Place
Yamagata
山形県
38 items
● 32 born here(Akayu Karamiso Ramen, Akebi no Miso Zumeyaki, Dongarajiru, and more) / ● 3 raised here(Yamagata Gyu, Yonezawa Buta Ichiban Sodachi, Yonezawa Gyu) / ● 3 prepared here(Shoyu no Mi, Yamagata Dashi, Yamagata no Sake)
Born here32
- Akayu Karamiso Ramen赤湯辛味噌ラーメンMisomiso ramen with a ball of chili misoMiso ramen with a knob of chili miso in the center, dissolved gradually to shift the flavor.
- Akebi no Miso Zumeyakiあけびの味噌詰め焼きakebia rind stuffed with miso-simmered mince and grilledThe bittersweet rind of the akebia fruit is stuffed with minced meat and maitake mushroom simmered in miso and sugar, tied with kitchen string, and grilled. Elsewhere in Japan the white pulp is what gets eaten, but Yamagata is said to hold onto the unusual custom of eating the rind instead.
- Dongarajiruどんがら汁Dongarajiru (kandarajiru) — a miso soup made from whole winter cod, bones and allWinter cod caught in the coldest weeks goes into a miso soup head to tail, innards included — said to trace back to fishermen's cooking on the Shonai coast. The liver's richness carries the flavor, and the traditional way adds only a scrap of rock nori, no scallion.
- Hatahata no Yuageハタハタの湯上げscaleless sailfin sandfish simply boiled and served with soyHatahata, scaleless sailfin sandfish that crowd the Shonai coast to spawn, are boiled whole and eaten with nothing more than grated daikon and soy sauce — a simple winter fish dish. With no scales to remove, it is said to have become a fixture of Shonai's autumn and winter table.
- Hyoboshi no Nimonoひょう干しの煮物sun-dried purslane simmered for New Year good luckPurslane, called hyo, is picked in summer, boiled, and sun-dried into a keeping food, then rehydrated and simmered with shirataki, carrot, and fried tofu for New Year. The name is said to be played on for luck — a wish that something good might happen, hyotto, this year.
- Imoni芋煮Soy-based & yosenabea riverside autumn hot pot of taro and beef simmered togetherTaro, beef, konnyaku, and scallion simmer together in a soy-based autumn hot pot said to trace to boatmen on the Mogami River, who cooked taro and dried cod on the riverbank while waiting out the delays of cargo transport. On the Shonai coast the same dish turns to pork and miso.
- Ita Soba板そばBuckwheat noodles heaped on a long cedar board for sharingA soba from the Murayama area of Yamagata, heaped onto a shallow cedar box. The custom of treating neighbors to soba after shared farm work favored a serving style everyone could eat from together.
- Niku Chuka肉中華Shoyu — soy saucechilled Chinese noodles in sweet-salty hen tareChinese-style noodles dressed in the same tare as cold niku-soba, from Kahoku, Yamagata. A sweet-salty sauce built on old hen, served chilled even in the dead of winter — the local way.
- Karakai-niからかい煮dried skate cartilage simmered until soft and gelatinousDried skate fin from Hokkaido, called karakai, is soaked for two or three days and simmered slowly until the bone softens — an inland dish built around its jelly-soft, collagen-rich cartilage. It is said to appear at New Year and festival tables.
- Koi no Umani鯉のうま煮carp simmered sweet with soy sauce, sugar, and mirinCarp cut into rounds is simmered sweet and salty in soy sauce, sake, and sugar — a celebratory dish of the Okitama area. Farming is said to have begun on the urging of lord Uesugi Yozan, who sought a stand-in for the seafood this inland region lacked, and the dish is said to appear at New Year and weddings.
- Kujira Mochiくじら餅a steamed rice-flour cake with walnuts, named for its old bulkRice flour, sugar, and walnuts steamed together into a mochi cake that contains no whale at all — its name is said to come from the loaves once being made whale-sized, among other theories. It is said to have originated in Shinjo and is offered at the old-calendar Doll's Festival.
- Kukitachiboshi no Nimonoくきたち干しの煮物sun-dried brassica greens simmered with fried tofuKukitachi, a brassica green, is boiled and sun-dried for four or five days into a keeping food, then rehydrated and simmered with fried tofu and shirataki. Put up against a winter with no fresh greens, it is a home side dish handed down in the Okitama and Murayama areas.
- Masu no Ankake鱒のあんかけpoached cherry salmon under a sweet, cold starch glazePoached sakuramasu is topped with chives and a sweet kudzu-starch glaze served cold rather than hot — a spring feast of the Shonai coast. The technique is said to have arrived from western Japan via the Kitamae cargo ships, and it remains a fixture of festivals like the Sakata Matsuri.
