When our friend Jeffery comes to stay he cooks a Japanese meal for us. The last couple of times, he has introduced to the delights of Nabe, which involves the cooking as well as the eating as part of the social part of the meal, and we finally got round to trying it ourselves last night.

You need a pot which can be heated at the table; we’ve got various iron pots (good heat retention) and a portable induction hob, which fit the bill. You start off with a hot stock or soup (we made a broth from miso paste and water) and then add from plates of thinly chopped ingredients – not too much but enough to give a helping to each person. Once cooked, you pick out your portion, eat it and then repeat for the next round. After two or three goes, the liquid has been further enriched by all the things cooked in it and you finish off by adding noodles which, with the soup, form the final course.

After the meal, I found a well-illustrated guide online which I might use for recipe ideas.