Hot pot & soups ── Nabe (hot pot)
Kiritanpo Nabe
Kiritanpo nabe — grilled rice-paste stick hot pot
Slightly firm rice is pressed onto a stick and grilled into 'tanpo', then cut to size and simmered in hinai-jidori chicken broth with burdock and parsley — said to have begun as a way charcoal makers used up leftover rice while holed up in the mountains.
- Origin: Akita Odate
- Soy-based & yosenabe
- About 520 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
Akita's signature hot pot: mashed rice formed into sticks and grilled into "tanpo," then cut to fit the pot and simmered in chicken broth with burdock, green onion, and mitsuba. The tanpo's surface grills toasty, and once it soaks up the broth it turns soft, releasing the rice's sweetness with each bite, it is said. Paired with the fatty meat of Hinai jidori chicken, the flavor is said to gain further depth.
How it's made
Rice cooked slightly firm is pressed onto a stick with a rice paddle and lightly grilled to make "tanpo." A broth made from chicken bones is seasoned with soy sauce, sake, and salt, and chicken and burdock are simmered in it. The tanpo, cut to a manageable size, is added and simmered for two to three minutes, then finished with green onion and mitsuba. Not using synthetic seasoning is said to be the traditional way to make it.
Why it took this shape
In the Odate and Kazuno areas, people who withdrew into the mountains for charcoal-burning and logging are said to have mashed their leftover rice, skewered it on sticks, grilled it, and added it to a chicken hot pot—the dish's beginning. The region's own Hinai chicken was once designated a natural monument and could not be eaten for a time, and its return as Hinai jidori is thought to support the dish's present-day form.
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
- 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
Known source
Contrast
- 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.
- Imonoko JiruBaby taro corms called 'imonoko' simmer with chicken, mushrooms, and wild greens in miso or soy — an autumn soup said to use taro grown in Yokote's Sannai district, prized for its soft bite, and set alongside kiritanpo nabe as the region's autumn counterpart.
Also from Akita
- Akazushi (Akazuke)Cooked glutinous rice cured briefly in red shiso and vinegar — an Akita sushi with no fish in it at all, a plant-based cousin of narezushi also offered at Obon altars.
- AsazukeBroken rice grains are pureed, simmered, and seasoned sweet-and-sour with sugar and vinegar, then mixed with cucumber, turnip, and seasonal fruit — a summer dessert unrelated to the pickle of the same name, said to refresh women after a day planting rice.
- Edokei RamenA soy ramen topped with a knob of bright red chili miso built on garlic and garlic chives. Stirred in gradually as you eat, it turns a mild bowl steadily richer and spicier — a specialty of Akita City.
- Akita HoshimochiSliced mochi is strung up, soaked in water, then left to freeze and thaw through the winter cold in a process called 'kanjime' — the result crisp and filling, said to have fueled breaks during rice-planting season.
- Akita no SakeAkita sake, brewed with soft water in deliberate contrast to Nada's hard water, aiming for a mellow, delicate character. Breweries buried in snow are said to gain a natural insulating effect from it, a tradition of slow, low-temperature fermentation built around that climate.