HOW TO COOK A JAPANESE HOT POT

1. What is a Japanese Hot Pot?

2. Potential ingredients.

3. Best combinations.

4. The recipe.

5. Final result.

1. What is a Japanese Hot pot?

This is the typical dish to prepare in a cold winter’s day or if your work demands a lot
of energy. It will keep you warm and fed, but it is not appropriate if you are on a diet.

This dish is similar to the Irish stew or Spanish “cocido” in the preparation, although
the Japanese people have made a difference due to the simplicity of using only three
ingredients.

2. Potential ingredients

It is true that every cook has his or her own preferences when it comes to choosing the
ingredients for this recipe. However, if we restrict ourselves to the most traditional
ones, we will only have twelve potential components for this delicious concoction.
Namely, four main ingredients: meat, shellfish, chicken and cod; four kinds of
vegetables: green onion, Chinese cabbage, mustard greens and mushrooms; and four
side dishes: tofu skin, deep-fried tofu, plain tofu and vermicelli noodles.

3. Best combinations

There are some ingredients that go better together than others. For example, pork and
beef taste very good with onions or cabbage but their flavours disagree with the
mustard greens’; if you choose fish instead, its strong smell will hide the pot’s aroma,
so it is a good idea to use green onions or mustard greens in this case; and it is
advisable to use mushrooms only if you are cooking chicken or seafood due to their
soft texture and taste.

On the other hand, we have the side dish, but our choice must be related to the
vegetable that we have used, not the rest of the ingredients. If you are not very sure
about which one could be a safe bet, it is always a good idea to rely on the wide
variety that tofu offers. However, that does not mean that we should just add it to the
pot and wait. The strong taste of deep-fried tofu goes very well with mushrooms since
the latter usually need a kick to improve their flavor, and the same can be said about
 cabbage, although it is also a good choice to use tofu skin with this one. Regarding
mustard greens, it would be advisable to combine them with either plain tofu or
vermicelli noodles if you prefer to add some pasta instead, although their texture is a
good addition to the green onions as well.

4. The recipe

First of all, fill the pot with water and heat it until the water starts to boil. While the
water is heating up, add some salt and pepper to your preference. It is advisable to use
sea salt scales since they contribute in flavour to the final result, although it is actually
up to the cook’s choice.

Meanwhile, we should prepare our main ingredient, which depends on which one we
have decided to use. In the case of meat, dice it finely bite-size because it is easier to
cook and eat; in the case of chicken, however, it is often suggested to cook it in
meatballs adding a cinch of garlic as well; finally, if we prefer to cook seafood, the best
option is to add it whole to the pot after washing it in salty water. Some people prefer
to remove the head of the fish even though it contributes to the flavour as well.

Before the water starts to boil, slice the chosen vegetables to facilitate their cooking in
the pot and then simmer them. It is important to remember that they should be
properly cooked without losing their texture. You can add as much as you want as long
as the vegetable part is less than one half of the pot.

Once the water is boiling, add the side dish in order to contribute to that last part of
flavouring. Regarding pasta, it is best to use 1’5 servings for every 2 guests whereas
tofu requires 2 servings for every one of them since it will melt in the pot.

Finally, let the pot boil on steady fire until the mixture starts to bubble and serve the
pot itself on a soft heater to eat while it is still hot. Traditionally, the guests eat it
directly from the pot, but it can easily be served in bowls as well.

5. Final result

This dish is the Japanese version of the traditional pot which the poor people used to
have mixing the ingredients that they had available. The current version is much
simpler and selective that the former one that went through a lot of filters to carefully
choose the best ingredients over the years. The conclusion that the cooks arrived to
was that by just using the bare essentials, the flavour of each ingredient can be
brought out and enhanced. This is present when we try to identify the ingredients one
by one, which is easy since the three of them have their own texture and taste. The
whole result is a warming dish that helps to get through cold days in winter and which
can be adapted to the variety of tastes of the different guests that we may have.