Chanko Nabe: Sumo Culture, High-Calorie Hot Pot, and the Philosophy of Communal Eating

Ingredients

• For the broth
• 1 whole chicken, approximately 1.5 kg, broken down; carcass reserved
• 500 g chicken backs and necks, for double-chicken stock
• 2 litres water
• For the shio tare
• 3 tbsp sea salt, dissolved into the finished broth to taste
• 2 tbsp sake
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (shoyu), light; for the shoyu variant, increase to 4 tbsp and omit the salt adjustment
• For the chicken tsukune (meatballs)
• 500 g ground chicken, minced finely
• 2 eggs, one for binding the tsukune, one for dropping whole into the pot if desired
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• For the pot
• 400 g firm tofu (momen), cut into 4 cm cubes
• 300 g fish cake (kamaboko or chikuwa), sliced 1 cm thick
• 400 g hakusai (napa cabbage), cut into 5 cm sections
• 150 g gobo (burdock root), scrubbed and cut into thin diagonal slices; soaked in cold water 10 minutes
• 150 g renkon (lotus root), peeled and sliced 5 mm thick
• 2 medium carrot, peeled and cut into diagonal coins
• 4 stalks long green onion (negi), cut into 4 cm lengths
• To serve
• as required plain short-grain white rice, cooked; multiple bowls per person

Method

1. 1
   Place the whole chicken pieces, carcass, and the backs and necks in a large stockpot. Cover with 2 litres of cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat, skimming the grey foam as it rises. Reduce to a steady simmer and cook for 45 minutes. The broth is ready when it runs pale gold and clear, with a clean chicken aroma.
2. 2
   Strain the broth through a fine sieve. Pull the cooked chicken meat from the bones in large pieces; discard bones and aromatics. Return the broth to the pot. Season with sake, salt, and soy sauce, building the tare gradually. Taste: the broth must be robustly seasoned — it will be diluted by successive additions of vegetables and protein, and a weak broth cannot recover.
3. 3
   Combine the ground chicken, one egg, soy sauce, and grated ginger in a bowl. Mix firmly until the paste binds and holds its shape when pinched. Form into balls of approximately 30 g each. The surface should feel smooth and offer slight resistance — a loose mixture will fall apart in the broth.
4. 4
   Arrange the pot over a portable burner at the table, or bring to the table from the stove at a rolling simmer. Add the harder vegetables first — gobo, renkon, and carrot — and cook for 8 minutes. Add the hakusai, negi, tofu, and fish cake. Drop the tsukune in one by one. The pot is ready to begin serving when the meatballs have lost their raw colour and float to the surface.
5. 5
   Add the reserved pulled chicken to the pot to warm through. Each diner takes from the central pot in turn. Replenish with remaining ingredients as the pot empties, adding ladlefuls of reserved broth to maintain level. Serve with plain white rice alongside; multiple bowls of rice per person are customary and constitutive of the meal.