Japanese Cookbook日本の台所 · The Japanese Kitchen

Kozuyu

こづゆ

Aizu's clear celebration soup on a dried-scallop broth, served in shallow red lacquer bowls — a samurai-era feast dish of dried mountain foods, refilled freely.

By Japanese Cookbook Kitchen · June 2, 2026

東北 TōhokuEdo era, 1603–1868

Kozuyu鍋
Prep
30 min
Cook
30 min
Serves
6
Level
Intermediate

Kozuyu is the special-occasion soup of Aizu, the old castle domain in the mountainous west of what is now Fukushima. It was born of a landlocked luxury: Aizu sat far from any sea, so dried seafood — above all dried scallops — was precious, and a broth built on them signaled a feast. Under the Aizu samurai domain it became the fixed dish of weddings, New Year and formal celebration, ladled from dried mountain stores — shiitake, kikurage, taro, wheat-gluten fu — into small red-lacquer bowls. That it leans entirely on preserved ingredients is the point: this is snow country turning its winter pantry into ceremony, the refined counterpart to the region's rougher one-pot stews.

The craft is restraint. The scallops are soaked overnight and simmered so gently the broth never clouds; the seasoning is light soy and salt, nothing that would mask the shellfish. Everything is cut small and even so a shallow bowl carries a little of each. And then there is the etiquette: Aizu serves kozuyu in tiny, footed lacquer bowls and refills them freely, because letting a guest's bowl run empty at a celebration is unthinkable. Small portions, a bright pot kept going round the table — hospitality engineered into the serving dish itself.

The broth must stay clear. Soak the dried scallops overnight and keep the pot at a whisper — a rolling boil clouds it and coarsens the whole dish.

板前の一言 · A word from the kitchen

Ingredients材料

Serves 6

Broth

  • 6dried scallops (hotate no kaibashira) — the heart of the dish; soak overnight and keep the soaking water — it is half your dashi
  • 1 litrewater, plus the scallop soaking liquid
  • 1 tbspusukuchi (light) soy sauce — light soy keeps the broth pale; dark soy would muddy it
  • 1 tbspsake
  • 1 tspsalt, to taste

The solids (all cut small and uniform)

  • 1small carrot, cut in thin coins or flowers
  • 4dried shiitake, soaked and quartered
  • 1 handfulkikurage (wood-ear mushroom), soaked
  • 60 gsatoimo (taro), peeled and diced small
  • 1 sheetkonnyaku, cut in tiny rectangles
  • 8dried mame-fu (wheat-gluten balls) or ita-fu — the little wheat-gluten puffs that soak up broth; a defining touch
  • 1 handfulmitsuba or snow peas, to finish

Method作り方

  1. Step 1: Build the scallop dashi

    Soak the dried scallops overnight in a bowl of water. The next day, simmer them with the soaking liquid and fresh water very gently for twenty minutes, shredding the scallops into the pot. Never let it boil hard — clarity is the whole aesthetic.

  2. Step 2: Add the firm vegetables

    Slip in carrot, shiitake, kikurage, taro and konnyaku, all cut small so a spoon takes several at once. Simmer until the taro is just tender, skimming any foam to keep the broth bright.

  3. Step 3: Season lightly and add the fu

    Season with light soy, sake and salt — restrained, so the scallop stays forward. Add the wheat-gluten fu near the end so they swell with broth but don't collapse.

  4. Step 4: Serve in shallow lacquer, and refill

    Ladle into small, shallow red-lacquer bowls — the traditional vessel. In Aizu it is bad manners to let a guest's bowl sit empty at a celebration, so refills are expected; portions are small precisely so the pot keeps going round.

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Questions from the kitchen

Why the small shallow lacquer bowls?

Kozuyu is a banquet dish, and Aizu serves it in shallow, footed red-lacquer bowls called tebashio, holding only a few mouthfuls. The small size is deliberate: at weddings and New Year, the host keeps refilling, and a large bowl would break the rhythm of that hospitality.

What if I can't find dried scallops?

Then make something else, honestly — the dried scallop broth is the soul of kozuyu, prized precisely because Aizu is a landlocked mountain domain where dried seafood was a luxury. A kombu-and-shiitake broth is a decent vegetarian relative, but it is a cousin, not the dish.

Why is everything cut so small?

Partly elegance and partly logic. Small, uniform pieces let each shallow bowl carry a bit of everything, and they cook fast in a clear broth. It is the refined, ceremonial end of Tōhoku's dried-and-preserved larder.

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