Kyoto Summer Pike Conger Hot Pot (鱧鍋, Hamo Nabe)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Donabe (Japanese clay hot pot), or a wide heavy pot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with clean cloth
• •Long chopsticks or small tongs for lifting the hamo
• •Individual tori-zara serving plates
• •Chirirenge soup spoons

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dashi

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in the cold water and warm it slowly over low heat until the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides, about ten minutes. Lift the konbu out before the water boils, because boiling pulls bitterness and slickness from the kelp into the clear stock.

2. 2

   Steep the flakes

   Bring the water to a gentle boil, add the katsuobushi all at once, and take the pot off the heat. Let the flakes sink for two or three minutes without stirring. Strain through cloth or a fine sieve and let it drip naturally. Don't squeeze, or the strong oily flavor from the flakes clouds the clean broth you need for hamo.

   This pot depends on clear dashi. If the stock tastes flat, make better dashi, not saltier dashi.
3. 3

   Season the broth

   Return 4 cups of dashi to a donabe or wide pot. Add the sake, usukuchi shoyu, mirin, and salt. Bring it just to a quiet simmer and taste. It should be clear, savory, and lightly seasoned, because the hamo and onion will sweeten it as they cook.

4. 4

   Start the vegetables

   Add the onion wedges, tofu, and shiitake to the simmering broth. Cook gently for 6 to 8 minutes, until the onion turns translucent at the edges but still holds its shape. The onion is not garnish here. It gives sweetness to the broth without the heaviness of a sauce.

5. 5

   Cook the hamo

   Lower a few pieces of bone-cut hamo into the broth, skin side down if you can manage it. Cook for 45 to 60 seconds, just until the fine cuts open and the flesh turns white. Work in small batches so the broth stays hot and each piece has room to open. This is the detail that decides the dish.

6. 6

   Add mizuna

   Add the mizuna at the end and cook only until it brightens and softens slightly, about 20 seconds. Mizuna loses its clean bite if it sits too long in the pot, and this dish needs that green edge against the sweet fish and onion.

7. 7

   Serve at once

   Serve the hamo, onion, tofu, mushrooms, and mizuna in small tori-zara plates with a little broth. Add a thread of yuzu peel if you have it. Offer ponzu and grated daikon on the side, but taste the broth first. The honmono pleasure is the clear dashi and the tender fish, not a bowl drowned in dipping sauce.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the fishmonger for honekiri-zumi hamo, hamo already bone-cut. The cuts should be very close together and stop at the skin. If the shop cannot do that, choose another dish rather than pretend a plain fillet is the same thing.
• •Fresh hamo should smell clean and faintly sweet, never strongly fishy. The flesh should look moist and bright, with the skin glossy. No knife and no broth will rescue tired fish.
• •Keep the broth at a quiet simmer, not a hard boil. A rolling pot tightens the fish before the cuts can open neatly.
• •If you want a meatless table, make the dashi from konbu and dried shiitake and serve the same onion, tofu, mushrooms, and mizuna without hamo. That belongs to the temple kitchen tradition. It is honmono in its own line, but it is no longer hamo nabe.

Advance Preparation

• •The dashi can be made up to two days ahead and kept refrigerated. Warm it gently before seasoning, and don't boil it hard.
• •The onion, mizuna, tofu, mushrooms, yuzu peel, and serving dishes can be prepared a few hours ahead. Keep the mizuna wrapped and chilled so it stays crisp.
• •Cut the hamo into serving pieces shortly before cooking if possible. Keep it cold and covered, then bring it to the table only when the broth is ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 470g)