Japanese restaurant uses sauce pot that hasn't been washed in 60 years (4 photos + 1 video)
The popular Tokyo restaurant Abe-chan, whose signature dish is pork in sweet and sour sauce, took part in the TV show. And it turned out that one of the secrets of the restaurant’s success was a rather dubious-looking pot, covered with a frozen dark mass. Skewers with meat have been dipped into this container for the last 60 years. Cleaning it is strictly prohibited! 
According to the restaurant owner, this pot has never been washed over the past 60 years, which apparently determines the rich taste of the sauce. 
Instead of cleaning out the sauce container every day after closing, restaurant staff simply pour the remaining sauce into it, which only “enhances its flavor.” A frozen mass around a clay pot is not the most appetizing sight, but for the owners of Abe-chan, it is a valuable treasure displayed for everyone to see right next to the grill.
The establishment was founded in 1933 by the grandfather of the current owner, and the sauce pot dates back to that time. The tradition of adding sauce without cleaning the container has been followed by all three generations, and the current owner believes it has contributed to the success of the family business. 
The TV show also featured experts who were asked whether using such a sauce for cooking is dangerous. Is it really possible to just constantly add new sauce to the dried remains of the old one? One expert said that if the sauce has undergone long-term heat treatment, then there is no danger of bacterial contamination. In addition, they conducted an experiment: clean water was added to a container with black water 365 times, and by the end of the experiment, most of the original contents were no longer there. So it’s not a fact that there are remnants of 60-year-old sauce in an unwashed pot.
The TV show caused a great stir on the Internet, and while some visitors to Abe-chan defended their favorite establishment, claiming that they had been eating there for many years and had never experienced health problems due to food, others stated that an unwashed container of sauce represented poses a serious hygiene problem. 
It is currently unknown how the restaurant is dealing with criticism of its long-standing tradition. Some sources say the owner decided to continue business as usual despite the controversy surrounding the dirty pot, while others say it was the first time in 60 years that the sauce pot had been cleaned.
Interestingly, this is not an isolated case. It is known that in another Japanese restaurant, for 65 years, it has been customary to use the same “rich” broth with the addition of water and new ingredients. And in the Thai restaurant Wattana Panich there is a tradition of preparing noodle soup in the same pan, which has not been cleaned for 45 years.
