Hot pot & soups
Sekka Jiru
Sekka Jiru — soup kept simmering by dropping in heated stones, from a stone-quarry town
Vegetables, shellfish, and fried tofu are simmered in rice-rinse water or stock, then kept hot by dropping in a stone heated over a fire. Said to have begun as a meal for stonecutters on Oshima island off Imabari, the name is said to come from how the rising steam looked like a blooming flower.
- Origin: Ehime Imabari
- About 640 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
When a heated stone is dropped into the broth, the steam that bursts up in a boil is said to look like a flower blooming, which is said to be how this dish got its name, sekka-jiru, or stone-flower soup. It is said to have begun as a meal stonemasons made to warm themselves at the cold quarries of Oshima Island off Imabari, where the prized Oshima stone is cut, and the recipe is said to reflect the workers' ingenuity throughout, always including konjac for its role in settling grit.
How it's made
In the past it is said to have been made by simmering rice-rinsing water with Seto Inland Sea shellfish, vegetables, and fried tofu. Today it is simmered in a kelp-and-dried-sardine stock loaded with fried tofu, tofu, vegetables, and shellfish, with miso stirred in once everything is cooked through. A heated stone is then dropped in, and the soup is said to gain more richness the longer it simmers. Mitsuba and ginger juice are added when serving, and a touch of sesame oil is said to round out the flavor.
Why it took this shape
The quarries lay far from home, making the trip back and forth difficult, so it is said the workers needed to eat on site. Water was precious too, which is said to be why rice-rinsing water was used instead. Dropping in a heated stone kept the soup warm, it is said, even in the cold of the quarry. Because it takes real effort to prepare today, it is said to be made at home only rarely, though it is said to still appear on local school lunch menus as a regional dish.
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
Contrast
- Horaku YakiSea bream, shrimp, clams, and other shellfish are arranged over hot stones in a shallow earthenware pan and steamed with nothing but salt — a dish from Imabari. Using no water is said to concentrate the flavor, and it's traced to a victory meal of the Murakami pirates.
- ImotakiChicken, taro, konjac, and shiitake simmer together in this hot pot, said to have begun in Ozu. Local lore traces it to a gathering where people brought their own home-grown taro, and in autumn crowds still gather on the riverbank to eat it under the moon.
- Igisu DofuIgisu seaweed and raw soybean flour are simmered into stock and chilled firm like agar, a dish from Imabari. Its cool texture is meant to coax back a summer appetite, and households differ over whether to fold in shrimp or leave it plain.
Also from Ehime
- Bote ChaRoasted tea is whisked to a froth with a salted bamboo whisk and poured over black-bean rice with toppings like bamboo shoot — a dish from Matsuyama. Said to have been devised by a domain lord's household during a period of enforced frugality, it's still served at a temple's springtime Buddha festival.
- EbitenSmall shrimp are ground shell and all, worked with white fish and tofu, and fried into a cake — a fish-paste product from eastern Ehime. The salt is kept light to let the tofu's sweetness and the shrimp's aroma come through, with the ground shell left in for a gritty bite.
- SatsumaGrilled fish is flaked and worked into barley miso, thinned with a stock from its own bones, and ladled over hot barley rice — a dish of southern Ehime. Said to have started as a fisherman's trick for making dry barley rice easier to eat, with the fish varying by area and household.
- Tai SomenA whole sea bream is simmered and set on a large platter of boiled somen noodles, the cooking broth doubling as a dipping sauce. The noodles are linked to the Tanabata weaver-star legend and the fish to good fortune, and the dish has long been served to family at weddings and milestone birthdays.
- TaimeshiEastern Ehime cooks a whole sea bream into the rice pot; the south instead lays raw fillets marinated in egg and soy over hot rice. Considered an auspicious fish, it appears at celebrations too, and which style a household follows tends to run by region.