- Mosojiru孟宗汁a miso soup built on freshly dug moso bamboo shootsMoso bamboo shoots dug that same morning are simmered with fried tofu and shiitake, finished with sake lees and miso — an early-summer soup of Tsuruoka. The clay-rich red soil around Yudagawa Onsen in Tsuruoka is said to grow especially good shoots, and the area is known as a source.
- Baniku Chashu Ramen馬肉チャーシューラーメンShoyu — soy saucesoy ramen topped with horse meat char siuChar siu simmered not from pork but from horse meat, set on a soy ramen in Nagai City, Yamagata. A slice of meat on the bowl carries the memory of a place once bound up with horses.
- Nattojiru納豆汁a winter miso soup thickened with mashed fermented soybeansFermented soybeans are ground smooth in a mortar to thicken a miso soup filled with dried taro-stem, wild greens, and tofu. The thickened broth holds its heat, and in snowbound Yamagata it is said to be eaten around the seven-herb season as a wish for good health.
- Okahijiki no Karashiaeおかひじきのからし和えcrunchy land-samphire dressed with hot mustardOkahijiki, a land plant that resembles the seaweed hijiki, is dressed with hot mustard and soy sauce. Its seed is said to have traveled up the Mogami River from the Shonai coast to Nanyo, where cultivation began, and an Edo-period text already records the area as its source.
- Sakata Ramen酒田ラーメンShoyu — soy sauceharbor-town soy with house-made noodlesA harbor town's soy ramen with a strong house-made-noodle tradition and seafood stock.
- Torimotsu RamenとりもつラーメンShoyu — soy saucesoy ramen topped with simmered chicken gibletsShinjo's own: soy ramen topped with soft-simmered chicken giblets.
- Shio Kujira Jiru塩くじら汁new potatoes and salted whale blubber simmered for summer staminaSalted whale blubber, skin still on, is simmered with new potatoes and summer vegetables — a heat-battling dish of inland Yamagata. It is said to have taken shape in mountain areas short on animal protein, and in the Murayama area it also goes by the name iruka-jiru.
- Shiobiki-zushi塩引きずしsalt-cured salmon pressed onto sushi rice for celebrationsThin slices of salt-cured salmon are pressed with sushi rice in a wooden mold — a celebratory dish of Yonezawa. The salmon's red against the rice's white reads as an auspicious red-and-white pairing, and it is said to have taken root in this inland city where fresh fish was hard to come by.
- Shokuyogiku no Ohitashi食用ぎくのおひたしShokuyogiku ohitashi — blanched edible chrysanthemum petals dressed in soy saucePetals of the purple 'mottenohoka' chrysanthemum are quickly blanched in vinegared water and dressed with soy sauce. Their tube-shaped petals give a crisp bite and gentle bitterness said to make this an everyday autumn side in Yamagata homes.
- Tama Konnyaku玉こんにゃくbite-sized ball konnyaku simmered in soy broth and skeweredKonnyaku shaped into balls about three centimeters across is simmered in soy sauce alone, no water added, and eaten off the skewer with hot mustard. Konnyaku eating is said to have spread from the temple cooking of Risshaku-ji, known as Yamadera, and it is a familiar snack along the temple's approach.
- Tori Chuka鳥中華Shoyu — soy sauceChinese noodles served in soba brothChinese-style noodles served in soba broth — born as staff food at a soba shop. Chicken, tenkasu, and nori on top, black pepper for edge: a "soba shop's ramen" from Tendo, Yamagata.
- Toyama Kabu no Kasujiru遠山かぶの粕汁a sake-lees soup built on Yonezawa's firm heirloom turnipToyama turnip, a Yonezawa heirloom vegetable firm enough to hold its shape, and uchimame — soybeans flattened with a wooden mallet — go into a miso soup finished with sake lees for a mellow winter dish. Cultivation is said to have spread under lord Uesugi Yozan's push to build up local industry.
- Tsuruoka Bushikei Ramen鶴岡節系ラーメンShoyu — soy saucesoy ramen layered with dried-fish stockA soy broth that layers dried-fish stock — bonito, sōda-bushi, flying fish — over a pork- or chicken-bone base. A soy ramen lineage from around Tsuruoka, Yamagata, carrying the Shōnai coast's dried-goods culture.
- Udo to Shimidaikon no Donkoroniうどと凍み大根のどんころ煮Udo and shimidaikon donkoroni — spring udo simmered with freeze-dried winter daikonDaikon boiled, frozen on the snow, and dried under the eaves through the coldest weeks becomes shimidaikon, simmered here with spring udo and dried herring — a dish of the Mogami region. Udo's cut cross-section is said to resemble a log, donkoro, which gives the dish its name.
- Ukogi no Kiriaeうこぎの切り和えhedge-shrub greens minced and tossed with roasted misoUkogi, a hedge shrub the ninth Yonezawa lord Uesugi Yozan is said to have encouraged planting as a living fence, has its new shoots boiled, minced, and topped with roasted miso — a spring taste of the Okitama area. The same thorny hedge that guarded a house also fed it, wisdom said to date to years of famine.
