Hot pot & soups ── Nabe (hot pot)
Kujira no Harihari Nabe
Kujira no harihari nabe — whale meat and mizuna hot pot
Whale meat and plenty of mizuna simmer in a soy-seasoned bonito dashi — a winter hot pot. The dish's name is said to come from the crisp 'hari-hari' sound of biting into the mizuna, and it traces to a whale-meat restaurant founded in Osaka's Sennichimae in 1967.
- Origin: Osaka City, Osaka
- Soy-based & yosenabe
- About 400 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
This winter hot pot simmers whale meat together with mizuna greens. The whale's broth clings well to the mizuna, and its name is said to come from the crisp hari-hari sound the greens make with each bite. A dusting of ground sansho or shichimi pepper is said to sharpen the flavor further. It's said to have originated at a whale restaurant that once operated in Osaka's Sennichimae district, and it's said to have long been cherished by Osaka locals as a winter delicacy.
How it's made
Dashi is made from bonito flakes and seasoned with soy sauce and other flavorings, then mizuna is added generously to the pot along with whale meat, and everything is brought to a boil. The mizuna is at its best just lightly cooked through, it's said, and the ingredients and seasoning vary by household or restaurant. Enjoying the crisp, snappy bite of the mizuna is said to be the point of the dish, and pork is reportedly used as a substitute for whale meat more often these days.
Why it took this shape
Whale meat was once an affordable, familiar source of protein, and Osaka, close to the major whaling base of Taiji in Wakayama, is said to have developed its own food culture around a thriving trade in it. Pairing it with mizuna, long cultivated in the Kansai region, is thought to be how this dish came to be loved as a way to warm up in winter. Whale meat became harder to find after commercial whaling was halted in the 1980s, but restaurants serving whale dishes are still said to be scattered across the prefecture, remaining popular at many establishments.
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 Osaka
- AkanekoSteamed sticky rice pounded with wheat flour is dusted with sugar and soybean flour — also called hangesho mochi, for the rite marking the end of rice planting. The whole-ground wheat flour once left the mochi brownish, said to resemble a cat's round back and give the dish its name.
- BatteraThin slices of vinegared mackerel and white kelp sheet are pressed together in a wooden mold. A sushi shop in Minami-Senba is said to have devised it in 1891, naming it after the Portuguese word for a small boat because the original version, made with konoshiro, resembled one.
- Beni Shoga TenThin slices of red ginger, pickled in plum vinegar, are battered and deep-fried. The plum vinegar's tang and the ginger's bite are said to suit drinks well, and the fritter appears as a one-sen tempura in Sakunosuke Oda's 1940 novella 'Meoto Zenzai,' evidence of how long it has fed ordinary Osakans.
- Beni-zuiki to Aburaage no TaitanBeni-zuiki, reddish taro leaf-stalks that can grow to 2 meters tall, is soaked in vinegared water to remove its bitterness, then simmered with fried tofu in dashi and soy sauce — a summer obanzai dish. Its spongy cross-section is said to soak up flavor well, and it has been named a Naniwa specialty product.
- Dote YakiParboiled beef tendon simmers for a long time against a bank of miso and mirin piled around the pan's edge like a levee, or dote. Rich and sweet-savory, it pairs well with drinks and is said to be a beloved downtown Osaka food, with many shops concentrated in the Shinsekai district.
- EhomakiA thick sushi roll eaten whole and in silence while facing the year's auspicious direction on Setsubun, the last day of winter. Its origin is not settled, but theories passed down include a game among the geisha quarters and a prayer for prosperity by Osaka's Semba merchant houses.