Ryuji Puts His Hot Pot Soups with Daisho, Which Sold 2.8 Million Servings, to Summer Use: A "Slimming Hot Pot" and a "Hot Pot Soup Curry"

Ryuji first points out that people tend not to eat hot pot itself in summer. On the other hand, plenty of people want to lose weight in summer. So using it as a summer "slimming soup" is important, and in his view the kimchi hot pot soup is well suited to that purpose.

On diet food, Ryuji repeats, "I've said it many times, but it's all about keeping it easy." If it isn't easy, you won't keep it up, so this time he doesn't use a knife. People who buy hot pot soup want to take it easy in the first place and probably don't want to add a bunch of seasonings. And for people trying to lose weight, simpler is better too. He gives these two points as his reasons for prioritizing simplicity.

The ingredients are shirataki noodles, soybean sprouts, firm tofu, oyster mushrooms, pork loin, eggs, and natto. The shirataki is rinsed in lukewarm water before going in. Ryuji explains that it has almost no calories. You can use it as is, but cutting it a little makes it easier to eat. If you put it in uncut, he says, it becomes like ramen. Regular bean sprouts are fine instead of soybean sprouts, but he said soybean sprouts are more filling, which makes them good for diet food. The tofu is torn by hand and added to bulk up the dish. The oyster mushrooms can also just be torn apart, so no knife is needed.

For the meat, he skipped pork belly and recommended cheap thinly sliced pork loin. It has almost no fat, which he says makes it good for diet food. You can make it with chicken breast too, but he says pork goes better with this soup. However, if the soup's broth is weak, lean meat makes the flavor bland. That's where this hot pot soup comes in.

As for why this slimming hot pot doesn't feel less satisfying, Ryuji pointed to what's in the soup. It contains gochujang and beef stock and is modeled on the flavor of yukgaejang, so even as diet food it's very satisfying, he says. He also said that gathering gochujang, beef extract, miso, fish-based seasonings and so on at home is a hassle, so the advantage of this product is that one pouch takes care of it all. Once you pour in the whole pouch of soup, you just cover and simmer, and that's the whole process. According to Ryuji, this soup is only 56 kcal. Hot pot is a healthy dish to begin with, so it pairs extremely well with a slimming soup, he says. As for frequency, he says that if you eat this a few times a week, you'll be fine.

Once it's cooked, beaten egg is drizzled in. He added the egg as a source of protein. To make it even more satisfying, two packs of natto go in. The included sauce isn't used, because the hot pot soup's flavor is delicious enough. Ryuji explained that Korea also has an ingredient similar to natto, and that it's great dissolved into a spicy hot pot. He also noted that natto is rich in protein and low in calories, and said that since there's shirataki at the bottom too, this alone can replace a meal.

Daisho's president, who is reportedly younger than Ryuji, appeared during the shoot. Ryuji was surprised, saying that a company whose president shows up for a shoot like this is impressive. After tasting it, the president said it tastes completely different from the original hot pot, but it's a flavor you'd crave in summer. He also said that because it's healthy yet full-flavored, it seems like something you could eat without getting tired of it. One employee said, "I fail at dieting every year, but with this I think I could succeed." The tasters also noted that the natto's aroma doesn't come through very strongly. Ryuji added that since no oil was added, it has almost no calories and provides a good amount of protein.

After the tasting, Ryuji was led to another room. The room apparently had a large number of products or something featuring Ryuji's picture lined up, and he laughed, saying, "They must have worked really hard lining these up." Then a large group of employees came in, announced that the Kimchi Hot Pot Soup and Chicken Sansho Hot Pot Soup co-supervised with Ryuji had passed 2.8 million servings, and expressed their gratitude.

Ryuji thanked them somewhat awkwardly, taking it not as his own achievement but as a joint development and the result of everyone's hard work. The company also presented him with an extra-large luxury cake and a thank-you gift said to have been the president's idea.

