Regional food of Hokkaido & Tohoku

Babahera is Akita's pink-and-yellow sherbet-like frozen sweet, scooped with a metal spatula and built into a cone, often as a layered rose. Yellow is...

Bodakko is an Akita name for salted salmon, especially strongly salted fish. A small grilled piece or a few flakes are eaten with white rice or placed...

Damako mochi partly pounds freshly cooked non-glutinous rice, leaving some grains, and rolls it into small balls usually simmered with chicken...

Hatahata-zushi is Akita izushi: prepared sandfish is layered with cooked rice, rice koji, salt, vinegar, and vegetables and fermented in cold weather...

Iburigakko is an Akita takuan-style pickle made by smoke-drying daikon and fermenting it with rice bran, salt, and seasonings. It combines a...

Kinman is the Akita company's small low cylindrical castella-style manju, with a pale golden baked shell around smooth white bean paste. Its flat...

Kujira kayaki simmers thin pieces of salted whale fat with eggplant and other summer vegetables in an Akita-style small hot pot. Miso, soy sauce or...

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Sanazura is Eitaro's dark red-purple, thin slab confection made by setting concentrated wild-grape juice with natural agar. It is tangy, concentrated...

Shottsuru nabe seasons a broth with Akita fish sauce fermented from salted fish, then cooks hatahata, tofu, leeks, greens, and mushrooms. Clear...

Tofu castella drains and grinds tofu, blends it with sugar, egg, starch and related seasonings, then bakes it into a browned slab with a pale, dense...

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Inaniwa udon is a hand-stretched dried noodle associated with the Inaniwa area of Yuzawa, Akita. It is thinner and flatter than many fresh udon...

Kiritanpo nabe is the signature pot of Odate and northern Akita. Warm rice is pounded until partly broken, wrapped around skewers and grilled as...

Oga ishiyaki is made by placing local fish, seaweed, vegetables and miso broth in a wooden tub, then dropping in stones heated red-hot to boil the...

Yokote yakisoba uses thick straight boiled noodles cooked with cabbage and minced pork in a mild sweet Worcestershire-style sauce, then adds a...

Aomori ginger-miso oden serves dashi-simmered daikon, konnyaku, fish cakes, egg and local additions with a sweet miso sauce scented by freshly grated...

Kaiyaki miso is an Aomori dish in which miso broth, seafood or tofu, and beaten egg are cooked in a large scallop shell used as a small pan. The...

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Ika no ponpon-yaki is a home dish from Hachinohe and the Pacific coast of Aomori. Chopped tentacles, squid liver and miso are returned to the body...

Senbei jiru is a soup from Hachinohe and southeastern Aomori, also eaten in northern Iwate. Chicken, burdock, mushrooms, leeks, and other vegetables...

Ichigoni is a clear, lightly salted soup of sea urchin and abalone from the coastal area around Hachinohe City and Hashikami Town in Aomori. It...

Keiran is an Aomori ceremonial soup of white egg-shaped rice dumplings filled with sweet bean paste and served in a clear soy-seasoned broth, often...

Nanbu senbei mixes wheat flour with water and salt and bakes it thin in round iron molds across former Nanbu territory in southeast Aomori and...

Soba-kakke is a Nanbu dish of thin buckwheat dough cut into roughly five-centimeter triangles, simmered with daikon and tofu, and dipped in garlic...

Shimokita bekomochi combines sweet doughs of glutinous and non-glutinous rice flour, builds them into a log, slices it to reveal repeated flowers or...

Tsugaru ame is an amber syrup made by using malt enzymes to convert starch from glutinous rice or other grain into sugars, then concentrating the...

Iga menchi finely chops squid tentacles and trimmings, combines them with onion, carrot and a flour-based binder, then fries or pan-cooks small...

Jappa-jiru cooks a cod's head, backbone, skin, liver, and other ara with daikon, carrot, and scallion, seasoning the broth with miso or salt.

Keno-jiru combines finely diced daikon, carrot, burdock, mountain plants, konnyaku, frozen tofu, fried tofu, and beans in a miso soup. Aomori calls it...

Aizu basashi serves thin chilled slices of lean red horse meat with soy sauce into which a spicy garlic-and-chili miso is dissolved. Horse meat is...

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Miso kanpura are small skin-on potatoes cooked until tender, then coated in a sweet-salty glaze of miso, sugar and mirin. Kanpura is a regional...

Sagohachi-zuke uses a sweet-savory fermented bed made from rice, rice koji, and salt to season cucumber, eggplant, turnip, carrot, and other...

Shimimochi soaks rice cakes, freezes them in Fukushima's winter cold and dries them in wind, creating a light, hard and durable preserved food. Yomogi...

Uni no kaiyaki heaps raw sea-urchin roe into a large surf-clam shell and steam-roasts it in Iwaki, Fukushima. It does not cook uni in its own spiny...

