Nabemono

Nabemono is prepared in a bubbling cauldron at your restaurant table. Trays of raw ingredients are brought to the table and the people themselves do the cooking. The items cook quickly so their freshness and taste are preserved, and as the meal goes on the cooking liquid absorbs flavors from the food being cooked in it.

Nabemono can use a variety of meats: oysters, scallops, cod, salmon, prawns, turtle, wild boar, venison, horsemeat and chicken. Chanko-nabe is made with chicken, seafood, potatoes and other vegetables and is a staple food item for sumo wrestlers.

Non-meat items can include fungi, scallions, grated radish, red paper, chrysanthemum leaves and potatoes. The liquid is not wasted, either, as towards the end of the meal you will get udon noodles or rice which is then added to the pot to soak up the liquid and is then eaten.