled almost immediately.