Teppō-jiru
鉄砲汁
Hokkaidō's crab miso soup — whole hairy or snow crab simmered in dashi and miso. Named for the chopstick you poke down the shell like ramming a musket.
By Japanese Cookbook Kitchen · May 20, 2026
北海道 HokkaidōMeiji era, 1868–1912
鍋- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Serves
- 4
- Level
- Intermediate
Teppō-jiru is Hokkaidō crab cooking at its most honest — a whole crab, dashi, miso, and almost nothing else, built to make the most of the island's cold northern seas. Crab is central to Hokkaidō's identity as a fishing frontier: the modern crab industry grew out of the Meiji-era push to develop the north's fisheries, and by the twentieth century the ports of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Japan Sea were landing kegani and zuwaigani by the boatload. A soup like this is fishermen's economy — you don't waste a crab, you put the whole thing in the pot and drink what the shell gives up.
The name is the fun of it. Teppō means an old matchlock musket, and the story goes that the dish earned it from the way you eat it: poking a chopstick down each leg to ram the sweet meat out, the very motion of driving a ramrod down a barrel. It is a soup that demands you use your hands, dust the bowl with shichimi, and stop pretending to be tidy. The reward is crab sweetness carried straight into a miso broth — clean, warming, and unmistakably of the north.
Don't overcook the crab — five minutes of gentle simmer is plenty. Any longer and the meat turns cottony and gives its sweetness up to the broth instead of your mouth.
板前の一言 · A word from the kitchen
Ingredients材料
Serves 4
The pot
- 2whole crabs — hairy crab (kegani) or snow crab (zuwaigani), cleaned and cut into sections
- 1.2 Lawase dashi
- 4 tbspmiso — a red or awase miso stands up to the crab
- 1 tbspsake
- 1negi or leek — sliced on the bias, to finish
At the table
- shichimi togarashi
- chopsticks — the essential tool; see the essay
Method作り方
Step 1: Clean the crab
Lift off the top shell, discard the gills and stomach, and rinse. Cut the body into halves or quarters and crack the leg sections so the broth can reach the meat. Reserve any crab butter from the shell — it's flavour.
Step 2: Start the broth
Bring the dashi to a gentle simmer with the sake. Add any reserved crab butter and let it dissolve; it deepens the base and gives the soup its colour.
Step 3: Simmer the crab
Lower in the crab sections and simmer gently for about five minutes, until the shells flush red and the meat is just set. Skim any foam that rises — clarity matters in a soup this simple.
Step 4: Miso and finish
Take the pot off a hard boil, dissolve the miso through a ladle, and never let it boil again — boiling miso goes flat and grainy. Scatter the negi over the top.
Step 5: Serve with a ramrod
Bring the pot to the table. Give everyone a section, and a chopstick to push the meat out of the leg shells. Dust with shichimi and eat while the crab is hot and sweet.
道具 · The tools
Equipment
Donabe
土鍋The clay hot-pot that makes nabemono taste like nabemono — a gentle, even simmer that carries straight to the table.
Shop on Amazon →Portable gas burner
カセットコンロThe tabletop butane burner that turns any nabe into a shared meal — cook and eat from the same pot.
Shop on Amazon →Cooking chopsticks (saibashi)
菜箸Long chopsticks for turning, plating, and beating eggs streaky — the Japanese kitchen’s default hand.
Shop on Amazon →
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Questions from the kitchen
Why is it called "musket soup"?
Teppō means matchlock musket. The story goes that eating it means poking a chopstick down each leg shell to ram the meat out — exactly the motion of driving a ramrod down a gun barrel. It's an affectionate name for a hands-on, slightly messy bowl.
Which crab should I use?
In Hokkaidō it's kegani, the hairy crab, prized for intensely sweet meat and rich butter, or snow crab for longer, easier legs. Both work. If you're buying pre-cooked crab, add it at the very end just to warm through, and lean on the dashi for depth.
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