Hot pot & soups
Ozaku
Ozaku — a simmered vegetable soup of taro, daikon, and carrot
Taro, daikon, and carrot are roughly chopped and simmered in dashi with soy sauce and sugar. Said to have been made for weddings, funerals, and other gatherings, with neighbors each bringing vegetables from their own fields.
- Origin: Shizuoka Mishima
- About 100 km southwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
Ozaku is a soup made by roughly chopping root vegetables such as taro, daikon, and carrot and simmering them in dashi with soy sauce and sugar. It is said to have been made for gatherings such as weddings, funerals, and festivals, with neighbors each bringing vegetables grown in their own fields. Some areas also add burdock root, tofu, or duck meat.
How it's made
Taro, carrot, and burdock root are cut into rough chunks, and dried shiitake is rehydrated and thinly sliced. Konnyaku is rubbed with salt, torn into pieces, parboiled, and then dry-fried in the pot. Oil is added to stir-fry the root vegetables, dashi is poured in and brought to a boil, fried tofu is added, and the soup is seasoned with sugar and soy sauce and simmered down until the liquid is nearly gone.
Why it took this shape
The name is said to come from the rough, chunky way, 'zaku zaku,' the vegetables are cut. Root vegetables are said to taste better in winter after frost and snow, and the flavor is said to deepen the more the dish is reheated after simmering a large batch. Before bento shops and convenience stores existed, it is said to have been the kind of hearty dish served when people gathered.
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 Shizuoka
- Abekawa MochiFresh-pounded rice cake is dusted in soybean flour mixed with sugar. Named for the Abe River, it's said to have been famous among Tokaido travelers as a teahouse specialty and to appear in the travel novel Tokaidochu Hizakurige.
- BokumeshiSteamed eel and shaved burdock are simmered together and folded into freshly cooked rice. Its name is said to trace to oversized eels unfit for sale, used in staff meals at eel farms along the Oi River — a mixed rice dish of the region.
- Fuji KinkaBred by Shizuoka Prefecture by crossing its own Duroc line, Fujirock, with Jinhua, a rare breed from China's Zhejiang province — found only in Shizuoka. Said to combine Jinhua's tenderness with Fujirock's marbling.
- Fujieda Asa RamenA town that eats ramen at breakfast — often a hot bowl followed by a cold one.
- Fujinomiya YakisobaIt grew up as a postwar snack at Fujinomiya's candy shops and okonomiyaki stalls. Its identity rests on three local staples: chewy steamed noodles, pork-lard cracklings called nikukasu, and a sardine-powder topping called dashiko.
- GawaRaw bonito is minced and mixed into a chilled miso broth with cucumber, pickled plum, and shiso. Its name is said to come from the "gawa-gawa" sound of stirring miso into ice water aboard a fishing boat — originally a summer meal made at sea.