Nabe Dashi Broth Regional Hotpot Styles

Ingredients

• For the yosenabe broth
• 1.5 litres dashi, prepared
• 3 tbsp shoyu
• For the ishikari nabe broth
• 1.5 litres dashi, prepared
• 4 tbsp miso, Hokkaido-style or white miso
• 20 g unsalted butter, added at the close of cooking
• Ishikari nabe — primary
• 400 g salmon, skin-on, cut into large pieces
• Yosenabe — primary
• 300 g mixed seafood, prawns, clams, or white fish as available
• 200 g chicken thigh, boneless, cut into bite-sized pieces
• Chanko nabe — tsukune
• 400 g minced chicken, formed into meatballs
• Hoto broth
• 1.5 litres dashi, prepared
• 3 tbsp miso
• 300 g kabocha squash, peeled, cut into thick wedges
• Hoto noodles
• 300 g plain flour, kneaded with water and salt to a stiff dough, rolled thick, cut into wide flat strips
• 1 tsp salt
• Kiritanpo nabe — primary
• 300 g cooked short-grain rice, pounded, packed around wooden skewers, surface-grilled until lightly charred, skewer removed before serving
• 200 g chicken, local breed preferred; cut into pieces
• 1 bundle gobō (burdock root), scrubbed and cut on the diagonal
• 1 bunch mitsuba, trimmed
• Vegetables — all styles
• 200 g firm tofu, cut into cubes; added toward the close of cooking
• 200 g napa cabbage, cut into large pieces
• 150 g wild or cultivated mushrooms, shiitake, enoki, or maitake; mountain styles favour wild varieties
• Shime (closing course)
• 200 g noodles or short-grain rice, udon, ramen, or rice; added only after all other ingredients are consumed

Method

1. 1
   Select the regional style and prepare the broth accordingly. For yosenabe, season dashi with shoyu; for ishikari, dissolve miso into dashi; for hoto, dissolve miso into dashi and introduce kabocha wedges from the start; for kiritanpo, use a seasoned chicken broth with shoyu. Bring the broth to a gentle simmer in the nabe pot at the table. The broth is ready when it is fully seasoned and steaming without a rolling boil.
2. 2
   For hoto only: knead flour, water, and salt to a stiff, smooth dough. Roll thick and cut into wide flat noodle strips. These are not parboiled; they will simmer directly in the miso-kabocha broth. Set aside. The dough is sufficiently stiff when it holds a clean edge under the knife.
3. 3
   Add firmer ingredients first: root vegetables such as gobō, kabocha, and carrot; chicken pieces or tsukune meatballs (chanko); salmon pieces (ishikari); or the grilled kiritanpo rice cakes with chicken. These require the longest cooking and form the broth's flavour foundation. They are ready when a skewer meets no resistance and the broth has deepened in colour and aroma.
4. 4
   Maintain a consistent, gentle simmer throughout the meal — never a vigorous boil. Aggressive boiling clouds the broth, breaks delicate ingredients, and destroys texture. This is where the dish lives or dies: a controlled simmer preserves broth clarity and allows each ingredient to contribute its character to the shared pot without overcooking its neighbours.
5. 5
   Monitor broth level continuously. As ingredients absorb liquid and the meal progresses, replenish with hot water or additional prepared broth from a warm vessel kept beside the pot. The broth should always comfortably cover the ingredients in the pot.
6. 6
   Add seafood (yosenabe), napa cabbage, mushrooms, and tofu in succession as earlier ingredients are consumed. These require only brief cooking. Tofu is warmed through when it begins to tremble at the edges; leafy greens are done when just wilted.
7. 7
   For ishikari nabe, stir in the butter at the close of the main cooking — this is the characteristic Hokkaido finish that distinguishes this style from standard miso nabe. The broth should appear slightly enriched and glossy.
8. 8
   When the main ingredients are finished, introduce the shime: noodles (udon or ramen) or raw rice into the concentrated, flavour-laden remaining broth. For hoto, the flat noodles are simmered until soft and swollen, having absorbed the miso-kabocha broth. Add shime only at the very end — noodles standing in hot broth become unacceptably soft. The shime is done when noodles are tender throughout or rice has absorbed the broth and become porridge-like.