Hot pot & soups
Genge no Misoshiru
Genge no misoshiru — deep-sea eelpout miso soup
Eelpout, a deep-sea fish covered in a gelatinous layer, is cut into chunks and simmered into a miso soup — long treated as an unwanted bycatch of sweet shrimp fishing, its flavor has since been reappraised and spread beyond the fishing villages that first ate it.
- Origin: Toyama City, Toyama
- About 260 km northwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
A miso soup built around genge, a deep-sea fish whose whole body is wrapped in a thick, gelatinous skin. Simmered, it turns soft and almost silky, its refined white flesh sweetness melding with a rich broth. Good stock is drawn from the bones as well, adding body to the whole, and combined with miso's mellowness it is said to warm the body from the inside — refined and mild despite its odd appearance.
How it's made
The fish is cleaned of head and innards, rinsed, and cut into chunks. Water is brought to a boil with a dashi base added, then the fish goes in to simmer. Once cooked through, the heat is turned off and miso stirred in, followed by chopped scallion and one more brief warming before serving. Because the flesh breaks apart easily if overcooked, careful timing is said to matter.
Why it took this shape
Its grotesque look and the way it tangled awkwardly in nets meant for other catch are said to have once made this fish seem nearly worthless. But as fish-freshness technology improved, the soup — once eaten only in a handful of fishing villages — reached a wider part of the prefecture, and its rich collagen content and good flavor are said to have come to be reappraised.
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
Contrast
- Megisu no DangojiruIcefish, deboned and ground into a paste with miso, egg, and scallion, are shaped into dumplings and simmered in dashi — said to have taken root as a way to use up a fish Ishikawa catches more of than anywhere else in the country.
- TarajiruWalleye pollock, cut whole with head, liver, and roe intact, is simmered in miso — said to have started when fishermen's wives lit a big pot on the beach to welcome the boats home, giving the coastal road here the nickname "cod-soup highway."
Also from Toyama
- Bai no NimonoWhelks from the deep waters of Toyama Bay are simmered whole in their shells — said to appear at celebrations thanks to a play on words suggesting doubled good fortune, with smaller whelks simmered and larger ones eaten raw.
- BekkoMelted agar is seasoned with soy sauce and mirin, then set with egg trailed in like threads — its amber color flecked with egg said to resemble a tortoiseshell hair ornament, giving the dish its name; in the west of the prefecture it goes by "yubeshi" instead.
- BurishabuThin slices of yellowtail are swished briefly through kelp broth, said to cook only the surface while leaving the center rare — versions using Himi's branded winter yellowtail are considered a particularly luxurious cold-weather treat.
- Himi UdonA hand-stretched udon developed in Himi, Toyama, in the mid-Edo period by adapting somen-making techniques from Wajima. It was once presented to the Kaga domain as tribute.
- Hoonko RyoriA catch-all term for the dishes served at houonko, the memorial gathering held on the death anniversary of Jodo Shinshu's founder — the season's better vegetables and wild greens are said to be set aside for it apart from everyday use, with the devout Gokayama area of Nanto known for hearty stews of dried greens and local tofu.
- Hotaruika no SumisoaeBoiled firefly squid, its eyes removed, is paired with scallion and dressed in a mustard-vinegar-miso sauce — a spring dish built on squid said to have been fished from Toyama Bay's shores since the Edo period, rising in shimmering shoals each March to spawn.