Hot pot & soups ── Nabe (hot pot)
Mizutaki
Mizutaki — bone-in chicken simmered into a milky broth and dipped in ponzu
Bone-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.
- Origin: Fukuoka
- Mizutaki & chiri (light broth)
- About 890 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Bone-in young chicken is paired with offal such as liver and gizzard and whatever vegetables are in season in this hotpot. Chicken, vegetables of one's choosing, and tofu simmer in a broth blending a clear soup and a cloudier one, and it's eaten with a citrus-soy sauce alongside grated daikon, ginger, and other garnishes. It's said to be enjoyed year-round rather than only in the cold months, often finished by adding udon or rice to the leftover broth.
How it's made
Bone-in chicken is simmered a long while in stock to build the broth, then vegetables and tofu of one's choosing go in and cook through. Diners dip pieces into the citrus-soy sauce with garnish, and the meal is often finished by adding mochi, udon, or rice to the remaining broth. Early-season cabbage in spring and other vegetables in season are said to be worked into the mix through the year, with each household said to have its own way of drawing out the broth.
Why it took this shape
The dish is said to have taken shape in Nagasaki after foreign ships called there, where a Chinese-style way of simmering chicken met Western soups and Japanese cooking. It's described as indispensable at the Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival, and one account holds the men who carried the heavy floats favored chicken to keep up their strength. A local chicken breed developed in the prefecture is also said to have been bred with this dish specifically in mind, and it remains part of the festival's closing feast today.
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
- 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.
- YosenabeA pot of chicken, white fish, and shrimp alongside napa cabbage, scallions, mushrooms, and tofu, simmered together. It has no fixed form, and the ideal is not a hodgepodge but each ingredient cooked just right in a broth that stays clear.
- JobannabePork 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.
Contrast
- Shabu-shabuPaper-thin beef swished through simmering broth and eaten with sesame or ponzu sauce. It is said to have taken a hint from Beijing's lamb hot pot, shuan yang rou, and both Osaka and Kyoto have restaurant accounts of how it was devised.
- MotsunabeA Fukuoka and Hakata hot pot in which beef offal, mainly small intestine, simmers with cabbage, garlic chives, garlic, and chili in a soy or miso broth. It is said to have started after the war with mine workers cooking offal and chives in soy seasoning in aluminum pots.
- Hakata ZoniGrilled flying-fish stock carries yellowtail, round mochi, and a bitter green called katsuo-na — Hakata's New Year soup. Yellowtail, a fish that changes names as it grows, is said to be added for luck, and busy merchant households once pre-skewered the ingredients for quick serving.
Also from Fukuoka
- Abutte KamoSmall damselfish are salted overnight, then grilled whole, scales and innards left on — a bony fish often passed over elsewhere, but said to have caught on in Hakata Bay after a Meiji-era glut led someone to salt and grill the excess.
- Achara ZukeWhite melon, eggplant, and lotus root are pickled in a sweet vinegar spiked with red chili — the name is said to trace to the Portuguese 'achar', carried in through Hakata Bay's old trade, and an odd number of vegetables is used for Obon hospitality.
- Amagi no KawatakeA rare wild freshwater algae, found only in the Kogane River in Asakura, is dressed with sweet or three-flavor vinegar — said to have once been presented to the shogun, and now conservation efforts continue as it's listed as endangered.
- Beta MochiWheat dough is flattened, steamed, and topped with soybean flour or sweet red bean paste — named, it's said, for its resemblance to a flat local sole called 'beta', and tied to the feast marking the end of rice planting.
- Kabocha no Dango JiruA giant local pumpkin from Buzen's Mikkado district is simmered soft, then torn wheat dumplings are dropped in — the pumpkin, said to trace some 450 years back to Portuguese traders, was once a lifeline in leaner years.
- ChanraaA noodle dish said to have started at a diner in Moji, Kitakyushu. Chanpon-style noodles go into a Japanese dried-sardine broth closer to udon than to the original pork-and-seafood soup, devised, it's said, for a student who wanted Nagasaki champon but couldn't afford it.