Hot pot & soups
Toridose
Toridose — chicken and rice porridge for New Year's and gatherings
Chicken and shaved burdock simmer in broth seasoned with miso, then cooked rice is stirred in to finish — served at New Year's and other gatherings, with even the pounded chicken bones sometimes worked into dumplings so nothing goes to waste.
- Origin: Chiba Ichihara
- About 40 km southeast of Tokyo
What it's made of
Chicken and burdock are simmered together with dumplings made from minced chicken and pounded bone, and rice is stirred in at the end to finish this soupy rice dish. The rice soaks up the broth, rich with the aroma of burdock and the savor of chicken, into a warming bowl. Served at gatherings such as New Year's and formal family occasions, it is spoken of as a humble, deeply savory local dish long handed down in Ichihara.
How it's made
Rice is cooked slightly firm, and burdock is shaved into thin strips. Chicken cut into small pieces and the burdock go into a pot with water or dashi and are simmered until tender. Miso is added to season the broth, and rice is stirred in at the end for one last boil to finish. Cooking the rice slightly firm beforehand is said to keep it from turning mushy as it soaks up the broth, giving the dish its characteristic texture.
Why it took this shape
In a time when nearly every farming household kept chickens, pounding even the bones and working them into dumplings so nothing went to waste is said to have taken root. Because chickens were often slaughtered and served at celebrations and gatherings, this dish is said to have become a fixture for such occasions, and it has also been eaten as everyday winter fare, still spoken of fondly at Ichihara's tables today.
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 Chiba
- Arirang RamenA soy ramen said to have started at a single restaurant on a mountain pass in Chiba's Nagara. Named, it's said, for the legendary Arirang Pass of Korean folklore, its soy broth carries the sweetness of onion and pork, layered with house-made chili oil and grated garlic for depth and heat.
- Barappa ManjuFreshly milled wheat dough is wrapped around red bean paste and steamed on a leaf of catbrier, called barappa locally — a bun said to be made in Chiba's Hokuso area when people gathered for summer festivals or Obon, each bringing ingredients to share.
- Iwashi no Unohana-zukeSalt-and-vinegar-cured sardines are packed into sweet-vinegared tofu lees with carrot and ginger — the pale lees are likened to unohana blossoms in the name, and are also said to keep the fish from breaking apart or oxidizing; eaten at New Year's and as an everyday pantry food.
- Rakkasei MisoPeanuts too small or misshapen to sell are stirred into miso and sugar and toasted into a pantry relish — said to have started as a way for farm households to use up peanuts the market wouldn't take, in leaner years.
- SumitsukareDaikon and carrot, coarsely grated with a rough-toothed oni-oroshi grater, are simmered with leftover setsubun soybeans and sake lees — said to have traveled from Tochigi into Chiba's Higashikatsushika area, offered to the local inari shrine on the year's first Day of the Horse before being eaten. Ibaraki and Saitama carry dishes of the same name.
- Yude RakkaseiFreshly dug peanuts, still in their shells, are boiled whole in salted water — a taste unique to the growing region, since raw peanuts start hardening the moment they're pulled from the ground and need to be boiled almost immediately.