Tekitou: Autumn #14: In the Soup / 秋＃１４：I love ゆ

Winter is creeping up on us here. The days are shorter, skin is drier, feets are colder, moods are heavier.
冬が私にこっそり忍び寄っているじゃん。日暮れがだんだん早くなって、肌がだんだんかさかさに、足下はだんだん冷えて、心がだんだん重ーくて。

Time for soup.

スープの季節だ。

I've been reluctant to attempt any ambitious broths here, since I can literally walk out the front door and eat a cheap bowl of noodles bathing in a well loved soup of bones and other various choice tidbits that has been stewed for days. The details of such potions can be found here, at my favorite ramen blog. But since I'm celebrating Thanksgiving with nabe -- Japanese hotpot -- I thought I'd try my hand at loving up some soup.
日本は世界中愛されたラーメンの天国なので、別に自分が時間をかけて、骨から汁を作る必要がないね。でも今年の感謝際は鍋で祝おうつもりで、ゆっくりでスープをやってみようと思った。

My idea was to pair chicken with yuzu, to flatten any ambitious cold viruses. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit. It's kind of the ugly cousin to the beloved mikan -- mandarin orange. Its juice is similar to that of the grapefruit, but it is certainly unfriendly to the casual curious eater.
チッキンスープに柚子を使おうと思って、風邪を防ぐために。

As you can see, it is humorlessly jammed full of seeds.
みかんより醜い柚子を開けても中身も種いっぱいで、まるでみかんのへんてこないとこと考えちゃう。でも柚子にでも魅力あるね。

I'd also add some fragrant mitsuba, which is not dissimilar to parsley.
それに三つ葉を。

Mitsuba is also a little unfriendly. Be sure to at least blanch it, or it pricks the mouth.
三つ葉も熱湯に通さないと友好的でないね。

A wonderful pot of soup requires a certain kind of commitment. It's not a particularly high maintenance relationship, but it does require a long period of tending to, even if with just a bit of one's energies. It's more like a steady, healthfully rooted relationship, that still needs someone to skim the goop off of the top and keep the fire lit.
すばらしいスープを作ることに傾倒しなければなりません。あまり多くを要求する相手じゃないけど、スープはいい付き合いのように根気がいる。

Hours of tending the hearth yielded a light and tasty broth, brightened by yuzu.
何時間が経ってからこの軽くて柚子で明るくしたスープ。

Perhaps more gratifying still was the stewed chicken meat I extracted from the soup, sliced up and served over rice with mitsuba and chili sauce.
もう一つの楽しみはその煮た鶏肉！それを切って、ご飯に載せた。