Kamonabe (鴨鍋)
A kamonabe is a duck hot pot with other ingredients such as hakusai cabbage, green onions, tofu and so on.
Hunters use mallard meat which they hunt, but generally, duck meat on the market is either farm-raised duck or a hybrid from a wild or domestic duck is used for a kamonabe. Though a duck meat itself produces a good quality broth with a strong flavor, it is also very tasty if a stock made of kombu kelp is added.
A restaurant specialized in kamonabe, located in Niihama, Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, a town well-known as a hunting ground for the Imperial Household Agency, boasts of its sukiyaki-style kamonabe as its specialty. This is prepared, first, by pan-frying duck meat in a shallow pot made of earthware (because the duck itself contains fat, there is no need to use any cooking oil), and then cooking it with vegetables in stock mixed with soy sauce, sweet sake and sugar.
Although duck meat may look greasy, unlike beef, its cholesterol level is low and it contains a high level of unsaturated fatty acid and vitamins (A and B2). Thus it is considered to be more healthy than other meat.
To enjoy the richness of duck meat, rice will be added in the end so that it can be eaten as rice gruel.