Hot pot & soups
Kozuyu
Kozuyu — a scallop-broth vegetable soup served in shallow lacquer dishes
Wood ear mushroom, taro, fiddlehead fern, and other ingredients — seven or nine kinds — simmer in a scallop broth and are ladled into shallow lacquered Aizu-nuri dishes. An odd number of ingredients is said to be lucky, and at wedding banquets, guests could refill the dish as many times as they liked.
- Origin: Fukushima
- About 200 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
Kozuyu piles dried-scallop-simmered wood ear mushroom, bracken, taro, and a wealth of other ingredients onto a shallow Aizu-nuri lacquerware dish called a teshio-zara. It's a dish from the Aizu region balancing seafood and mountain vegetables for a refined, gentle flavor. Using seven or nine ingredients, an odd number, is said to be considered auspicious.
How it's made
Each ingredient is prepped and cut to bite size, then simmered slowly in a broth of dried shiitake and dried scallop, seasoned with soy sauce and salt, the basic method. How things are cut, which ingredients are used, and the seasoning are said to vary by household, with some once adding a rolled omelet. It's served as a soup guests are welcome to refill as many times as they like, it's said.
Why it took this shape
In the Aizu region, where a culture of using Aizu-nuri lacquerware took root, this soup is said to have developed over a long stretch of time as a special dish for entertaining guests at weddings and other ceremonies. Combining dried scallop, a preserved good reachable even inland, with local mountain vegetables is thought to be how a dish fit for hosting honored guests came together.
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 Fukushima
- Aizu RamenFlat, thick hand-made noodles in a clear soy broth. Said to trace back to a Aizuwakamatsu diner owner bringing home a taste learned in Yokohama — a second soy ramen lineage that grew up apart from Kitakata's, in the same Aizu region.
- Aizu Curry YakisobaA dish from Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima: sauce yakisoba topped with curry roux. It's said to trace to a diner called Tommy Food, which began ladling curry over its yakisoba, catching on especially among young diners for its low price and filling size.
- Aizu GyuSteers and heifers of Japanese Black raised in the Aizu basin, fed mainly local rice straw — the basin's sharp seasonal swings are said to suit fattening, making it Fukushima's leading brand.
- Aizu JidoriA lineage said to have been brought to Aizu by Heike clan refugees, saved from near-extinction and re-established through crossbreeding by Fukushima prefecture; reportedly fattened for 90 to 170 days.
- Aizu Sōsu KatsudonAizu's sauce katsudon, doused in a thick sweet-savory sauce. Its origin has several competing accounts, none settled, but all point to it being refined through everyday improvisation on Taisho-era Western food.
- Aizu Yamajio RamenSalt ramen seasoned with mountain salt drawn from hot-spring water — rounder than sea salt.