Tsumire Oden (つみれおでん, sardine fish ball stew)

Sardines make no polite disguise for themselves. When they're fresh, they taste clean, sweet, and full of the sea. When they're tired, they announce it before the knife is even out. So for tsumire oden, sourcing comes first. Choose glistening fresh iwashi, Japanese sardines, with bright eyes and firm flesh. Nothing hidden, certainly not under miso.

Tsumire looks like the sort of thing a careful cook should shape with wet hands and worry over. Don't. The name itself comes from tsumireru, to pinch or spoon off, and the balls should be rough. Mince the fish with ginger, scallion, a little miso, and starch only until it binds. Work it too long and the paste turns springy and dull. Leave a little texture, and the oden gains life.

The broth is the other half of the matter. Start with real dashi, konbu and katsuobushi, then season it with soy, mirin, and sake. The tsumire go in after the daikon and other pieces have begun to soften, because they need only a gentle simmer. Boil them hard and they toughen. Let them tremble quietly in the pot, and the broth darkens, the fish sets tender, and winter suddenly looks less severe. That is honmono made without ceremony.