Tomoko-san’s mizutaki in shingai-cho
In a residential area by the name of Shingai-cho located about 20 minutes by car from Fukuyama Station, there is a restaurant by the name of “Ikeguchi Seiniku-ten (butcher’s shop)”. I decided to pay the eatery a visit after hearing how skilled of a cook the original owner’s wife is. Tomoko Ikeguchi is 75 years old, and people are such fans of flavorful creations that, even if she turns down a request to make food for a local festival, she is still asked to “at least do the seasoning”.
I arrived at Tomoko’s home to find her waiting for me with a smile in her sunny kitchen. A large, restaurant-sized pot sat atop the two-burner home oven. Tomoko told me she was going to show me two dishes: “kuwai no nimono（simmered arrowhead）” and “mizutaki（a hot pot with chicken and vegetables）”. Fukuyama apparently leads Japan in the production of kuwai.
Tomoko demonstrated how she extracted the color from kuchinashi (gardenia fruit) by pickling them in water overnight. “We used to have a kuchinashi tree growing in our garden, and I was use the fruit to add color to the kuwai no nimono. The tree had these beautiful white flowers and smelled wonderful.” The kuwai are peeled, with the sprouts left attached.
The kuwai are then placed in placed in boiling water and then parboiled over a high flame. After they have boiled for a bit, the water is removed and the soup stock extracted. Then, the yellow kuchinashi water (the water the kuchinashi was pickled in), a generous amount of sugar, and a dash of salt are added, followed by the kuwai, which need to be put in carefully so they don’t come apart while boiling. The entire mix is then set over a low flame for around 15 minutes. The bright yellow hue is beautiful, and the flaky texture with a mild sweetness somewhere between that of a chestnut and potato is delightful.
Next came the mizutaki. Tomoko has three children, 13 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren, which she laughingly says led to her being called “Kimottama Ka-san” (a character from a TV series known for her boisterous personality and plump figure). The family business keeps everyone busy enough that the Ikeguchi household sit down for meals together, with everyone instead coming in to eat in turns when they get a free moment. So, nabe (Japanese stew) and mizutaki are tasty and efficient dishes for making sure everyone gets fed. Once the soup stock has been extracted from the konbu and jawbone, the meat is then put in first to boil. “We use two kinds of meat: chicken and pork belly. I put in a lot to begin with, but usually the last person in the family to eat will end up complaining that there’s no meat left by the time they get to it.” Tomoko then adds chopped daikon (Japanese radish), hakusai (Chinese cabbage), carrots, long onions, shiitake, and shimeji (shimeji mushroom). Tomoko packs the pot to the brim because, as she states with enjoyment, “The food tends to disappear right away once people start digging in.”
Once the vegetables have lost some of their water content and there is a bit more room in the pot, Tomoko applies the final touches by adding in even more ingredients like chikuwa (tube-shaped fish paste cake), konnyaku noodles, and shungiku (crown daisy). The superb combination of meat, vegetables, and broth makes mizutaki so tasty one could eat it forever. It’s proof that there are some kinds of dishes out there that, for some reason, taste better when cooked in a big pot rather than in smaller portions.
After the mizutaki was finished, Tomoko’s husband Wataru arrived. When asked about how the two of them met, Tomoko told me that she began working at an old supermarket after finishing middle school and Wataru just happened to be employed in the butcher’s section. They later wed when she was 18 and Wataru was 24. “I can’t really complain about a life married to someone I love, surrounded by family, and with plenty of delicious meat always on hand to boot,” Tomoko stated raptly. However, that doesn’t mean the romance of this happy couple was always smooth-sailing.
At the time, there were still lingering traces of discrimination against those in the meat industry (due to the industry’s deep historical connection with lower-class settlements). Apparently there were some in Tomoko’s family who were opposed to her marriage to Wataru due to his profession. But, Wataru had become a butcher because of his love for meat and took great pride in his work. So, he set his mind on ignoring whatever anyone else said and being diligent about his craft until such prejudice became a thing of the past. Wataru’s earnest determination apparently paid off as sales at the store he oversaw kept on rising. Not long after, Tomoko’s younger brother, who happened to be the only son in the Ikeguchi household, passed away, prompting Tomoko to return to her parents’ home with her husband and own family. Then, 37 years ago, they remodeled part of the family home to create the Ikeguchi Seiniku-ten.
Wataru developed the shop’s hallmark “minced katsu” almost immediately upon going independent. Though the meat is minced, Wataru forgoes ends and leavings and instead uses meat selected specifically for this item each time he makes a batch. Sold for 80 yen at the time, his minced katsu became a big hit with the local children due to its flavor. The kids apparently enjoyed seeing the way Wataru would hang a 100kg cow up and then cut it into four pieces. Tomoko herself became a mother figure for many children in the area due to her habit of giving even those without money small snacks to eat and having them help her cook.
But, Shingai-cho is a residential area, meaning that it was a decidedly unideal place to run a business. And what’s more after Ikeguchi Seiniku-ten had been open for around a year, Japan lifted its ban on importing meat. It became cheaper to obtain meat from overseas, and this meant more supermarkets opening in the area. “I thought we were done for,” Tomoko said quietly. Looking back on those days, she said that business was apparently so bad that “The two of us even talked of hanging ourselves if we found a tree that looked strong enough. I can’t believe we made it through that.” Wataru never once found himself despising his work, though, and kept pushing forward with mind always on what tomorrow may bring.
Then, right around the time when Wataru and Tomoko were starting to think of closing the shop since they were in debt and didn’t want to trouble anyone, one of their sons who knew how hard his parents worked and much their customers loved them offered to take over the family business. The infusion of youthful sense and energy got business back on track, and once their grandchildren got involved too, the shop grew even more, to the point that they even hired staff who weren’t members of the family.
The senses of taste and smell are truly strange in how they are more strongly tied to a person’s memory and emotions than sight or hearing. Perhaps it’s because of this that Wataru and Tomoko have been able to create so many happy memories, like that of their grandchildren who can tell right away that mizutaki is on the menu tonight once the smell of soup stock hits their noses as they enter the front door, or those former customers who cry out that this is the taste of their youth when they eat the minced katsu the couple serves at an event. Wataru and Tomoko have been married for 57 years, and are still so in love that they are always arm-in-arm in photos, and often walk about while holding hands. Today the Ikeguchi family will once again gather around for some mizutaki with the two them.
【Visiting Grandma】
Yu Nakamura
A culinary researcher based in Bangkok. Founder of 40creations. During college, she realized that good food could create smiles, regardless of country borders or age. In 2012, she start the project YOU BOX to share “ridiculously delicious” experiences with the world, and hunting “Grandma’s recipes” at the same time. Published a book in Japanese based on the interviews she's done for 100 people in 15 countries for ３ years. In 2018, she found TASTE HUNTERS with domestic partners in Thai.
Translation: Luke Baker