This article is part of our series on Yamabito Ryouri, where we have elaborated extensively on different game meat such as bear, badger, venison and boar.
One of our favourite Japanese ingredients that we feel is underutilized by the English speaking world is sake lees, the leftover fermented rice koji paste. Most famous as the base ingredient for making akasu, the traditional vinegar used to season sushi rice, it is also widely used in the cosmetic industry for face masks and creams.
As around a third of Japan’s sake production comes from Hyogo prefecture (兵庫県), the produce a large amount of sake lees and overtime developed Kasujiru, a local dish made by simmered meat, daikon radish, carrots, burdock, konjac, and other ingredients in a broth made from sake lees. As workers traveled to sake brewing areas during the winter as paid labour, they since brought back the sake lees to their hometowns, thus spreading this dish around Japan.
We’ve long wanted a kasujiru recipe on our website, but many of the most common kasujiru recipes on the internet use salmon or pork and we didn’t want another predictable winter stew. We also found that after a while, a broth of sake lees alone with some seasoning started to taste one dimensional. As such, we were delighted when we came across a dish by Restaurant Ogitani (おぎたに), which coincidentally was located in Hyogo Prefecture!
Their kasujiru is made from a blend of white miso and sake lees, which blends together the alcoholic sweetness from the lees with the savory sweetness from the miso, giving the soup more body as well. Furthermore, they only serve it during winter on request with the highest quality bear meat, as the bear fat aroma emulsifies with the lees to make a creamy broth, whilst also tenderising the meat.
Sake Lees Bear Hotpot Recipe (熊肉を粕汁)
For a larger portion, double the recipe.
400g of thinly sliced bear meat
100g of carrots
150 of daikon radish
Half a pack of shimeji mushrooms (we prefer brown)
70g of white miso
150g of sake lees
15g of Kombu
Optional:
Konjac noodles or sliced konjac
Sliced burdock root
In a bowl, mix the sake lees and miso together. Prepare the vegetables by peeling the daikon and carrots before slicing. Trim the base of the shimeji mushrooms and separate into small clusters. Place 1000ml of water in the donabe pot with the kombu and bring up to just barely a simmer. Discard the kombu. Mix the miso and sake lees mixture into the broth through a sieve a little at a time, dissolving it until smooth and slightly thick. Add in the vegetables and simmer until cooked. At the last moment before serving, add in the bear meat slices until cooked through and then serve.
