Place
Tottori
鳥取県
30 items
● 23 born here(Akagarei no Komaburi, Azuki Zouni, Daisen Okowa, and more) / ● 3 raised here(Daisen-dori, Daisen Ruby, Tottori Wagyu) / ● 4 prepared here(Ago Chikuwa, Rakkyou-zuke, Surume no Kouji Zuke, and more) / ○ 1 known for it here
Born here23
- Akagarei no Komaburiアカガレイの子まぶりflounder sashimi tossed with its own roeRoe-bearing red flounder is sliced into sashimi and tossed with its own boiled, crumbled eggs, a dish from around the Amijiro area of Iwami Town. Said to have descended from a similar dish made with crucian carp roe, it pairs rich eggs with mild, fatty winter flounder for festivals and New Year's.
- Azuki Zouni小豆雑煮soft rice cakes in a sweet simmered red bean brothSoft round rice cakes are added to a broth of simmered red beans, the mainstream style of New Year's zoni in Tottori. Red beans have long been thought to ward off misfortune, and the dish is said to be simmered on New Year's morning with the year's first water and a purified flame, then shared among family.
- Daisen Okowa大山おこわsoy-seasoned sticky rice steamed with mountain vegetablesShiitake, burdock, and chicken are cooked into sticky rice seasoned with soy, a dish from the foot of Mount Daisen. Said to trace back to warrior monks preparing it before battle to pray for victory, it was later served at the horse-and-cattle market by Daisen-ji temple and carried on into festivals and hospitality since.
- Dondoroke Meshiどんどろけ飯rice mixed with tofu fried loud enough to sound like thunderNamed for the crackling sound of tofu frying in hot oil, likened to thunder — "dondoroke" in local dialect — this is a rice dish from eastern and central Tottori. It's said to date to when each hamlet had its own tofu shack turning home-grown soybeans into tofu, using nothing but local ingredients.
- Gancha Jiruがんちゃ汁river crab ground whole into a rich, silky brothMokuzu crabs from Tottori's clear rivers are ground whole and strained, then simmered with eggplant into this soup. When heated, the flesh sets into fluffy curds floating in the broth, capturing the crab's flavor in full, a dish for autumn into winter.
- Goae呉和えground soybean paste tossed with vegetables and mushroomsBoiled, ground soybeans called "go" are tossed with vegetables and mushrooms as a dressing. Passed down in Nichinan Town, a heavy-snow district in the mountains of the old Hoki region, it makes use of soybeans grown on steep, rice-unfriendly slopes as a prized protein source, served to guests at Buddhist memorial gatherings.
- HorusobaホルそばTottori's beef-offal yakisoba fried in a miso tareA dish eaten for more than fifty years in eastern Tottori: beef offal and vegetables stir-fried in a miso-based sauce, with Chinese-style noodles added in. Born at yakiniku and offal restaurants, it's still widely served around Tottori city today.
- Igai Meshiいがい飯mussels foraged by ama divers, cooked into riceIn Natsudomari, part of Tottori City's Aoya district and the only place in the San'in region where ama divers still work, mussels the divers bring up are cooked into rice. Made from around June, when the divers' season begins, it fills the mouth with the scent of the shore and marks the start of summer.
- Igisuいぎすa seaweed simmered down and set like a savory jellyIgisu grass, a seaweed gathered from Japan Sea rocks in summer and autumn, is dried, then simmered until it sets naturally into a jelly, with no thickener added. Topped with sesame and eaten with vinegar-miso or chili soy sauce, it's a fixture of shojin cuisine and New Year's and memorial tables in central and western Tottori.
- Ita Wakame板わかめfresh wakame fronds spread flat and dried into a crisp sheetFreshly harvested wakame is laid out flat into sheets and left to dry at low temperature for a full day, with nothing added. Wakame grown where clear rivers flow into the Japan Sea off Tottori carries a strong flavor on its own, and it's toasted over rice or rehydrated into miso soup.
- Itadakiいただきraw rice and vegetables stuffed into a whole fried tofu pouchRaw rice and vegetables are packed into a large triangular fried tofu pouch and slow-simmered in stock, a dish from western Tottori. Said to have begun in the mid-Meiji era when a Sakaiminato temple priest borrowed the idea from shojin cooking in Fukui, it's also called "nonoko meshi" for its resemblance to a padded winter kimono.
- Iwashi Dangoいわし団子hand-chopped sardine simmered into fluffy dumplingsHand-chopped sardine is mixed with egg and simmered in broth, turning out fluffy without any starch to bind it. It makes the most of fresh sardine landed around the Yumigahama Peninsula, where beach seine fishing once thrived, a humble, everyday taste of Tottori.
- Mosaebi no Sashimiもさえびの刺身a deep-sea shrimp found only in the Sea of Japan, eaten rawSold locally as "mosaebi" and formally known as the humpback shrimp, this deep-sea catch found only in the Sea of Japan is eaten raw. It spoils fast — copper in its blood turns the head black within half a day — so it long stayed a taste known only to locals, hard to ship any distance.
- Oiriおいりleftover rice dried, toasted, and bound with sweet syrupLeftover rice is rinsed, sun-dried, then toasted and bound with sweet syrup into small balls, a treat from the old Inaba region. Said to have grown from a habit of not wasting food, it's offered alongside the doll-floating ritual still kept in Tottori City's Mochigase area for the Doll Festival.
