Hot pot & soups
Ichigoni
Ichigoni — a delicate sea urchin and abalone clear soup
Fresh sea urchin and abalone are barely simmered in dashi with a touch of soy sauce and shiso — the golden urchin adrift in the pale broth is said to resemble wild strawberries, hence the name, served at celebrations.
- Origin: Aomori
- About 560 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
A clear soup built around two ingredients alone: raw sea urchin and raw abalone. The broth turns milky from the abalone's juices, and golden sea urchin floats within it; the urchin melts on the tongue, the abalone offers a firm, springy bite, and a deep oceanic aroma is set off by a touch of shiso, it is said. Quality and freshness of the ingredients decide the whole dish, which is otherwise unadorned.
How it's made
Fresh sea urchin and abalone are briefly simmered in water or bonito dashi, seasoned with a small amount of soy sauce, and topped with shredded shiso leaf, it is said. Because it relies solely on premium ingredients, the dish came to be served in refined lacquer bowls at ryotei restaurants from the Taisho era onward.
Why it took this shape
Along the Pacific coast around Hachinohe and Hashikami, it is said to have begun as a hearty dish fishermen cooked on the beach from urchin and abalone they had dived for themselves. The name is said to come from the golden urchin afloat in the milky broth resembling wild strawberries glimpsed through morning dew, and the dish is thought to have endured as a coastal celebration meal built straight from the sea's own bounty.
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.
- 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
- 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 Aomori
- BekomochiColored strips of glutinous and non-glutinous rice-flour dough are bundled and steamed so each slice reveals a pattern — a Boys' Day treat from rice-poor Shimokita, its designs elaborated around Oma town.
- HittsumiHand-torn pieces of kneaded wheat dough are simmered in a chicken-and-soy broth with carrot and burdock — a dish from the old Nanbu domain spanning southeastern Aomori and northern Iwate, once a rice substitute in lean years.
- KakkeThin buckwheat dough is cut into triangles, simmered with daikon and tofu, and dipped in garlic miso — said to have begun when the Nanbu domain banned fine-cut soba, leaving people to eat the offcuts instead.
- Kujira JiruSalted whale blubber is parboiled to render off excess fat, then simmered in a big pot with daikon, carrot and potato — a New Year dish from around Hachinohe's old whaling grounds, said to deepen in flavor over several days.
- Mame ShitogiMashed boiled green soybeans are kneaded with rice flour and sugar into a log and sliced — a Nanbu-region sweet that stretched scarce rice with beans, once offered to the mountain and harvest gods.
- Aomori ShamorockSaid to be developed by Aomori's livestock experiment station over roughly two decades of research from a shamo and Barred Plymouth Rock cross; reportedly reared about 100 days for cockerels and 120 for hens, 50–60 days longer than a standard broiler.