Hot pot & soups ── Nabe (hot pot)
Shottsuru Nabe
Shottsuru nabe — sailfin sandfish hot pot in fish sauce broth
Shottsuru, Akita's fermented fish sauce, is blended into a kelp broth to simmer sailfin sandfish with tofu and napa cabbage — a winter hot pot said to be kept simplest, just fish and broth, in Oga, where it's said to have begun, timed to the fish's thunder-season run inshore.
- Origin: Akita Oga
- Soy-based & yosenabe
- About 470 km north of Tokyo
What it's made of
A winter hot pot from Akita: sailfin sandfish simmered in a broth made from "shottsuru," a fish sauce made from the same fish. Refined white flesh and the pop of "buriko" roe meet a light broth and shottsuru's distinctive flavor for a mellow richness, it is said. In Oga, where the dish originated, it is said to be eaten simply, with sailfin sandfish as the only ingredient.
How it's made
A broth is made with kelp, seasoned with miso, mirin, sake, and shottsuru, and sailfin sandfish—head, tail, and innards removed—along with tofu and vegetables such as green onion are simmered in it. It is covered and left to steam before serving. Many households add tofu, green onion, and napa cabbage, but a simpler style using only sailfin sandfish is also said to survive.
Why it took this shape
Sailfin sandfish, which normally live in the deep sea, are said to have earned the name "hatahata-gami," from an old word for thunder, for appearing in great schools near the coast only during spawning season. In an era when soy sauce was a luxury, the wisdom of fermenting salted fish into a substitute seasoning is thought to be the background behind shottsuru, a seasoning distinctive to Akita, and the hot pot built around it.
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 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.
- 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.
- 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.