Kantō Oden (関東風おでん, Tokyo-Style Winter Stew)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large heavy pot or donabe clay pot
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Wooden drop-lid (otoshibuta), or a circle of parchment
• •Small ladle for serving broth

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dashi

   Wipe the konbu with a damp cloth, but don't wash it. Put it in the cold water and bring it up slowly over low heat, about fifteen minutes. Pull the konbu when the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides. Bring the water just to a gentle boil, add the katsuobushi all at once, then take the pot off the heat and leave it alone for three minutes.

   That pale dust on konbu is flavor, not dirt. Boiling the kelp makes the stock bitter and slick, and squeezing bonito flakes later presses out rough, oily flavors. Protect the clarity from the beginning.
2. 2

   Strain the stock

   Strain the dashi through a cloth-lined sieve into a clean pot. Let it drip by itself. Don't press on the flakes. You want a clear, fragrant stock with enough bonito strength to stand under soy sauce without turning flat.

3. 3

   Prepare the daikon

   Peel the daikon thickly, cut it into rounds, and lightly bevel the sharp edges so they don't chip apart in the pot. Score a shallow cross on one face of each round. Simmer the daikon with the uncooked rice in fresh water for 20 to 25 minutes, until a skewer slides in with a little resistance, then rinse gently.

   The rice water softens the sharp radish smell and helps the daikon cook evenly. The cross is not decoration. It gives the broth a path inward.
4. 4

   Ready the eggs

   Lower the eggs into simmering water and cook for 9 to 10 minutes, then cool in water and peel. A fully set egg holds up in the oden pot and takes on the soy-dark broth slowly, which is exactly what you want.

5. 5

   Treat the konnyaku

   Score both sides of the konnyaku in a shallow crosshatch and cut it into triangles. Boil it in plain water for 3 minutes, then drain. This removes its alkaline smell and roughens the surface, so the broth clings instead of sliding off politely and doing nothing.

6. 6

   Rinse fried pieces

   Pour boiling water over the ats揚げ, satsuma-age, chikuwa, and ganmodoki, then drain. Fried fish cakes are good oden ingredients, but old surface oil muddies the broth. Rinsing keeps the pot clean without stealing the fish-cake sweetness.

7. 7

   Season the broth

   Add the koikuchi shoyu, mirin, sugar, and salt to the dashi. Taste it before anything goes in. It should be a little stronger than soup you would drink by itself, because the daikon, eggs, and konnyaku will soften it as they take in the seasoning.

8. 8

   Simmer the firm pieces

   Add the daikon, eggs, and konnyaku to the seasoned dashi. Bring the pot to the quietest simmer, then lower the heat and cook uncovered for 45 minutes. The surface should barely move. A rolling boil clouds the broth and toughens what should become tender.

9. 9

   Add fish cakes

   Add the ats揚げ, chikuwa, satsuma-age, and ganmodoki. Simmer gently for another 25 to 30 minutes, keeping everything mostly submerged. Use a wooden drop-lid, otoshibuta, or a circle of parchment if the pieces bob too much. It keeps the seasoning even without stirring the pot into disorder.

10. 10

    Rest overnight

    Take the pot off the heat, cool it, and refrigerate it overnight if you have the time. This is when oden becomes itself. As the pot cools, the ingredients pull the seasoned dashi inward, especially the daikon and egg. Reheat gently the next day, never hard.

11. 11

    Finish with hanpen

    Add the hanpen only for the last 5 minutes of reheating, just until warmed and softly swollen. Put it in earlier and it drinks too much broth, loses its bounce, and begins to taste tired. Serve each bowl with a little broth and a dab of karashi mustard on the side.

Chef Tips

• •Choose daikon that feels heavy, with smooth skin and a fresh green crown if the tops are still attached. Winter daikon is at its shun, sweeter and juicier, and it will do more for the pot than any clever seasoning.
• •Use koikuchi shoyu for Kantō oden. Usukuchi makes a different, paler pot. Neither is better in the abstract, but this dish wants the dark amber broth of the east.
• •Do not crowd the pot until the pieces are wedged in like luggage. Oden needs circulation. If the broth can't move around the daikon and fish cakes, the seasoning reaches them unevenly.
• •Karashi is served beside oden, not stirred into the broth. Touch a little to each piece as you eat. The sharpness wakes the soy-rich broth without taking it over.
• •For a meatless table, make the stock from konbu and dried shiitake and choose daikon, konnyaku, tofu, ganmodoki made without fish, and mochi kinchaku. That is honmono in the temple-kitchen line, not a pretend fish-cake pot.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the dashi one day ahead and keep it refrigerated. The konbu can also soak overnight in the cold water before heating for a gentler stock.
• •Prepare the daikon, eggs, and konnyaku earlier in the day, then simmer them in the seasoned broth before adding the fish cakes.
• •Oden is best after an overnight rest. Cool it promptly, refrigerate it, and reheat gently the next day before adding hanpen.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 810g)