- Warabi Tatakiわらびたたきspring fiddlehead ferns pounded fine with miso and sanshoFiddlehead ferns, their bitterness drawn out, are pounded on a cutting board to break their fibers, then worked further with roasted miso and ground sansho leaf until silky. Spooned over hot rice or soba, it is said to mark spring in northern Yamagata.
- Hiyashi Ramen冷やしラーメンShoyu — soy saucechilled ramen served with iceRamen served fully chilled, ice floating in the broth — born of the basin's hot summers.
- Yonezawa Ramen米沢ラーメンShoyu — soy saucelight soy broth with hand-crimped thin noodlesA light soy-sauce broth served with thin noodles hand-crimped to hold it.
- Hiyajiru冷や汁seasonal vegetables served in a cold, savory soaking brothA cold broth made from dried scallop soaking liquid, freeze-dried konnyaku, and dried shiitake is poured over seasonal vegetables — a dish of Yonezawa. One account traces it to field rations of the warlord Uesugi Kenshin, and in winter it takes the local heirloom green yukina as well.
Raised here3
- Yamagata Gyu山形牛the prefecture-wide umbrella brand behind Yonezawa GyuAn umbrella term for Japanese Black cattle raised and fattened longest within Yamagata — encompassing area brands like Yonezawa Gyu, reserved for cattle meeting a national grading threshold.
- Yonezawa Buta Ichiban Sodachi米澤豚一番育ちa Landrace-Yorkshire-Duroc cross raised on Okitama snowmelt waterA three-way cross — Landrace crossed with Large Yorkshire, then Duroc — raised in the Okitama basin's wide seasonal temperature swings on mineral-rich mountain snowmelt water.
- Yonezawa Gyu米沢牛made famous by an English teacher in early MeijiSaid to have been made famous by an English teacher in early Meiji. Raised in the Okitama basin's sharp seasons.
Prepared here3
- Shoyu no Miしょうゆの実a fermented soybean-and-grain relish eaten in place of soy sauceSoybean, wheat, and rice are mixed with koji and left to ferment with salted water into an all-purpose Shonai relish said to date to the Edo period. It goes over rice, onto cold tofu, or into a grilling sauce, its sweetness and salt shifting with how much koji each household uses.
- Yamagata Dashi山形のだしDashi — a summer relish of chopped raw vegetables from Yamagata's Murayama basinSummer vegetables and aromatics chopped fine and dressed in soy sauce, eaten raw — a Yamagata staple. It is said to have taken hold especially in the hot, humid Murayama basin as a quick dish for the busy farming season.
- Yamagata no Sake山形の酒Yamagata sake — many small mountain-water stylesSake from Yamagata Prefecture, where different mountain systems — Chokai, Asahi, Gassan among them — each feed distinctly different spring water. Because the water varies by mountain range, individual breweries stand apart from one another, and the prefecture is also known for a high share of premium, ginjo-grade shipments.
Known for it here5
- Tsuyahimeつや姫Known sourceYamagata's glossy, restrained-sweetness flagshipNamed for its glossy sheen, said to have firm grains and measured sweetness; Yamagata gave it a prefecture-wide full debut as a brand rice in 2010. Said to have repeatedly earned 'special A' ratings, with yields deliberately capped to protect quality.Said to be Yamagata's flagship brand rice, developed with considerable investment.
- HaenukiはえぬきKnown sourceYamagata's steady, everyday-table standardA recommended Yamagata variety said to balance stickiness and firmness and stay tasty when cooled, bred for everyday usability rather than flashiness. Its name evokes 'born and bred here', and it's said to have long led Yamagata's planted acreage.Said to have long ranked among Yamagata's most widely planted varieties.
- Yukiwakamaru雪若丸Known sourceYamagata's firm-grained companion to TsuyahimeSaid to have been bred as Yamagata's brand rice alongside Tsuyahime, with large grains and a firm, chewy bite said to suit donburi and fried rice. Its name evokes a young warrior of the snow country, said to carry the prefecture's expectations.Promoted alongside Tsuyahime as one of the prefecture's flagship varieties.
- Kamenoo亀の尾Known sourcethe century-old landrace behind Koshihikari's lineageA landrace said to have been found in Yamagata's Shonai region in the Meiji era, an ancestor in the lineage of Koshihikari and other varieties, also used for sake. Said to have been notably cold-hardy, making it a starting point for later breeding efforts.Said to still be grown in the Shonai region where it was found.
- YamameヤマメFreshwater fishKnown sourcered-spotted masu trout — the landlocked form of cherry salmonThe landlocked form of cherry salmon, a favorite of stream anglers. Salt-grilled, it offers firm flesh and delicate fat, and its trademark red spots are said to grow more vivid the colder and clearer the headwater stream.