Hot pot & soups
Tsubonjiru
Tsubonjiru — a clear soy-seasoned soup of chicken, kamaboko, and root vegetables served in odd numbers
Chicken, kamaboko, and root vegetables like taro and burdock are cut small and simmered in a soy-seasoned sardine broth. Said to originate in autumn-festival banquet trays of the Hitoyoshi-Kuma area, its ingredients are traditionally kept to an odd number.
- Origin: Kumamoto Hitoyoshi
- About 920 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
A hearty soup where chicken, fish cake and root vegetables like taro, burdock, carrot and daikon are cut small and simmered in a dashi made from dried sardines, seasoned with soy sauce. For celebrations, the ingredients are said to be kept to an odd number, seven or nine kinds, and the soup is described as gently flavored from the vegetables' own sweetness. It's said to have originated as one course in a formal meal served at autumn festivals in the Hitoyoshi-Kuma region.
How it's made
Chicken, fish cake and root vegetables such as taro, burdock, carrot and daikon are cut into small, even pieces. Dashi is made from dried sardines, the ingredients are simmered in it, and it's seasoned with soy sauce. Some regions add grilled tofu, fried tofu or thin fried tofu, or make the dashi from dried shiitake, local chicken or grilled shrimp instead. At celebrations, it's traditionally served alongside red bean rice and a platter of simmered vegetables.
Why it took this shape
In the Hitoyoshi-Kuma region, the soup is said to have started as part of a formal course served at autumn festivals. Because it was served in a deep, lidded bowl, it's said to have been called 'jar soup,' a name that's since shifted into its current form. It's also described as a dish born from a custom of wasting nothing — finely cutting the odd trimmings left over from other simmered dishes to use as the soup's filling. It's said to remain indispensable at the autumn festival of Hitoyoshi's national-treasure Aoi Aso Shrine.
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
Contrast
- TsubojiruFirm tofu, burdock, dried shiitake, and konnyaku are cut fine and simply seasoned with soy, salt, and sugar into a meatless soup — passed down in Yukiura, Saikai, said to be served at Buddhist memorial meals, its name from the bowl it's served in, likened to a tsubo jar.
- KasuyoseSoybeans soaked overnight and coarsely crushed are simmered down with taro, carrot, chicken, and rice into a thick stew — said to have been made in Yamato for festivals and celebrations, serving as a main dish, side, or even a snack.
Also from Kumamoto
- Amakusa DaioA large-bodied meat fowl once kept in Amakusa in the Meiji and Taisho eras, said to have died out in the early Showa period before Kumamoto prefecture spent roughly a decade recreating it; reportedly among the biggest jidori breeds, shipped at 120–150 days.
- Gane-ageSweet potato cut into batons is coated in a ginger-sweetened batter and deep-fried. "Gane" is Amakusa dialect for crab, said to describe the shape of the fried strands, and the dish also serves as a vegetarian offering at Buddhist services.
- Tai SomenSomen noodles are simmered in the broth of sea bream head and bones cooked down whole — a celebratory dish said to reflect the influence of nearby Shimabara's somen tradition. In Yamato's Mamihara, a version called "taimen" simmers the whole fish instead.
- Tako MeshiSun-dried octopus is rehydrated, chopped, and either cooked into rice with burdock and carrot or mixed in afterward — a dish that leans on the concentrated flavor of dried octopus, known for the summer sight of octopus hung out to dry in Amakusa's Ariake.
- Baniku SobaFrom the Aso area of Kumamoto: hot soba topped with horse meat simmered sweet and salty. It's said to carry the history of a region where horse meat took root as a restorative food for the injured and ill.
- ButaaeBoiled octopus and eggplant are stir-fried in a sweet, spicy barley miso — an Amakusa home dish said to have begun as a stand-in for pork, once hard to come by, using the local octopus instead while keeping the old name, "pork mix."