Hot pot & soups
Hatto Jiru
Hatto jiru — hand-stretched wheat dumpling soup
Wheat dough worked with water is stretched thin and torn by hand into broth with seasonal vegetables and chicken — said to have spread through the Tome region during the feudal era, when rice fell short and this stood in for it.
- Origin: Miyagi Tome
- About 350 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
A soup made by kneading wheat flour until it reaches the softness of an earlobe, rolling it thin, and boiling it in broth. The dough is smooth and soft, with a faint wheat sweetness on the bite, soaked through with broth drawn from seasonal vegetables, mushrooms, and meat. Called "hatto" in the Tome and Kurihara areas, "tsumeiri" in Tamayu, and "hittsumi" elsewhere, its name is said to shift from place to place.
How it's made
Wheat flour is mixed with water and kneaded until it reaches the softness of an earlobe, rested, then stretched thin by hand. A broth is made from bonito flakes or dried sardines, seasonal vegetables, mushrooms, and chicken or pork are simmered in, and the stretched dough is added and seasoned with soy sauce. The broth and ingredients are said to vary widely by region and household.
Why it took this shape
In the Tome area, a rice-growing region that nonetheless handed over much of its rice as tribute, farmers are said to have devised a meal of kneaded, boiled wheat as a substitute. What began as a stand-in for rice is thought to have grown, through years of refinement, into a favored dish served at seasonal events, which is thought to be why it is still eaten through all four seasons today.
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 Miyagi
- Aburafu DonDeep-fried wheat gluten, shaped into a log, is simmered in a sweet-savory broth and set with egg over rice, katsudon-style — a Tome City bowl said to trace to a tofu shop's shelf-stable gluten product, later turned into a bowl dish by a local innkeeper.
- AzaraNapa cabbage pickled long enough to turn sour is simmered slowly with rockfish trimmings and sake lees — a Kesennuma dish said to taste even better cold, or reheated the next day, long loved as everyday food.
- Bakke MisoButterbur sprouts picked in early spring — called 'bakke' locally — are boiled, chopped, and worked into a paste with walnuts and miso, said to be prized for helping clear the body of winter's buildup, spooned over rice or grilled fish.
- Donko JiruDonko, a brown hakeling landed at Ishinomaki and Kesennuma ports, is simmered in miso with daikon and tofu — a fish said to be considered lucky for money, given its wide mouth and narrow tail, and offered at the autumn ebisu-ko festival.
- Ebi MochiPaddy shrimp caught in irrigation channels and ponds are seasoned with soy sauce and sake, then folded whole into freshly pounded mochi — a Kurihara dish said to be served, red against white, to guests over New Year's.
- Fusube MochiLoach, grilled plain then smoked over an irori hearth, is ground to powder and simmered with grated daikon and burdock in a soy-chili sauce, then folded into freshly pounded mochi — said to be a mochi dish born of inland Kurihara's distance from the sea.