Hot pot & soups ── Nabe (hot pot)
Jobannabe
Jobannabe — pork and spinach quickly simmered in kombu-and-sake broth, eaten with ponzu
Pork and spinach quickly simmered in kombu and sake broth and eaten with ponzu. The name is said to mean a pot you would not tire of eating every night, and it belongs to the line of mizutaki, in which the broth is not seasoned.
- Mizutaki & chiri (light broth)
Lineage
What it's made of
The staples are pork and spinach, quickly simmered in a broth of kombu dashi and sake. The green scent of spinach and the sweet fat of pork meet in a broth with no added seasoning. Dipped in ponzu with grated daikon, scallion, or shichimi, the light pork and vegetables come into focus.
How it's made
Sake and kombu go into boiling water, then spinach and pork belly; the pot is eaten once they are cooked through. Shiitake, tofu, or fried tofu may be added. Because the broth is unseasoned and the ingredients cook briefly, the whole meal goes fast from preparation to the last bite. It suits an everyday table and lets people eat plenty of vegetables.
Why it took this shape
The name is said to come from the fact that you would not tire of it even eaten every night. Cooking in unseasoned broth and eating with ponzu is shared with mizutaki. It reads as a pot accepted for the everyday table through its simplicity: ordinary pork and leafy greens simmered with nothing but kombu and sake. A firm source for its place of origin could not be confirmed.
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.
- What to know if you have dietary restrictionsHow allergen labeling works, where fish-based dashi, pork, and alcohol turn up, and phrases for checking with staff.
- 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
- Asuka NabeA hot pot from Asuka Village of chicken and seasonal vegetables simmered in milk and dashi. It is said to trace to a dairy product brought from Tang China in the Asuka period and later reworked by monks who simmered their chickens in milk, taking its present form around the early Showa era.
- Bishu NabeChicken, gizzard, and pork are simmered with nothing more than salt, pepper, and sake in this hot pot from Saijo, one of Japan's noted brewing towns. It is said to have begun as a simple meal cooked by sake brewers between batches, seasoned lightly so as not to dull their palate for tasting.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Related lineage
- TarachiriCod fillets simmered with tofu and vegetables in kombu dashi or hot water and eaten with ponzu or soy sauce. 'Chiri' is said to refer to how fish flesh curls when put in hot water.
- MizutakiBone-in chicken and vegetables simmer slowly into a milky broth, eaten with a citrus-soy dip — said to have taken shape in Hakata from a foreign chicken soup that first landed in Nagasaki, and now inseparable from the closing feast of the city's summer festival.