Hot pot & soups
Semba Jiru
Semba jiru — a clear soup of salted mackerel bones and daikon
Salted mackerel bones and daikon simmer in kelp dashi, seasoned simply with salt — a clear soup also called semba-ni. It is said to descend from the frugal fare of Semba's wholesale merchant houses, which fed many live-in workers and let nothing of the fish go to waste.
- Origin: Osaka City, Osaka
- About 400 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
This clear soup, long loved in the Semba district, simmers salted mackerel trimmings with daikon. The broth, infused with mackerel, carries a refined flavor, said to have arisen from the idea of using every part of the fish, down to the head and bones, without waste. Also known as sembani, it's said to reflect Osaka's shimatsu spirit of using every last scrap, and Semba is said to have been a bustling wholesale district at the heart of Osaka's commerce from the Meiji into the Taisho era. Its refined flavor is said to have made it a staple of everyday meals.
How it's made
Mackerel bones and daikon are simmered in kelp dashi, seasoned with salt, and garnished with green onion. Originally the saltiness and broth of the salted mackerel trimmings were used as they were, but these days fresh mackerel fillets are often substituted, with a splash of vinegar or soy sauce sometimes added at the end, it's said. Still enjoyed as an everyday dish at home today, it's also served at neighborhood diners, and it's said to be favored especially in autumn, when mackerel is in season, and in winter, when a warm soup is welcome.
Why it took this shape
Semba flourished as the commercial heart of Osaka from the Meiji into the Taisho era, and the meals of merchant-house servants there are said to have been modest — rice porridge and pickles morning and night, one soup and one dish at lunch — with fish like salted mackerel appearing on the table only a few times a month. Using every part of the fish, down to the head and bones left after the flesh was taken, to make a broth is thought to have become an economical, quick-to-prepare everyday dish, said to have been valued in busy merchant households with many live-in servants to feed.
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 Osaka
- AkanekoSteamed sticky rice pounded with wheat flour is dusted with sugar and soybean flour — also called hangesho mochi, for the rite marking the end of rice planting. The whole-ground wheat flour once left the mochi brownish, said to resemble a cat's round back and give the dish its name.
- BatteraThin slices of vinegared mackerel and white kelp sheet are pressed together in a wooden mold. A sushi shop in Minami-Senba is said to have devised it in 1891, naming it after the Portuguese word for a small boat because the original version, made with konoshiro, resembled one.
- Beni Shoga TenThin slices of red ginger, pickled in plum vinegar, are battered and deep-fried. The plum vinegar's tang and the ginger's bite are said to suit drinks well, and the fritter appears as a one-sen tempura in Sakunosuke Oda's 1940 novella 'Meoto Zenzai,' evidence of how long it has fed ordinary Osakans.
- Beni-zuiki to Aburaage no TaitanBeni-zuiki, reddish taro leaf-stalks that can grow to 2 meters tall, is soaked in vinegared water to remove its bitterness, then simmered with fried tofu in dashi and soy sauce — a summer obanzai dish. Its spongy cross-section is said to soak up flavor well, and it has been named a Naniwa specialty product.
- Dote YakiParboiled beef tendon simmers for a long time against a bank of miso and mirin piled around the pan's edge like a levee, or dote. Rich and sweet-savory, it pairs well with drinks and is said to be a beloved downtown Osaka food, with many shops concentrated in the Shinsekai district.
- EhomakiA thick sushi roll eaten whole and in silence while facing the year's auspicious direction on Setsubun, the last day of winter. Its origin is not settled, but theories passed down include a game among the geisha quarters and a prayer for prosperity by Osaka's Semba merchant houses.