Hot pot & soups
Sanma Surimijiru
Sanma surimijiru — pounded saury dumpling soup
Autumn-caught saury is pounded into a paste, rolled into dumplings, and simmered with daikon and other vegetables — in the Ishikawaki area it's said to carry pine-needle-shaped daikon shreds and go by the name 'matsubajiru'.
- Origin: Miyagi
- About 340 km northeast of Tokyo
What it's made of
A dish unique to the waters off Mount Kinka: autumn saury pounded into a paste, formed into balls, and simmered in a soup with daikon and green onion. The soft, fluffy fish balls release a burst of the saury's sweet fat when bitten into. In the Ishinomaki area, shredded daikon cut to resemble pine needles is added, earning it the name "matsuba-jiru," or pine-needle soup—a plain dish that concentrates the scent of autumn.
How it's made
Fresh saury is either hand-pounded into a paste at home or bought already prepared from supermarkets and fishmongers in autumn. The fish balls are simmered in broth with daikon, napa cabbage, and other autumn vegetables, then seasoned. In Ishinomaki, shredded daikon earns it the name "matsuba-jiru," and it is served at home as well as in restaurants and autumn events.
Why it took this shape
Rich fishing grounds off Mount Kinka, where saury have long been treasured as a taste of autumn, are thought to have nurtured this soup. Catches have been poor in recent years and prices have risen, it is said, but port towns such as Kesennuma and Onagawa are said to still hold an annual autumn event grilling saury over charcoal for visitors.
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.