Editor’s note: In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.

* * *

Yutaka Kitazaki, the head chef of Saryo Somamichi in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, now cooks at a place he rented in Kanazawa city.

While traveling to the Noto Peninsula on his days off to cook for evacuees from the earthquake, he gazes at the unchanging Mount Tateyama and thinks about how his daily life has changed.

Kitazaki’s recipes--born from the sea, the mountain and the path he has followed--will be introduced in two installments.

He was prompted to become a cook while he was studying the history of Japanese art at a university in Tokyo. Kitazaki was drawn to “kogei” (crafts) and hoped to “move my hands and think with my hands instead of wielding words.”

He decided to take a peek at the world of cooking, which he’d had no particular interest in up to that point.

“I wanted to eventually try ceramic art and decided to start with cooking where traditional cultures come together. With about 80 years to live, I did not think that it was a detour,” says the chef.

He approached a restaurant in Kyoto serving “kaiseki-ryori,” a traditional Japanese multi-course meal. He was a novice and out of place in that work environment, which was quite strict.

On the other hand, food in Kyoto is closely linked to the calendar and rites. This was new to him and even the task of sweeping the garden in the morning felt refreshing.

At the year-end, the staff were exhausted after making “osechi,” a traditional New Year’s food, all through the night and then switching to special serving dishes for the occasion. Yet the head chef prepared three representative osechi dishes and “zoni,” a New Year’s soup containing rice cakes, for the staff.

Then they all visited a shrine together.

Trying his first zoni with white miso was an experience that transcended its good taste. The head chef had been trained by his predecessor who was born in the Meiji Era (1868-1912), and the head chef before him knew the Edo Period (1603-1867) firsthand.

“It was amazing to feel how I was linked to history. I felt more drawn to cooking every second,” says Kitazaki.

This week’s “shiro-ingen no surinagashi” (ground haricot bean soup) is based on the zoni of Kyoto. Surinagashi is a type of soup where vegetables or seafood are ground and diluted with dashi stock.

Kitazaki felt beans should be enjoyed in ways other than simmering with sugar. The recipe is a blend of his respect for tradition and the potential he sees in ingredients.

The dark red lacquer bowl used to serve the soup was created at the studio of Akito Akagi, a lacquerware artist who opened Somamichi, an auberge in Wajima. The bowl’s color sets off the thick white soup and the accompanying field mustard reflects a longing for spring.

***

Born in Ishikawa Prefecture in 1972, Yutaka Kitazaki is the head chef of an auberge. After graduating from International Christian University, he trained in Kyoto. Later in his career, he worked at a Japanese restaurant in Kanazawa and a hotel in Niigata as the head chef. In 2023, he became the head chef at Saryo Somamichi, which was opened by Akito Akagi in Wajima. Although the building was greatly damaged by the Noto Earthquake that hit in January, they are working to reopen at the original location.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Main Ingredients (Serves 2)

120 grams dry haricot beans (about 250 grams after boiling), 60 ml boiling liquid of beans, 40 ml soymilk, 2 brown rice cakes (genmai mochi), 12 grams (2 tsp) white miso, 4 stems with blossoms of field mustard (nanohana)

1. Reconstitute haricot beans in generous amount of water overnight. Add beans and water that covers beans to pot and place on heat. When pot comes to a boil and white frothy scum appears, skim off lightly and turn to low heat. Without lid, cook beans until sufficiently tender while adding water so beans are always covered. Add a pinch of salt and remove from stove.

2. Mix beans, boiling liquid and soymilk in blender and grind them smoothly.

3. Boil field mustard in hot water with 1 percent salinity for 30 seconds, drain in sieve and cool. Lightly squeeze out water and cut into appropriate size.

4. Cook brown rice cake on grill or in toaster.

5. Heat (2) in pot. Dissolve white miso with whisk or other utensils. Place brown rice cake in bowl, pour soup and top with field mustard.

After the haricot beans are reconstituted and boiled, their weight increases by about 2.2 times. The beans can be boiled in bulk, then divided and frozen. Another recommended usage is to stir-fry them with steamed cauliflower in spiced oil to make curry.

About 300 kcal and 0.8 gram salt per portion
(Nutrient calculation by the Nutrition Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition University)

* * *

From The Asahi Shimbun’s Jinsei Reshipi (Taste of Life) column