Hot pot & soups
Okuzukake
Okuzukake — a kudzu-thickened vegetable and noodle soup
Taro, burdock, and other vegetables simmer with tofu and Shiroishi's thin somen-style noodles in a shiitake-soaked broth, thickened with kudzu starch — a meat-free dish said to be served at spring and autumn equinox gatherings in southern Miyagi.
- Origin: Miyagi
- About 270 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
A big bowl of root vegetables and mushrooms—taro, carrot, burdock, shiitake—simmered with tofu, fried tofu, and wheat-gluten fu, all thickened into a gentle, rounded broth. Into it goes Shiroishi's slender wheat noodles, adding a smooth, slippery finish. Though it is a meat-free, Buddhist-style dish, the broth alone is said to carry enough savor to satisfy. Every household varies the vegetables a little, so the same name covers a range of flavors.
How it's made
Several vegetables, tofu, fried tofu, and wheat-gluten fu are simmered slowly in a shiitake soaking broth, then Shiroishi wheat noodles are added and the whole thing thickened with kudzu starch. These days potato starch often stands in for kudzu. Though its original form is meat-free, some households are said to add chicken or pork, or swap in udon for the wheat noodles.
Why it took this shape
It is said to have taken root in the southern region as a Buddhist dish offered at the family altar during the spring and autumn equinoxes and Obon, served to welcome guests gathered for memorial services. A thickened broth stays warm longer, which may have suited entertaining a houseful of visitors. Because the region already had Shiroishi wheat noodles as a local specialty, the dish grew into a noodle soup, and in the north a closely related dish is said to have developed under the names "suppoko" and "noppei-jiru."
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.