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Cream Box is a Koriyama specialty bread: a small, thick slice of soft white bread covered generously with smooth white milk cream. The contrast is...

Kozuyu is a clear ceremonial soup from the Aizu area of Fukushima. A restrained broth led by dried scallop is filled with neatly cut taro, carrot...

Mamador is Sanmangoku's Fukushima confection: a milky filling enclosed in a soft butter-based baked skin. Its rounded oblong form has a pale brown...

Shingoro is cooked non-glutinous rice half-pounded, shaped around a skewer, coated with sweet junen miso made from egoma seeds, and grilled until...

Zakuzaku is a Nihonmatsu soup of daikon, carrot, burdock, konnyaku and other ingredients cut into small dice and simmered in soy-seasoned stock.

Ohira is a celebration soup from Tadami in Oku-Aizu, served in a shallow lacquer bowl. Typical ingredients include kombu, yam, burdock, fried tofu...

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Hizu namasu thinly slices the translucent cartilage at a salmon's nose, salts and vinegar-dresses it, and combines it with daikon namasu. Its defining...

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Bibai yakitori alternates chicken skin, thigh and several offal parts such as liver, heart, gizzard and kinkan with local onion on one skewer, then...

Chanchan-yaki steam-grills salmon with cabbage, onion, mushrooms and other vegetables, then mixes them with a sweet-savory sauce of miso, sugar, mirin...

Ikameshi fills small cleaned squid with glutinous and regular rice, then simmers it in a sweet-savory soy sauce until the grains absorb the squid...

Hokkaido imomochi are pan-grilled cakes made by mashing cooked potatoes, mixing in potato starch, and shaping the dough into rounds or ovals. They are...

Izushi layers fish, vegetables, rice and rice koji and lets them undergo lactic fermentation in Hokkaido's cold season. Salmon, herring, hokke...

Jaga butter is a hot steamed, boiled or baked potato split open so butter melts into the center. It is cooked throughout Japan but is especially...

Jingisukan grills lamb or mutton with onions, bean sprouts and other vegetables on a characteristically domed pan. Fat and seasoning run from the...

Kajika-jiru is a Hokkaido fish soup that simmers bone-in pieces of kajika with skin, liver and vegetables such as daikon, carrot, potato and leek...

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Kokuhan is glutinous rice steamed with black soybeans and served in parts of Hokkaido at funerals and Buddhist memorial services. The rice is...

Lamb shabu-shabu cooks paper-thin lamb slices in gently simmering broth and serves them with dipping sauce. Unlike grilled jingisukan, it lets excess...

Matsumae-zuke is a Hokkaido preserved food made by marinating finely cut kombu kelp and dried squid in a soy-based seasoning. The kelp releases a...

Mefun is a Hokkaido delicacy made by salting and maturing the dark kidney tissue that runs along a salmon's backbone.

Nishinzuke combines dried herring with cabbage, daikon, carrot, rice koji, and salt. Fish savoriness, crisp vegetables, koji sweetness, and gentle...

Ruibe freezes salmon, trout, or other seafood and slices it before complete thawing. It begins icy and crisp on the tongue, then releases the fish's...

Sake toba is salmon cut into long strips, salted, and dried in cold air in Hokkaido and northern Japan. Traditional skin-on pieces are firm and...

Sanpeijiru is a Hokkaido soup of salted salmon or herring simmered in kombu broth with daikon, carrot, potato, and leek. The preserved fish supplies...

Sansho-zuke is a fermented Hokkaido and northern Tohoku condiment made from chopped green chilies, rice koji, and soy sauce. It combines direct chili...

Ika no okizuke marinates squid in a seasoning based on soy sauce, sake, and mirin. The flesh becomes savory and slightly sticky; products using the...

Hokkaido mamepan is soft bread with whole sweetened beans, often kintoki beans, distributed through the dough. Unlike anpan, it does not hold one...

Takomanma is the ovary of octopus, especially willow octopus in Hokkaido. Long rice-like eggs fill a translucent sac and turn white when cooked.

Wakasaimo uses Hokkaido white-bean paste, not sweet potato, to reproduce a small roasted sweet potato. Fine kombu strands imitate fibers, while a thin...

Yokanpan coats bread with a thin layer of azuki yokan, much as chocolate coats a pastry. In Hokkaido it appears as cream-filled twists, round buns...

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Marusei Butter Sand is Rokkatei's rectangular biscuit sandwich filled with cream made from white chocolate, butter produced entirely from Hokkaido...

Ageimo is the signature snack of Nakayama Pass in Hokkaido: small boiled potatoes covered in a thick, lightly sweet batter, deep-fried and usually...

Nemuro escalope places a thin pork cutlet over butter rice containing chopped bamboo shoot and covers it with demi-glace sauce, usually beside salad...

Obihiro butadon places grilled, relatively thick slices of pork over rice and coats them with a reduced sweet-savory soy glaze.

