Hot pot & soups ── Nabe (hot pot)
Ishiru Nabe
Ishiru nabe — hot pot seasoned with Noto's fish sauce
Noto's traditional fish sauce, ishiru, forms the base for this winter hot pot of seasonal seafood and vegetables — said to have been made since at least the 1700s, built on a fermented seasoning ranked alongside Akita's shottsuru and Kagawa's ikanago shoyu.
- Origin: Ishikawa
- Soy-based & yosenabe
- About 290 km northwest of Tokyo
What it's made of
A hot pot simmered with ishiru fish sauce, seasonal seafood, and vegetables. It carries a distinctive, pungent aroma, and the seafood's umami, dissolved into the sauce, is said to spread gently through the whole broth. Simply diluting the sauce with water and simmering is said to taste good on its own, and adding kelp stock is said to deepen the flavor further; using a scallop shell in place of a pot is also a known way to serve it.
How it's made
Seasonal seafood and vegetables are simmered together with stock and ishiru in a pot. The sauce diluted with water and simmered alone is said to taste good, and kelp stock is said to deepen it further. Cooking it in a scallop shell instead of a pot, heated whole with the ingredients simmering inside, is also widely known and said to have long been cherished as an evocative way to serve the dish.
Why it took this shape
Ishiru, made by salting squid innards and fermenting them for several years, is said to have served, in an era when distribution networks had not reached the mountains, as a way of adding the umami of fish that were otherwise hard to obtain there. The simple method of simmering local seafood and vegetables in this sauce is said to have taken root as a standard winter hot pot.
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
- Chanko NabeChicken, napa cabbage, tofu, and more simmer together in broth — a hot pot born in sumo stables, said to date to the Meiji era, when four-legged meat like beef and pork was avoided since touching a hand to the ground echoed a loss in the ring. Former wrestlers still run chanko restaurants around Ryogoku, keeping their stable's flavor.
- Damako NabeFreshly cooked rice, lightly pounded with a pestle and rolled into balls called 'damako', simmers in hinai-jidori chicken broth with burdock and Japanese parsley — said to have taken shape once fish from Lake Hachirogata grew scarce and chicken took their place.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Ishikawa
- AimazeRoot vegetables from Noto's reddish soil are cut into thin strips and simmered with fried tofu — traditionally made ahead for New Year and other special days, with the choice of vegetables shifting from village to village.
- Daikon-zushiA fermented sushi from the Kaga region layering daikon radish with dried herring in rice koji. Said to have taken root once herring carried by the Kitamae trading ships reached ordinary tables, it now sits alongside kaburazushi as a New Year staple.
- EbisuMelted agar is mixed with beaten egg, sugar, and soy sauce, then set — said to trace back to an egg-and-agar dish recorded in an Edo-period cookbook, nicknamed "berobero" for its glossy, slippery look, and served on festive occasions.
- Goshiki NamagashiFive kinds of mochi and buns, each representing sun, moon, mountain, sea, and village, are arranged in a lidded box — a Kanazawa wedding confection said to trace back to a gift prepared for a Kaga domain bride, still handed out as a return gift at celebrations.
- UFO RamenA bowl from Hakui, Ishikawa, a town known for its UFO-sighting lore, served under the local Hakui UFO Gourmet banner. Sushi shops and Western-style diners alike top a soy-based broth with saucer-shaped garnishes, each putting its own spin on the town's story.