♬ (the sound of a burner)
There is a pig that bathes in this hotel’s hot spring.
… Well, it’s actually pork meat. The dish that is known as “Tōji Pork” is cooked by soaking vacuum sealed meat in a 68 degree Celsius bath for 3 hours. This allows the meat to completely soak in its own juices, and results in a perfectly roasted pork.
That piece of perfection is then sliced and seared on the surface before serving it over rice. This lunch dish is called the “Tōji pork bowl.” The taste is unlike any other piece of pork. “A juicy sweetness” is the best we could come up with to describe it , but that description doesn’t do it justice. All we can say is once you try it, you will learn the true meaning of the word “juicy”.
Lastly, I’ll let you in on a secret, since you’re listening.
One time, Chef Yanagi put the pork meat in the bath to soak, and completely forgot to take it out after 3 hours. Before anyone had realized, it had stayed there overnight, for over 24 hours! When he tasted it, the meat was so deliciously tender it melted in his mouth. This kind of meat is as tender as tender gets.
There’s no telling whether you will be able to try a piece of 24 hour boiled pork. In fact your chances are quite slim. But if you are at all interested in this special meal, it is worth a visit.
No matter the number of hours, it is delicious and easy to make. All you do to the meat is let it sit inside a hot spring-- isn’t that neat? Incidentally, Matsunoyama Onsen doesn’t sell souvenirs, so your only chance of eating Tōji pork is coming in for a meal.
※Lunch Only
Address：49-1 Matsunoyama-Yumoto, Tokamachi
Phone Number：025-596-2525
Price Range：¥1,500〜
Scum isn’t bad, but rather it holds the umami of the meat
──An Interview with Mr. Yanagi of Hina-no-Yado Chitose↓
---What exactly is Tōji pork?
The temperature of the Matsunoyama hot springs exceeds 194 degrees Fahrenheit. When that water flows under the ground to every lodge, the temperature cools down to about 158 degrees which is the temperature of the water that comes out of our tap, and we use that water in special vats where we cook our pork. The pork meat is vacuum-sealed in packs, which we place in these vats for 3 hours at a temperature of around 154 degrees. This results in our famous roast pork.
---I’m imagining the process is a lot like a sous vide.
Pork meat is almost all protein. If you cook it in temperatures over 158, the fibers start to lose their moisture. That moisture is where all that umami flavor is. The high heat shrinks the fibers and squeezes out all that flavor juice. We vacuum-seal the meat to prevent that from happening, and cooking it slowly at a low heat keeps that meat tender and juicy.
---Tōji pork is beautifully pink when you cut into it!
It’s the hue of a rose wine, isn’t it? You usually imagine pork as a grilled meat, so there are certain people that recoil when they see the pink, even though it’s moist and quite delicious. That’s why we sear the surface over an open fire very carefully so that we don’t dry out the meat inside.
---What are the elements that make Tōji pork “Grade-A Gourmet?”
We start with locally raised pork, of course, but the most important element is probably the hot-spring water. These springs aren’t heated by gas, electricity, or any fossil fuels. It’s a very pure sort of energy that is unique to this region, and we harness it in our food.
---The hot springs themselves are quite unusual, aren’t they?
Right. About 10 million years ago, there was a tectonic shift that locked seawater above a magma reservoir. Because of that, the springs are naturally hot enough to burn the skin.
---At that temperature, why not just make the pork into shabu-shabu? Why the vacuum-sealing?
If you try sipping some of the water, you’ll notice that it’s quite salty. It’s fossilized seawater, so the salt levels are about the same as regular seawater. That alone isn’t a problem, but the water has an acrid taste to it, as well. I was born and raised here, and when I was a child I experimented with using the water to make rice or boiling it down to isolate the salt. But, well, I failed spectacularly. (laughs)
---The Matsunoyama springs are known as one of the “Big Three” therapeutic hot springs for their mineral content, right?
Yes, they’re very rich in minerals. There’ve been many people in the past that tried and failed to create new things with the spring water, but it never went too well. Sous vide cooking was taking off at that same time, so we experimented for 2 to 3 years before perfecting our “3 hours at 154 degrees” method. We also tried different things with beef and chicken, but the requirements would change for those.
---Is the “Tsumari pork” you use also raised around this area?
Yes, the pigs are raised in the Echigo-Tsumari Region, which includes the cities of Tōkamachi and Tsunan. The best characteristic of Tsumari pork is how fatty it is, and the melting point of fat is at around 89 degrees, which is lower than our natural body temperature. When it enters your mouth it naturally melts, releasing all that sweetness and umami. Wagyu beef melts in your mouth for the same reason. It slips in your hands just from touching it.
---Is the melting point so low because the pigs were raised in the Snow Country?
