Carrying On Traditions

Japanese New Year is not like Chinese New Year -- since 1873, it's been celebrated at the same time as followers of the Gregorian or Christian calendar. The cultural custom is to serve osechi-ryōri (お節料理) which is essentially an assortment of seasonal and symbolic dishes that are appropriate for the occasion. The food is presented in stacked boxes called jūbako (重箱). Those who can afford to splurge will have it professionally catered. However, most households will spend the week leading up to New Year's preparing dozens of small dishes that comprise the whole meal.

Normally I benefit from my Mom's labors, reveling in the food she lays out in the morning as I stumble out of bed, still recovering from the previous night's celebrations. Jan 1, 2009 was the first New Year's Day that I spent without family. I took it upon myself to emulate that tradition, even if I was cooking only for one.

Guiding my effort was a 1986 hardcover edition of Kuwako Takahashi's "The Joy of Japanese Cooking", an English cookbook loaned to me by my mother. While I am capable of following recipes written in Japanese, this book was written for a North American audience limited by a North American pantry: Takahashi helpfully suggests ingredient substitutions for some of the more "exotic" foods that the uninitiated may have trouble sourcing. She also offers sage explanations for why things are done a certain way, like removing kombu kelp from stock at a particular point to avoid the build-up of slime and funky odor. Good to know.

The six photos below show the dishes that I attempted. Some came straight from the book, while others were improvised by yours truly.

(1) On the left is a persimmon and daikon salad (柿膾) served in a hollowed out persimmon. It is seasoned with a sweet vinegar dressing (三杯酢) and lemon rind.
(2) Beside it is a marinated spinach dish (ほうれん草おひたし) garnished with bonito flakes. I love eating this with rice.

(3) On the left is a mochi-stuffed deep-fried soybean puff (餅入り巾着) served in a bowl of homemade dashi (出汁) fish stock with baby daikon, enoki mushrooms, Chinese broccoli leaves and green onions. Mochi (餅) is a pounded rice cake that is almost exclusively eaten around New Year's.
(4) The right image below is warmed soft tofu served in a pool of a standard cooking liquid (八方出汁) reduction made with dashi, soy sauce, mirin and saké. It is garnished with salmon roe and green onions. As I see it, this is quintessential Japanese cuisine: the dish looks so light and simple yet the flavors are complex and deeply satisfying.

(5) On the left is one layer of my mini-jūbako which I filled with (going clockwise from the top left) rolled omelette (出汁巻き卵) wrapped in seaweed, some garnishes made with cucumber skin, pickled daikon leaves (緑漬け), persimmon and daikon salad (柿膾), and some pickled plums (梅干) garnished with perilla leaves (紫蘇).
(6) The right image is another layer of my mini-jūbako which I filled with (going clockwise from the left) salmon roe (イクラ) served in a hollowed cucumber, miso-marinated mackerel (it was super-moist and infused with flavor), pea sprouts bundled together by a slice of cucumber, herring roe (数の子), marinated and broiled shrimp, and in the middle, I put some candied pecans caramelized with maple syrup then seasoned with sea salt and yuzu-infused chili flakes.

On a side note, it took me forever to figure out the arrangement of food within the jūbako because it follows none of the rules of modern plating. Food presentation today typically requires the chef to allow each individual dish to "breathe" on a plate. Massive bowls and serving platters that function as a vast canvas for food are de rigueur in trendy, cosmopolitan restaurants. So the idea of cramming multiple dishes in a small space with both efficiency and aesthetics was challenging for me and I'm not exactly pleased with the final result. Pointers are much needed and would be highly appreciated.