From Spirited Away · 2001 · Reconstructed
No-Face's Bathhouse Feast
Serve when
Serve it all at once, too much of it, the way the terrified staff pile dish after dish in front of a guest they can't say no to.
In the movie
Theatrical
- ~01:11:18 Flush with gold, No-Face demands to be fed, and the bathhouse staff scramble to bring him everything in the kitchen — nigiri and rolled sushi, sweet potato roasted on hot stones, a whole squid stuffed with rice and simmered in soy, breaded pork cutlet. He eats and eats until he swells to fill the room.
No-Face's transformation runs on pure appetite: gold buys food, food buys more gold, and the staff — terrified and dazzled by his wealth — bury him in the bathhouse's whole menu at once. It's the same moral arithmetic the film runs on throughout: what you're fed, and how much of it, says exactly what kind of guest — or monster — you've become. The scene piles up real, specific dishes of Japanese festival and bathhouse fare, which is what makes the gluttony land; this isn't abstract excess, it's sushi and roasted sweet potato and a whole stuffed squid, one after another, until there's no room left to eat any of it properly.
Ingredients
- For the nigiri and rolls:
- For the ishiyaki-imo (stone-roasted sweet potato):
- For the ikameshi (rice-stuffed squid):
- For the tonkatsu:
Method
- Nigiri and rolls: Shape seasoned sushi rice into small ovals and top with tuna or shrimp; roll the rest in nori with cucumber and avocado, and slice into rounds.
- Sweet potato: Wrap whole sweet potatoes in foil and roast at 400°F for an hour, until a knife slides in with no resistance — the smell alone should fill the kitchen.
- Ikameshi: Pack the drained rice loosely into each squid tube (it expands as it cooks, so don't overfill) and skewer the opening shut. Simmer gently in the dashi, soy, mirin, and sugar for 40 minutes, turning occasionally, until the squid is tender and the rice inside is cooked through. Slice into rounds.
- Tonkatsu: Bread the cutlets in flour, egg, then panko, and fry in 340°F oil about 4 minutes a side until deep golden and the pork reads 145°F at the center. Rest 5 minutes, then slice and serve over shredded cabbage.
- Load every dish onto the table at once, more than anyone could reasonably eat, and keep serving. That's the whole point of the scene.
Beyond the recipe
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