Nagoya Miso Oden (味噌おでん)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide heavy pot or donabe
• •Wooden drop-lid (otoshibuta), or a circle of parchment
• •Fine-mesh strainer lined with a clean cloth
• •Skimmer for blanching meats
• •Short bamboo skewers, optional for tendon and motsu

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. Pull the konbu when the water trembles and small bubbles climb the sides, before it boils. Boiled konbu gives the stock a bitter, slick edge. Bring the water to a gentle boil, add the katsuobushi all at once, take the pot off the heat, and leave it alone for 3 minutes. Strain through cloth or a fine sieve and let it drip. Don't squeeze, because squeezing presses strong oily flavors into the clear stock.

2. 2

   Clean the meats

   Put the gyūsuji and pork motsu in a pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes, then drain and rinse each piece under running water. Wash the pot, return the meat with fresh water, ginger, and scallion tops, and simmer 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the tendon bends but still holds its shape. This first cooking removes blood and strong surface smells. Hatchō miso is deep, but it isn't a curtain.

3. 3

   Parboil the daikon

   Peel the daikon, cut it into thick rounds, and trim the sharp edges so they don't chip in the pot. Cut a shallow cross in one face of each round, the hidden knife called kakushi-bōchō, so heat and seasoning enter evenly. Simmer the daikon in rice-rinsing water, or plain water with the uncooked rice tied in a small cloth, for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges turn translucent. Rinse gently. This takes away the raw sharpness and lets the later miso broth enter cleanly.

4. 4

   Prepare oden-dane

   Hard-boil the eggs, cool them, and peel them. Score the konnyaku in a shallow crosshatch, cut it into triangles, and boil it for 3 minutes to remove its alkaline smell and open the surface. Pour boiling water over the atsuage and satsuma-age, then drain. That quick rinse lifts off stale surface oil, which would muddy the miso broth.

5. 5

   Blend the miso

   Whisk the Hatchō miso in a bowl with a ladleful of warm dashi until smooth, then whisk in the sugar, mirin, and sake. Pour this back into the remaining dashi. Taste it now. It should be stronger, saltier, and sweeter than soup, because daikon, egg, tofu, tendon, and konnyaku will drink from it and calm it down.

6. 6

   Start the pot

   Arrange the daikon, gyūsuji, motsu, and konnyaku in a wide heavy pot. Pour in the miso dashi to almost cover. Bring it only to a quiet tremble, then set a wooden drop-lid, otoshibuta, on the surface. A circle of parchment with a hole in the center does the same work. Simmer gently for 1 hour, nudging the bottom now and then so the miso doesn't settle and scorch.

7. 7

   Add eggs and tofu

   Add the peeled eggs and atsuage and keep the pot at the same low simmer for 30 minutes. The eggs need time to take on color, and the tofu needs time to drink the broth. Don't hurry this with a hard boil. It breaks the daikon's edges, tightens the egg, and makes the miso taste rough.

8. 8

   Finish fish cakes

   Add the satsuma-age and chikuwa for the last 15 to 20 minutes. Fish cakes have already been cooked once, so they only need to warm through and share their flavor. Leave them too long and they lose their spring. The broth should now be dark, glossy, and thick enough to coat a chopstick.

9. 9

   Rest the oden

   Turn off the heat and let the oden rest in its broth for at least 1 hour, longer if you can. This is not idleness. Simmering cooks the pieces, but cooling in the pot seasons them. Oden is one of those honest dishes that often becomes better after the cook has stopped fussing with it.

10. 10

    Rewarm and serve

    Rewarm the pot gently, stirring the bottom with care. If the broth is too loose, simmer it uncovered for a few minutes. If it has tightened too much, loosen it with a little dashi, not plain water. Serve a restrained mix of pieces in each bowl with a small dab of karashi mustard. Leave it room. The dark broth is rich enough without crowding the vessel.

Chef Tips

• •Use Hatchō miso if you can. If you cannot find it, use another Aichi mame miso. Ordinary red miso can make a good pot, but it won't be this Nagoya dish, and there's no shame in naming the difference plainly.
• •Buy cleaned pork motsu from a Japanese or Korean market and ask whether it has already been blanched. If it smells sharp after the first boil, blanch it again. Sourcing first, always.
• •Winter daikon does half the work. Choose one that feels heavy, with tight skin and fresh green shoulders. A tired daikon stays woody no matter how politely you simmer it.
• •Don't use instant dashi powder here. The miso is strong, so the stock beneath it must be clean, not salty and flat. Make the dashi once and the whole pot changes.
• •For a meatless table, build the stock on konbu and dried shiitake, omit the tendon, motsu, and fish cakes, and add more daikon, konnyaku, atsuage, and ganmodoki. That is shōjin-style miso oden, honmono for that table, not an apology.

Advance Preparation

• •The dashi can be made 2 days ahead and kept refrigerated. The konbu can also soak in the cold water overnight before heating for a gentler stock.
• •The gyūsuji and motsu can be blanched and simmered 1 day ahead. Chill them in a little of their cooking liquid, then drain before adding to the miso broth.
• •Finished miso oden is best made ahead. Let it cool in the broth, refrigerate overnight, skim any fat from the surface, and rewarm gently.
• •The pot keeps 3 days refrigerated. Reheat only what you plan to serve, because repeated hard boiling roughens the miso and tired fish cakes lose their spring.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 725g)