Niigata Wappameshi

February 13, 2021

Wappameshi is a bowl dish, a regional dish, and apart of Niigata Cuisine. It was said to have developed in 1952 (Inaka-ya, Niigata City). In Addition to Niigata Prefecture Wappameshi thats uses “cedar plank”...Fukushima Prefecture (Aizu) has a specialty of Wappameshi called “Wabakomeshi” that uses “Cypress Planks”. Akita Prefecture also has a specialty of Wappameshi called “Magewappa” named after the container itself. Wappameshi is found all over Japan and is usually served in a specialty shop.

“Wappa” refers to traditional bentwood craft with cedarwood and comes from Ainu language and means “wheel”. During the Edo period, Lord Satake, the lord of Odate Castle, used Akita cedar trees in his territory and encouraged the lower-ranked samurai to make Magewappa Bento Boxes as a side business.It is said that farmers were made to transport raw wood from the mountains to the castle town as a substitute for the supply of annual rice tax.

“Meshi” comes from the verb “Mesu” that means served to “Eat” and began to be used in the Muromachi period (1336-1573). Meshi is used interchangeably depending on the person with “Gohan” or “Rice” and they are used depending on how the person chooses to use the word and the context of its usage. In the case of Wappameshi it is a mixture usually involving rice and being referred to as Wappa Rice.

Restaurant Inaka-ya

Niigata City, Kitaaooji Rosanjin, Inaka-ya Restaurant (Countryside Shop) is the birthplace of the dish wappameshi that is known to have rice steamed in flavored broth, topped with seasonal fish, and other ingredients.The typical foods that are on the menu are: salmon, chicken, crab, nanban shrimp, black throat, oysters, conger eels, and more. The Niigata Wappameshi originally was Salmon Oyako Wappa Meshi that has salmon and salmon roe. The stand out is Zeitaku Wappa Meshi with black throat, sea bream, salmon roe, crab, salmon, and chicken. The Echigo Wappazen has braised pork.

Wappadashi

Wappa Dashi is the seasoning that starts with the basis of Kelp, Sake, Salt, and Fatty Ingredients or Vegetables and Mushrooms that shrink when you cook them to flavor the liquid. Wappa Dashi can be used as Bone Broth “Chazuke” as a pouring dashi if there is an overabundance of flavoring liquid and it would be placed in a specialized dashi pot. Wappadashi is what gives the Wappa Rice its enhanced flavor to the already wonderful rice blends and wood aroma.

Seasoning

Kombu for umami, soy sauce and salt for enhanced flavor.

Sake Alcohol

In Niigata the sake that is made that is strong adds a lot to a dish with the sake’s subtle characteristics burning off when cooked. The prefecture isn’t only about the expensive sake, but also sake used for cooking that's moderately priced and affordable, but keeping ingredients tender and helping it stay tender for things like steamed things. When used for the dashi the flavor of the sake becomes concentrated and adds a savoriness or sweetness to the dish while keeping the rice plump and removing the fish odor.

Aonori Dried Powder

The seasoning that is desired is traditionally the umami flavor that comes from seaweed and that would be the Classic Aonori (umami.green) that has green Shiso leaves that cover the rice. Akashiso Aonori (herbspice. purple-green), Yuzu Aonori (citrus.yellow-green), Momoboshi Aonori (soursweet.yellow), Togarashi Aonori (spicy.red).

Wappa Rice

Wappa Rice is the type of rice as well as where the rice has been grown with what techniques, which affect the flavor, and then the blend of rice. With Rice growing regions the amount of polish is taken into account as well with specialty rice-polisher machines. Typically there is a single sort of rice or a mixture of rice depending on the way the people in the area prefer the dish, but the default rice is Koshihikari Rice from Niigata Prefecture. Other added rices are: Glutinous rice (mochi rice), Glutinous Barley (mochi barley).