Shiroi Koibito is ISHIYA's trademarked Hokkaido confection: a thin langue-de-chat biscuit sandwich holding a specially made sheet of chocolate. The...

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In Utashinai, nanko means horse intestine simmered until tender and seasoned with miso. Konjac, bamboo shoots, onion, burdock, ginger, or garlic may...

Bakke miso yaki-mochi combines chopped fuki-no-to butterbur shoots, walnut, miso, wheat flour and sugar into small patties cooked on a griddle. Bakke...

Hittsumi is an Iwate flour dish made by resting a wheat-and-water dough, stretching it thin by hand, pinching off irregular pieces and simmering them...

Ganzuki is a thick steamed wheat cake associated especially with southern Iwate and the Kesen area, and also found in Miyagi. Dark ganzuki uses brown...

Gomasuri Dango is Shoeido's small white dumpling enclosing a fluid black-sesame suri-mitsu filling. Bite through the soft, springy exterior and the...

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Wanko soba serves bite-size portions of noodles into a guest's small bowl again and again, with an attendant counting the servings. The tradition...

Iwate-machi nuppei-jiru is a hot clear soup of finely cut firm tofu and seasonal mushrooms topped just before serving with grated nagaimo whipped with...

Kamome no Tamago is Saito Seika's egg-shaped confection from Ofunato on Iwate's Sanriku coast. A yellow bean-paste center is wrapped in a thin cake...

Morioka jajamen tops chewy flat noodles with meat miso, cucumber, scallion and ginger, then lets each diner mix in vinegar, chili oil and garlic. It...

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Azara is a Kesennuma stew of sour, well-aged pickled napa cabbage, menuke or other redfish, and sake lees. Its pale broth combines lactic acidity...

Harako meshi is Watari and Yamamoto's autumn salmon rice. Rice is cooked with the seasoned liquid used to simmer salmon, then topped with the cooked...

Hokki meshi is a winter-to-spring dish from Watari and Yamamoto: surf-clam meat is briefly simmered in a soy-based seasoning, rice is cooked in the...

Hagi no Tsuki is Kasho Sanzen's round Sendai confection: mellow custard cream enclosed in a pale-yellow, airy castella-style sponge. Its soft moonlike...

Sasa kamaboko forms seasoned white-fish paste into a flat bamboo-leaf shape and grills the surface, creating a springy bite and clean fish flavor.

Okuzukake is a Sennan, Miyagi soup of taro, carrot, burdock, beans, dried shiitake, tofu, fried tofu and mame-fu, often served with short Shiroishi...

Zunda mochi coats soft rice cakes with a pale-green paste of boiled edamame, sugar and a little salt. Unlike red-bean paste, zunda keeps the green...

Sendai gyutan cuts beef tongue thickly, scores and seasons it, rests it for flavor and grills it over charcoal. A classic set combines the tongue with...

Hasekura-yaki is Fujiya Senshu's round Sendai confection: a crumbly baked dough made with butter and egg encloses white-bean paste containing chopped...

Kikufuku is a frozen cream daifuku made in Sendai by tea merchant Ocha no Igeta under its Kikusuian brand. A thin, soft mochi skin encloses a layer of...

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Shiroishi umen are dried wheat noodles made in Shiroishi, Miyagi, without applying oil during stretching. Classified in the somen family, their...

Abura-fu-don simmers slices of Tome's oil-fried wheat gluten in seasoned stock, binds them with egg and serves them over hot rice.

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Igamochi is Zao Onsen's small fresh rice confection: smooth azuki paste wrapped in a soft white rice dough, topped with a few yellow glutinous-rice...

Inago no tsukudani simmers rice grasshoppers with soy sauce, sugar, and often starch syrup until glossy and sweet-savory. It belongs to inland...

Noshi Ume is a thin amber confection made by cooking ripe plums with sugar, starch syrup and agar, then spreading and drying the mixture. It is chewy...

Omi-zuke is a winter pickle of finely chopped Yamagata-seisai mustard greens, daikon and carrot. Dark greens, white radish and orange carrot give a...

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Yamagata dashi is cucumber, eggplant, myoga, shiso, scallion, and other summer vegetables chopped finely and dressed with soy sauce. It is a solid...

Edible chrysanthemum ohitashi removes the petals, briefly blanches them in vinegar-acidulated water, chills and seasons them with soy, dashi or...

Fuki mame removes the skins of green peas, steams or simmers them tender and sweetens them while leaving recognizable pale green, floury beans.

Imoni simmers taro with meat, konnyaku, leek, mushrooms, and other vegetables and is shared at autumn imoni-kai gatherings. The social act of...

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Seisai-zuke is Yamagata's winter pickle of large, thick Yamagata seisai greens, first salted, then washed and pickled again in a soy-based seasoning...

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Yonezawa hiyajiru mixes blanched seasonal vegetables with a cool, savory dashi soaking liquid flavored by dried scallop, shiitake, freeze-dried...