🍲 Kujira Jiru (Whale Soup)

The whale food culture was developed around Hachinohe City because there were whaling bases in Hachinohe City. There is a saying "One whale brings lots of benefits to seven fisher villages" to express how whale brought many blessings to the locals. The taste of whale varies in each part, but "shiromi" (=white part) close to the back skin is used for "Kujira Jiru". As this part is the bunch of fat, you need to repeat parboiling it or fry without oil to remove excess fat before cooking. This dish is served at the New Year celebration to wish "catching something big in the new year" or "to become a person with big influence" like a whale and so on.