Hyōgo Wild Boar Hot Pot (ぼたん鍋, Botan Nabe)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Donabe (Japanese clay pot), or a wide heavy pot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Portable tabletop burner, or a stove and warmed serving bowls
• •Tori-zara (small individual plates) and chirirenge spoons

Instructions

1. 1

   Steep the konbu

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. That pale powder on the surface is flavor, not dirt. Put the konbu in the cold water in a wide pot and bring it up slowly over low heat, about ten minutes. Pull it out just before the water boils, when small bubbles climb the sides. Boil the kelp and the stock turns faintly bitter and slick, which is a poor trade for impatience.

   You're steeping the konbu, not cooking it hard. The clean edge of the dashi is the first thing to protect.
2. 2

   Add the bonito

   Bring the water to a gentle boil, add the katsuobushi all at once, then take the pot off the heat. Leave the flakes alone for two or three minutes, until they sink. Strain through a cloth-lined sieve and let the dashi drip naturally. Don't squeeze. Squeezing presses out strong, oily flavors, and this pot wants depth, not murk.

3. 3

   Prepare the boar

   Keep the boar chilled until you need it. If you are slicing it yourself, firm it in the freezer for twenty minutes, then slice across the grain two to three millimeters thick with the white fat left attached. Lay the slices on a plate in overlapping petals. The old peony shape is not only for beauty: it keeps the slices separate so they slide cleanly into the pot and cook evenly.

   Sourcing first. The meat should smell clean and faintly sweet, never sour or stale. If the boar is tired, change the dish. Miso should deepen good meat, not hide bad meat.
4. 4

   Cut the vegetables

   Scrub the gobō rather than peeling it bare, because much of its woodland scent sits near the skin. Shave it into thin sasagaki slivers, like sharpening a pencil with a knife, and soak them in cold water for five minutes only. Drain well. A short soak softens harsh tannin; a long soak washes away the very flavor you wanted. Parboil the shirataki for two minutes and drain, which removes its alkaline smell before it joins the broth.

5. 5

   Season the broth

   Pour about five and a half cups of dashi into a donabe or wide heavy pot. Add the sake and mirin and simmer for two minutes so the alcohol edge rounds off. Lower the heat. In a small bowl, loosen both misos with a ladle of hot dashi, then stir the smooth paste back into the pot with the soy sauce and sugar, if using. Taste it now. It should be stronger than soup, because boar, tofu, and vegetables will soften it as they cook.

   Miso loses fragrance when it is boiled hard. Keep the broth lively enough to cook the boar, but not so fierce that the surface thrashes.
6. 6

   Start sturdy ingredients

   Add the gobō, shirataki, shiitake, shimeji, the thick white parts of the hakusai, the naganegi, and the tofu. Simmer eight to ten minutes, until the burdock bends easily and the mushrooms look glossy. These ingredients need the head start. They also season the broth before the boar goes in, which is the way the pot begins to taste like itself.

7. 7

   Cook the boar

   Slide the boar slices into the simmering broth in small batches, separating them with chopsticks. Cook until the meat is no longer pink and the fat turns translucent, usually five to eight minutes depending on the slice. Wild boar must be cooked through, to 71°C if you use a thermometer. This is not beef shabu-shabu. Give it enough time for the fat to loosen into the miso dashi, but don't let the pot boil violently or the lean meat will tighten.

8. 8

   Finish the greens

   Add the tender green parts of the hakusai and the shungiku or mizuna at the end. Let them wilt for a minute, no more. Their slight bitterness keeps the rich broth honest, but overcooking turns that bitterness dull. Finish with a few strips of yuzu peel and serve powdered sanshō at the table.

9. 9

   Serve the pot

   Set the donabe at the center and ladle portions into small tori-zara plates. Keep the broth at a quiet simmer as people eat, adding more boar or greens in small rounds rather than crowding the pot. At the end, add cooked udon to the remaining broth if you like. That last bowl is the reward for patience: dashi, miso, burdock, mushroom, and boar fat gathered into one honest finish.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for winter wild boar that was properly field dressed and thinly sliced for nabe. The fat should be clear white, not yellowed, and the meat should smell clean. Shun matters here more than clever hands.
• •Don't trim away the fat. In botan nabe the fat is not excess, it is the seasoning that melts into the miso dashi and keeps the meat tender.
• •Use a donabe if you have one, because clay holds a gentle, even heat at the table. A wide heavy pot works, but watch the simmer more closely.
• •The broth should taste bold before the ingredients go in. If it tastes perfect at the start, it will taste timid after the cabbage, tofu, and mushrooms have had their say.
• •Instant dashi is a shortcut in the wrong place. The broth is the stage for the boar, and flat stock makes even good meat seem lonely.

Advance Preparation

• •The dashi can be made one day ahead and kept refrigerated. Warm it gently before building the miso broth.
• •The vegetables can be cut a few hours ahead. Keep the gobō in fresh cold water for no more than five minutes, then drain and cover it so its scent stays with you.
• •If slicing the boar yourself, firm it briefly in the freezer before cutting. Do not freeze it solid, or the slices crack instead of bending.
• •The miso broth can be mixed earlier the same day, but bring it back gently. Hard boiling dulls the miso before the meal begins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 850g)