On why the products sold, Ryuji describes his role as something like a megaphone for promotion. It's not that anything sells just because he's involved. Whether something spreads as a result of promotion depends on the quality of the product, so it sold this well because the product is good—that's his view. As evidence, he also cited the fact that it sold this much even though he has only put out about 12 videos featuring this hot pot soup. He mentioned that someone who says they've tried nearly every commercial product had raved about it, and thanked viewers for spreading the word on social media.

Next, as a new recipe to boost sales further, he started on an arrangement of the Chicken Sansho Hot Pot Soup. Ryuji's answer to how to get people to eat hot pot in summer was to turn it into curry. He wants to create something that can be eaten as hot pot and is also delicious as soup curry.

The ingredients are few: chicken drumettes, cabbage, the Chicken Sansho Hot Pot Soup, and curry powder. The cabbage is about half a head, which he estimates at around 500–600 g, and goes in with the core removed. The drumettes come to about 650–700 g. Using all chicken thigh would make it easier to eat, but Ryuji says drumettes give more flavor. He also mentioned that chicken wings are commonly used in soup curry. The whole pouch of soup is used, because leftovers deteriorate. Ryuji himself loves this sansho-forward soup and said there are fans of it among the people involved as well.

At first, no curry powder goes in. The idea is that people who also want to enjoy hot pot can first eat it as hot pot once it's bubbling and simmered, then add curry powder afterward to turn it into curry at any time. Some people may feel uneasy about adding curry powder to hot pot soup, but Ryuji explained that because the umami is strong and the aromas of sansho and curry go well together, it becomes a spicy curry.

The simmering time sounds like "230 minutes" in the subtitles, but it seems to mean around 20 to 30 minutes. If making curry, it's tastier simmered longer, but he says it's enough once the meat is cooked through. When the cabbage has simmered until completely soft, that's the time to eat it as hot pot. For the curry, he first added about 2 tablespoons of curry powder, then tasted and increased it to 2½ tablespoons. Asked whether any store-bought curry powder will do, he answered that anything is fine. The finished dish was a soup curry–style plate served with rice.

The employees who tasted it remarked that because of the tingly sansho flavor, it's completely different from the curry they usually eat. Ryuji responded that the sansho aroma makes it an exotic curry. Simmered, the drumettes become tender enough to fall apart with a spoon. Others said it's like a spice curry, and that sansho and curry go well together. Ryuji said that he himself sometimes adds sansho to curry he makes to give it a Chinese style, and that this is another possible direction.

On calories, Ryuji explained that since it uses neither flour nor oil, it's lower in calories than ordinary curry. The soup itself is only 64 kcal, he says. Asked whether it's okay to overeat it, he replied that overeating is not okay, but recommended it for people who want to eat curry without gaining weight. It makes about 4–5 servings. An employee asked whether, since that's a lot for someone living alone, they could eat half as hot pot on day one and turn it into curry on day two, and Ryuji confirmed that works. He explained that he built it around meat and cabbage so that it could be turned into curry just by adding curry powder later. Employees also asked whether this could become an official recipe.

Finally, comparing the two dishes side by side, some said they preferred the kimchi hot pot arrangement. Someone said natto is a must in the kimchi hot pot, and Ryuji replied that if you don't dislike natto, it's better to add it. To the comment that they thought lean loin might be unsatisfying but found it plenty satisfying, Ryuji explained that it's because the soup itself has richness. He said he himself considers it a masterpiece.

To wrap up, Ryuji announced that this hot pot soup, which has passed 2.8 million servings, sold so well again this year that sales will continue, so it can be bought in summer too. Saying he wants to make winter even bigger, he encouraged viewers to try the arrangements.

After that, he toured Daisho's other products on display in the office. Ryuji was amused, saying, "There's nothing but suspicious-looking stuff." One unfamiliar product after another came out: a thickening seasoning reportedly made solely for adding to hot pot, Sumire fried rice seasoning, tonkotsu soup, yakitori hot pot soup, a hot pot soup said to be made by adding grated yam, a curry mapo tofu mix, and more. Ryuji said he was especially curious about a shabu-shabu hot pot soup he had never tried. He called a company that keeps putting out products like these "amazing," and the video ends with him saying he wants to keep working hard alongside companies like this.