Beef Tendon Oden (牛すじおでん, Gyūsuji Oden)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy pot or donabe
• •Bamboo skewers
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with cloth
• •Wooden drop-lid (otoshibuta), or a circle of parchment

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the tendon

   Put the beef tendon in a pot, cover with cold water, and bring it to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, then drain and rinse the tendon under running water, rubbing away foam and clinging bits. This first boil isn't cooking the tendon tender. It's cleaning it, so the oden broth stays clear later.

2. 2

   Pre-boil gently

   Return the rinsed tendon to the pot with 2 liters fresh water, the negi green tops, and sliced ginger. Bring to a boil, lower to a quiet simmer, and cook 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until a skewer meets resistance but no longer fights you. Ginger and negi soften the beef smell, and the slow heat begins turning collagen into gelatin.

   Do not rush this with a rolling boil. Strong boiling makes the outside ragged before the inside softens, and it shakes too much cloudiness into the liquid.
3. 3

   Cut and skewer

   Lift out the tendon and let it cool just until you can handle it. Cut it into bite-size pieces, about 3cm, and thread three pieces onto each bamboo skewer. Skewering is not decoration. It keeps the small slippery pieces together in the pot and gives each person a proper oden piece to lift.

4. 4

   Make the dashi

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in 1.5 liters cold water and bring it up slowly over low heat. Pull the konbu when the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides, before it boils. Boiling konbu gives the stock a faint bitterness and slickness, and oden wants depth without muddiness.

5. 5

   Add bonito flakes

   Bring the water to a gentle boil, add the katsuobushi all at once, and take the pot off the heat. Let the flakes sink for 2 to 3 minutes, then strain through a cloth or fine strainer. Let it drip by itself. Don't squeeze, because squeezing presses harsher, oily flavors into the clear stock.

6. 6

   Prepare the pieces

   Simmer the daikon rounds in plain water for 15 minutes, then drain. Pour boiling water over the satsuma-age and ganmodoki, then drain them too. Boil the konnyaku for 2 minutes. These small preparations remove harshness, excess oil, and smell, so the dashi seasons the ingredients instead of fighting them.

7. 7

   Season the broth

   Combine the dashi with usukuchi shōyu, regular soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and salt in a wide pot. Taste it now. It should be savory and a little lighter than soup you would drink alone, because the tendon and fish cakes will enrich it as they simmer.

8. 8

   Simmer the oden

   Add the daikon, eggs, konnyaku, and beef tendon skewers. Bring the broth just to a simmer, then lower the heat so the surface barely moves. Cook 45 minutes, add the fish cakes and ganmodoki, and cook 20 to 30 minutes more. A wooden drop-lid, otoshibuta, helps keep everything under the broth; a circle of parchment with a hole in the center does the same work.

9. 9

   Rest the pot

   Turn off the heat and let the oden rest at least 30 minutes, or cool it completely and rewarm it gently. This is when the daikon and eggs drink the broth. Many simmered dishes taste better after waiting, and oden is shameless about proving the point.

10. 10

    Serve with karashi

    Serve each bowl with a skewer of gyūsuji, daikon, egg, konnyaku, and one or two fish cakes, with a little clear broth around them and karashi on the side. Do not crowd the bowl. The broth should be seen, the pieces should have room, and the tendon should look glossy and soft.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher for beef tendon, not lean stew meat. Lean meat will dry out in the time tendon needs; tendon becomes tender because collagen melts into gelatin. That is the whole reason for this dish.
• •If the tendon still feels springy after two hours of pre-boiling, keep cooking. The clock is a guide, not the judge. The skewer should pass through with a little give, like firm jelly.
• •Use real dashi here. Instant powder can make a salty broth, but it cannot give the clean konbu and katsuobushi structure that lets the beef richness stay honest.
• •Oden is better the second day. Chill the pot, lift off any fat that firms on the surface, then rewarm gently without boiling.
• •For a meatless table, make oden with konbu and dried shiitake dashi and leave out the gyūsuji. That is temple-style honmono in its own right, but it is no longer gyūsuji oden.

Advance Preparation

• •The beef tendon can be pre-boiled, cut, skewered, and refrigerated up to two days ahead.
• •The dashi can be made one day ahead and kept refrigerated.
• •The finished oden keeps three days refrigerated. Rewarm it gently and avoid boiling, which clouds the broth and roughens the tender pieces.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 700g)