Oden

It feels like winter, though it was only about 8 degrees last night. Still, we've started using the kerosene heater and one of the things you can do with those, other than die of carbon monoxide poisoning if you forget to allow for ventilation, is keep your oden warm.


Oden is stew. Actually, it's interesting that I just typed the word stew. Last night I explained that word to a couple of my students although it's used in Modern Standard Japanese as a gairaigo (a foreign word in regular use). But it's only used for one particular kind of stew and, of course, the pronunciation is very Japanese.

しちゅ　　pronounced she-chew, with equal emphasis on the two syllables.

It means chicken cream stew.

Beef stew is also popular in Japan but it's called nikku jagga.

Oden

Oden Recipe

Get a box of Oden base


and add it to a pot of water, or use one of the thousands of standard recipes for making your own broth. Then throw in cut up chicken, chikuwa, whole eggs (in the shell), konyakku (cut in any shape you like), whole potatoes, carrots, whole blocks of tofu . . . basically whatever you like. Like the French pot au feu, you can add ingredients at any time. Restaurants that specialize in oden ofen add ingredients throughout the day. However, I've never heard of any that add ingredients throught the century, as is supposedly true for a few country inns specializing in pot au feu.

Don't add the potatoes too soon or they might disintegrate.

Most people eat with Japanese mustard, the kind with horseradish in it, though many restaurants also offer a sort of sweet and sour sauce I'll have to look up sometime. I prefer it to mustard.