- Oyagani no Miso Shiru親ガニのみそ汁a simple miso soup built on female snow crabMade from nothing but female snow crab — called "oyagani" — and daikon, this is a staple winter miso soup in Tottori. More affordable than the male matsuba crab, it's only available during a short catch season from November to December, and kept sparing on other ingredients to let the crab's flavor lead.
- Soramame no Kofukiそら豆の粉吹きsun-dried broad beans simmered back to a mealy softnessBroad beans, left to fully ripen and dried for storage, are soaked, boiled with baking soda, peeled, and simmered with seasoning, a dish from east-central Tottori. Born of a way to keep enjoying beans that spoil quickly fresh, it's been served at gatherings and for guests.
- Su Ramen素ラーメンBesides shoyu, miso, shio and tonkotsuplain udon-stock ramen from Tottori CityA plain-spoken ramen served for decades at a Tottori City diner: Chinese noodles in udon stock, with none of the pork-bone or chicken-carcass weight of typical ramen. Its name, "su" (plain), describes exactly what's in the bowl.
- Tochi Mochi栃餅bitter horse chestnuts leached and pounded with sticky riceBitter horse chestnuts are leached of their harsh tannins, then steamed with sticky rice and pounded into mochi. Said to have been eaten in mountain villages with little rice since Jomon times, it carries a distinct astringency and is used as the rice cake for New Year's zoni.
- Tottori Gyukotsu Ramen鳥取牛骨ラーメンBesides shoyu, miso, shio and tonkotsubroth simmered from beef bonesA broth simmered from beef bones — toasty, faintly sweet, and everyday fare in central Tottori.
- Hatahata Zushiハタハタ寿司Hatahata Zushi (Tottori) — vinegared sandfish stuffed with seasoned okara, no riceKnown locally as "shirohata zushi," this dish from Tottori City's Karo district cures sandfish in vinegar, then stuffs the belly with toasted, seasoned okara instead of rice. Being rice-free, it eats light, and it's been served as a feast dish at Karo Shrine's biennial Hoenya festival.
- Komodofuこも豆腐Komodofu (Tottori) — tofu boiled while wrapped in a woven straw matTofu is wrapped in a coarsely woven straw mat called "komo" and boiled until firm, a dish served at celebrations and memorials in Kurayoshi and central Tottori. Tofu was a precious source of protein where fish was scarce, and this may recall villages once making it together in a shared tofu shack, leaving the straw's scent and imprint behind.
- Wakasa no Oyaki若桜のおやきa mochi-rice bun filled with red bean for a shrine festivalRed bean paste is wrapped in a dough kneaded from sticky and non-glutinous rice flour, then pressed in a mold stamped with the household crest and pan-fried, a treat from Wakasa Town. Served for the roughly four-century-old Wakasa Shrine festival, it's distinguished from Nagano's wheat-dough version by its rice-flour dough.
- Yakisaba no Nitsuke焼き鯖の煮付けgrilled mackerel simmered soft with onionMackerel, once grilled before shipping just to keep it from spoiling, is flaked and simmered sweetly with onion in this dish from eastern Tottori. It's said to have begun when grilled mackerel was plentiful and farmers, busy during the growing season, wanted an easy fish dish to fall back on.
Raised here3
- Daisen-dori大山どりraised long and slow at the foot of Mount DaisenA branded chicken said to be raised end-to-end, from breeding stock to processing, by producers at the foot of Mount Daisen — free-ranged longer than usual on an antibiotic-free feed aimed at balancing fat and flavor.
- Daisen Ruby大山ルビーa Tottori-bred cross of local red pig and black BerkshireBred at Tottori Prefecture's livestock station by crossing a sow of the oleic-acid-rich Daisen Akabuta line with a Berkshire boar, said to inherit both breeds' fat quality and tenderness.
- Tottori Wagyu鳥取和牛measured for oleic acid since 2011, following a champion sire's lineJapanese Black raised across Tottori, tracing to the sire Ketaka, a top performer at the 1966 national wagyu competition — measured for fat oleic-acid content since 2011.
Prepared here4
- Ago Chikuwaあごちくわflying fish surimi grilled into a chikuwa with a crackling skinChikuwa made from the surimi of flying fish, called "ago" in Tottori. A knife through the firm grilled skin sends up a fragrant crackle, and it turns out darker than ordinary chikuwa. It's a taste of early summer, in season through the fish's spawning run from spring into summer.
- Rakkyou-zukeらっきょう漬けRakkyo-zuke — sweet-vinegared shallots grown in the sand dunes of TottoriShallots salted first, then steeped in sweet vinegar — a specialty of the sand dunes around Tottori. Hardy enough to grow in dune sand, the shallot is said to have arrived there when a feudal retainer brought it back from a trip to Edo.
- Surume no Kouji Zukeスルメの麹漬けdried squid cured in koji through winterSquid caught in autumn is wind-dried, then chopped and buried in koji to ferment, a winter preserve from snow-heavy Tottori. It's often cured alongside salted vegetables like cucumber and eggplant, softening as koji's sweetness seeps in.
- Tofu Chikuwaとうふ竹輪Tottori's fish-light chikuwaTofu chikuwa is Tottori's fish cake kneaded with firm tofu. It's said to have grown out of a place where fish was scarce for lack of a developed harbor, so soybeans filled the gap, and it's still beloved as a local flavor today.