Mizutaki (水炊き, Hakata chicken hot pot)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Donabe (clay hot pot), or a heavy wide Dutch oven for serving
• •Large stockpot for building the chicken broth
• •Portable tabletop burner
• •Fine-mesh skimmer and strainer
• •Individual tori-zara plates and chirirenge spoons

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the chicken

   Ask the butcher to cut the chicken through the bone into 10 to 12 pieces, and keep the back, neck if available, and wing tips. Keep the skin on. The exposed bones give the broth body, and the skin gives it the soft roundness that water alone cannot make.

   Do not do this with a chef's knife. Use a cleaver made for bone, or let the butcher do the work. Good sourcing is the first technique.
2. 2

   Blanch and clean

   Put the chicken pieces and extra wings, backs, or necks in a large pot and cover with cold water for blanching. Bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, then drain. Rinse the blanched pieces under warm water, rubbing away gray foam and dark clots, and wash the pot. This gives you a clean white broth rather than a murky one. The cloud should come from chicken, not dirt.

3. 3

   Simmer the broth

   Return the cleaned chicken to the pot and add 10 cups cold water. Bring it up slowly until the surface trembles, then keep it at a low, steady simmer for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, skimming carefully during the first 20 minutes. Add hot water as needed to keep the bones just covered. The broth should turn pale ivory and smell sweet and clean. Boil it wildly and the meat tears apart and the fat turns coarse; let it merely sit warm and the bones never give enough.

   You are not making a clear dashi here. Mizutaki asks for water and chicken, and the clarity is in the taste.
4. 4

   Strain and season

   Lift out the edible chicken pieces and set them aside. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean pot, leaving behind small bones and fragments. Return about 6 cups broth to a donabe or wide serving pot and season lightly with 1 teaspoon sea salt. Keep the seasoning modest because ponzu will finish each bite at the table.

5. 5

   Serve first broth

   Before anything else goes in, ladle a small cup of hot broth for each person with a pinch of salt and a few sliced scallions. This is the plain test. You taste the chicken before the citrus, soy, greens, and rice join it. If it tastes thin, simmer it a little longer before you proceed.

6. 6

   Arrange the table

   Set the ponzu shōyu in small dipping bowls with scallions, momiji oroshi, and yuzu kosho alongside. Arrange the cooked chicken, hakusai ribs and leaves, negi, shiitake, tofu, noodles if using, and shungiku on platters. Keep the greens separate from the firm vegetables. The order matters because each ingredient has a different patience.

7. 7

   Cook the pot

   Bring the broth in the donabe to a gentle simmer at the table. Add a few chicken pieces to warm through, then add hakusai ribs, negi, shiitake, tofu, and noodles. Cook until the vegetables are tender but still alive in their color, 4 to 6 minutes. Add hakusai leaves and shungiku only at the end, 30 to 60 seconds, because tender greens punish the cook who makes them wait.

8. 8

   Dip and eat

   Give each person a tori-zara, a small side plate, and let them lift pieces from the pot into ponzu. Add a spoonful of broth to the ponzu if it tastes too sharp. Keep the pot at a quiet simmer and avoid crowding it. A full pot looks generous for one minute, then the vegetables slump and the broth loses its clean face.

9. 9

   Finish with zōsui

   When the chicken and vegetables are gone, remove any stray pieces from the broth. Add the rinsed cooked rice and simmer 3 to 4 minutes, until the grains swell and the broth thickens lightly. Taste and adjust with salt if needed. Pour in the beaten eggs in a thin stream, cover, and take the pot off the heat for 1 minute. Stir once, scatter with scallion, and serve. Rinsing the rice keeps the zōsui tender instead of gluey, and the egg sets softly in the last heat of the pot.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the best chicken you can, bone-in and skin-on. Ask for the back, neck, and wing tips, because the bone is an ingredient here. A boneless breast has no business carrying this pot.
• •Do not chase the white broth with milk, flour, or stock powder. If the broth is weak, it needs more chicken or more time. Honmono is sometimes very blunt that way.
• •Use ponzu with good citrus, not only vinegar and salt. If bottled ponzu tastes harsh, soften each dipping bowl with a spoonful of hot chicken broth rather than sweetening the whole sauce.
• •A donabe holds heat beautifully, but don't heat it empty and don't shock it with cold water while hot. A heavy Dutch oven is a sensible stand-in for the table, even if the clay pot has the better manners.
• •Add shungiku or mizuna at the last moment. Their bitterness is pleasant when brief and bossy when overcooked.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken can be cut a day ahead. Keep it covered and cold, with the bones and wings together for the broth.
• •The broth can be made one day ahead. Chill it quickly, refrigerate, and skim only the heavy fat cap, leaving a little sheen for body.
• •Vegetables can be cut 4 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Keep shungiku or mizuna washed, dried, and wrapped separately.
• •Do not make the zōsui ahead. It belongs to the last broth, after the pot has gathered the chicken and vegetables.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 690g)