Osechi Ryori

The word osechi derives from o-sechi-ku (御節供), the food once offered at the seasonal court ceremonies known as sekku, the most important being the five gosekku of the imperial calendar. The custom traces to the Nara and Heian periods, when such offerings were made at court; over the Edo period (1603–1868) the term narrowed to mean specifically New Year food and the practice spread to ordinary households. Packing the dishes into tiered jubako boxes is generally described as a later refinement that became widespread around the Meiji era, the stacked tiers read as a wish to pile up good fortune. The specific roster and the meanings attached to each item vary by household and region, and many readings are folk wordplay rather than documented fact: kuromame puns on mame (健やか, diligent and healthy); kazunoko (kazu = number, ko = child) reads as many children; tazukuri (literally 'rice-paddy maker,' from the dried sardines once used as field fertilizer) for an abundant harvest; konbu puns on yorokobu (to rejoice).

An osechi box reads as a mosaic of contrasts in one tray: the glossy black soybeans are soft and sweet, the herring roe is firm and gives a fine crackle between the teeth, the datemaki is springy and faintly sweet, the kuri-kinton is a smooth, heavy, golden paste, and the kelp rolls are tender and savory-sweet. Because the food is made to keep, most of it is served cool or at room temperature, and the seasoning runs sweeter and saltier than everyday cooking. The pleasure is variety and balance — a little of many things, alternating sweet, salty, sour, and the clean snap of the roe — rather than any single hot, rich dish.

Osechi is built around preservation: it was meant to last the first days of the year, when hearths were rested, so nearly every technique on the tray slows spoilage. Sugar and salt both work by lowering water activity — they bind or draw out free water through osmosis so that spoilage microbes cannot grow — which is why kuromame, kuri-kinton, and the kelp rolls are heavily sweetened and the roe and other items are salted. Vinegared dishes such as kohaku namasu (vinegared daikon and carrot) drop the pH into a range bacteria tolerate poorly. Kuromame are simmered very slowly with a little iron (a rusty nail or iron piece) added to the pot, because iron ions complex with the anthocyanin pigments in the bean skins and stabilize them, keeping the beans a deep glossy black rather than a dull reddish-brown. Datemaki gets its springy, sliceable body from fish or shrimp surimi beaten into the egg: the salt-soluble fish proteins (myosin) form a gel when heated, setting the omelette firm enough to roll. The kuri-kinton's smooth, heavy body comes from the starch in sweet potato (and chestnut) gelatinizing and binding the sugar syrup.