Tara Chiri: Japanese Salt Cod Hot Pot and the Winter Culture of White Fish Nabe

Ingredients

• 800 g Pacific cod (tara), skin on, cut into medium-thick pieces; blotted dry before use
• 200 g shirako (cod milt), fresh, firm, white, unbroken sacs; in season November–February
• 20 g kombu, wiped; do not wash
• 1.5 litres cold water
• 300 g hakusai (Chinese cabbage), cut into broad pieces
• 300 g firm tofu, cut into cubes
• 100 g enokitake mushrooms, roots trimmed, clusters separated
• 30 g mitsuba (Japanese parsley), roughly cut
• For the dipping and condiments
• 120 ml ponzu (yuzu-based), served at the table
• 4 tsp momiji oroshi (grated daikon with chilli), served at the table
• 2 negi (Japanese long onion), finely sliced; served at the table
• For the zosui finale
• 150 g small-grain rice, uncooked; added to the residual broth after the main course
• 2 eggs, beaten; stirred in at the close of the zosui

Method

1. 1
   Combine the kombu and cold water in the nabe pot (or a wide, shallow pot suitable for table service). Bring over medium-low heat, removing the kombu just before the water reaches a full boil. The broth should be faintly oceanic in aroma and perfectly clear.
2. 2
   Add the hakusai and tofu to the just-simmering kombu broth. Maintain a gentle simmer — never a rolling boil — for 10 to 12 minutes. The cabbage is ready when the thickest stems yield without resistance to a chopstick.
3. 3
   Nestle the cod pieces, skin side down, into the broth among the vegetables. Simmer gently for 5 minutes. This is where the dish lives or dies: Pacific cod is delicate — the broth must remain at a bare simmer throughout, and the skin must stay on to contribute its collagen to the liquid; over-heat or premature skin removal destroys both the texture of the flesh and the character of the broth.
4. 4
   Add the enokitake and mitsuba. Simmer for 2 minutes only. The enokitake should be just wilted and the mitsuba barely softened — both are done when they have collapsed slightly without losing their colour.
5. 5
   Float the shirako gently on the surface of the barely simmering broth. Allow 2 to 3 minutes of undisturbed, gentle heat. The shirako is set when the exterior has firmed from translucent to an opaque, pale white, while the interior retains a just-silken, custard-like give when pressed lightly.
6. 6
   Bring the pot to the table. Each diner dips pieces of cod, shirako, and vegetables into ponzu, dressing with momiji oroshi and sliced negi to taste. The yuzu acid in the ponzu cuts the richness of the collagen and milt; the balance of salt, citrus, and heat from the condiments governs the final flavour.
7. 7
   For the zosui finale: once the main ingredients are consumed, add the small-grain rice to the collagen-enriched broth remaining in the pot. Simmer gently until the rice has just bloomed — swollen and tender at the surface but retaining a slight centre — then stir in the beaten egg in a slow stream. The broth at this stage should be glossy, faintly golden, and thickened with dissolved cod collagen; this is considered equal in pleasure to the main course.