I suppose that’s part of it. Echigo-Tsumari is famously cold and gets a lot of heavy snow, making it one of the few regions that is free from PRRS. Because the pigs aren’t at risk for PRRS, there’s no need to use antibiotics. Tsumari pigs are raised from birth without antibiotics and with a lot of care for keeping their nutrition in balance. We’ve also created a very special sort of pork called “Koshinokurenai.” Butchers hand-pick the best pigs, then age the meat for a few weeks to create it. Because of how selective the process is, it is produced in very low quantities and served at very few establishments. We are privileged to be one such establishment.
---What happens when you age pork meat?
It causes the pork meat to marble in a way that’s similar to "sashi” in high quality beef. The aging process further lowers the melting point of the fat, making it even more moist. I think you can clearly taste the difference. The sweetness really stands out.
---I was shocked by how moist and ‘mellow’ it was when I tried it.
It’s all because of how the meat retains all that umami. We pack all that juice in without draining a drop. You could probably criticize it because it also retains its pungency, but that’s also because we’re using the best pork around. That juice actually boils at around 210 degrees, and when it does it seethes out in a brown foam and solidifies. Our low-and-slow process prevents that from happening and keeps the meat nice and moist.
--- I bet it wouldn’t taste the same if you just used regular water and heated it with a machine, right?
Not at all. Or so I’d like to say, but it really makes no difference. But I think using the natural energy of the hot springs, which is free from fossil fuels or CO2 emissions, in itself makes a huge difference.
---I see...That’s why you mentioned that at the beginning.
Yes. Japan classifies any welling of water at over 77 degrees as a “hot spring.” There’s no ranking system for hot springs, but I think Matsunoyama is a bit extreme it in a lot of areas, not just in the temperature department.
──What are the things you’re most careful about while you work?
I left the region for about 15 years after graduating high school to train, but you could say it was the mountain’s blessing that made me want to return. You can find many different ingredients if you pay close attention, and, looking at the big picture, they make for good tourist attractions. On the other hand, I was reminded of the bad things, like all the snow. It really is astounding how much snow we get - it’s hard to relax!
---Why do people continue to live in such a snow-ridden area?
That’s because, despite the brutal winters, the mountain is bursting with wild plants in the spring, and the greenery of early summer is beautiful. It makes us forget all that wintertime toil. If we didn’t, I don’t think we could keep living here. (laughs)
---I heard that the children of Matsunoyama are forced to live and attend schools in neighboring cities as a result of the heavy snow, and that the roads are so clogged up that public transit has been cut.
Currently, we leverage the hot springs to power a “snow-melting pipe.” This pipe routes river water that has been warmed by the hot springs down the middle of the roads to melt away the snow. We actually completed work on it a few years ago. Before, there were times when the snows would pile up to 80 centimeters overnight. Normally a plough would drive through at 5 AM to clear the road for the morning traffic, but it just kept piling up. The ploughs had to work in other districts, too, so they would do the bare minimum and “do the rest later.” It’s hard to move throughout the day on roads that haven’t been ploughed correctly, you know? Also, I’ll always remember how, as a kid, all the inns would be empty through the winter, not because customers wouldn’t come, but because customers couldn’t come.
---But isn’t winter the most lucrative season for a hot spring town?
Resorts were open, but did not receive any business because people physically couldn’t reach us. From the moment you stepped out the door you’d hit a 2 meter wall of snow. All the grownups would stay in and play mahjong all day. (laughs)
I suppose it’s because humans are forgetful by nature.
The background of something like Toji pork goes without saying. And, since you’ve come all the way here to Matsunoyama Hot Springs, we hope you’ll try it out for yourself, while stopping on the way home for a dip at Taka-no-yu, or a bit further out of the way at Nasteview Yunoyama
Whichever one you pick, you’ll surely wonder what it is you’re smelling is as soon as you enter. It’s not sulphur, but rather the “medicinal” elements of the springs.
Some people say it smells like petroleum, but that too is no accident. It’s said that the waters of Matsunoyama come from a landlocked “fossilized sea” dating around 10 million years. You could say that this water, which has steeped and aged for countless years underground, is an ancestor to petroleum.
Now, why are the Matsunoyama Hot Springs so...hot?
Nearly every hot spring in Japan is volcanic, but there aren’t any volcanoes near Matsunoyama.Why then is the water over 190 degrees? The hot springs spout from a depth of 3000 meters, and the high temperature is apparently due to a highly pressurized threshold known locally as the “Matsunoyama Dome,” within which the temperature climbs to over 280 degrees. A tiny crack in that threshold is enough to heat the fossilized sea water all at once, ensuring that it never cools as it surges to the surface.
Now, why not take a dip for yourself and experience the astonishing heat of this marvelous hot spring?
