Miso is spread around the inside rim of the pot and banked up, the way earth is banked along a river. Oysters, tofu, and vegetables go into the middle, and everything cooks in front of you while you eat it.

The person eating breaks the bank down, a little at a time, with their chopsticks. So the broth starts light and gets steadily stronger as the meal goes on, and how strong it gets is not the cook's decision.

Why it is called dote, embankment, is disputed. The accepted explanation is the obvious one: the miso is banked like a levee. Another says a peddler named Dote invented it. Another says it was sold on the embankment in Osaka, where Hiroshima's oyster boats used to moor and sell.

Traditionally raw oysters are used, and the miso is Fuchu miso from this prefecture. Oysters have been cultivated in the bays around Hiroshima for centuries, which is the reason the dish exists here and not elsewhere. It was named to the ministry's hundred regional dishes. Outside Hiroshima you sometimes find it called kaki no doteyaki instead. It is a winter dish, made when the oysters are at their best. How salty it ends up is left to whoever is holding the chopsticks.