🍱 Iriyaki

A hot pot dish that has been passed down since ancient times in Tsushima, a remote island in the Sea of Japan. Since long ago, local households had a custom of slaughtering locally raised chickens to serve in a yosenabe hot pot for ceremonial family gatherings, and this is said to be connected to the "Iriyaki" of today. However, households by the sea in fishing villages were said to make their hot pot using fish caught in the nearby sea instead of chicken. Today, the basic "Iriyaki" recipe has two variations: one with chicken and one with fish. It is called "Iriyaki" because when making the hot pot, the chicken or fish are first fried in camellia oil. It is considered to be the same cooking technique as the "Iriyaki" that appears in “the Konjaku Monogatari” during the Heian period.