Japanese New Year's Day Tradition: Osechi Ryori @ Aburiya Raku

Happy New Year!  While the customary tradition in Las Vegas is the influx of yacky tourists on the strip freezing their asses gawking at subpar fireworks, the locales spend it quietly indoors, or on occasion drive out onto a highpoint to see the entire Valley in fireworks (it's a beautiful site). Having been on both sides of that coin (2 hours stuck in traffic on Koval at 1:30am is living hell, possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done.....oh wait) I prefer enjoying it quietly, but not calmly (it was a mad house in the kitchen)...

In the Japanese tradition, there's a little less partying (at midnight, it's a loud gong along with a moment of silence, followed by an early morning rush to temple to give a 2 second clap n' pray and get your year's fortune). You come home to a banquet of food, prepared during the prior week, so that for New Year's and two days after, no one has to cook and the house is at rest, (which is bung anyways, but the sentiment is there).  Which makes the week before New Year's a living hell -so much to be made and usually makes everyone crazy.  

So, with all that work and so little time, what's a Japanese household to do? Outsource it, of course! Luckily, Las Vegas has a most amazing Restaurant called Aburiya Raku, an upscale Izakaya restaurant that serves Japanese style grilled dishes.  And around the end of the year, they save us from having to slave over the kitchen by preparing the Osechi Box; a three tiered, lacquer (plastic) box full of traditional, somewhat preserved, Osechi edibles.

And the food was amazing!  At a whopping $345, I felt that it was on par with the best in Japan, and I'm not a big fan of the Osechi cuisine.  I always get a little worried about the flavor, because there's so many regions that their own distinct profile that many times, the dishes just don't suit me.  This wasn't the case, in fact there were only a few thatI would even consider bland which is easy to fix to your own taste. (aka, the chestnut paste that I watched being angrily slopped into each box had only a hint of resentment).  A lot of the dishes have a symbolic meaning, but I don't really care too much about that- honey badger don't give a f*^k (google it)...

Top Tier Box (from the bottom left): Kurikinton (Chestnut Paste), Sliced Octopus, Sliced Duck, Some weird sh*t I hate, Kazunoko (Herring Roe), Pickled Radish and Carrot, Nishiki Tamago (Egg Roulade) wrapped with Sablefish, Kamaboko (Fish Cake),  Kuro-Mame (Black Soybean) and Ikura (Salmon Roe)

Second Tier Box (from the bottom left): Abalone, Mushroom Caps stuffed Meatballs, Grilled Baby Bamboo Shoots, Sweet Gelatin with Umeboshi (Sour Plum) Datemaki (Sweet rolled Omlette) and Ebi (Prawns)

















Bottom Tier Box (from the bottom left):  Grilled Salmon, Nishime (cooked vegetables), Satoimo (Sweet Potatoes), Gobo (Burdock) stuffed with Chicken, Kombumaki (Soy braised Amberjack rolled with Seaweed), Kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin) and Dried Sardines (Bleah)



There's a Japanese saying: to be unaware is Buddha (shiranu ga Hotoke). Well, in this case, the saying holds true; we stopped by early to the restaurant to pay and pick up our Osechi box, as we neared the restaurant, chairs and tables were strewn in front of the establishment.  When we entered, we saw this:

The entire front of house had been converted into factory assembly line of New Year's goodies, and I felt like I had just stepped into rural China; with the front and rear door propped open, the place was freezing cold, workers bundled up in their down coats who, seemed to be working on fumes after having been furiously working up a storm and up for days (two days to be exact).

I wish that I hadn't seen this, especially when you see the food exposed in such a way in a non kitchen environment and when the workers don't have utensils or gloves handling the food, I get a little queasy.
But the reality is, this happens in the kitchen all the time, so not knowing really is closer to God...just wish I had come a couple of hours later...

I carefully composed my own plate to highlight a couple of items for you.  From the right: grilled Salmon (so freaking amazing), Kazunoko (Herring Roe), Grilled Baby Bamboo Shoots with Sliced Duck and Kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin) with Abalone....Yum Yum Yum

I took a picture of the Kuro-Mame (Black Soybean) it had some gold leaf; it looks pretty and tasted amazing- a little sweet that balances out the salty preserved items.

Another component of the New Year's tradition is Ozoni, a soup with Vegetables, Mochi and depending on where you're from, a protein.  In Fukuoka, it's Buri, (Amberjack) a more mature Hamachi (Yellowtail) which is rich in its fish oiliness.  (makes me yack, to tell you the truth-I don't like with the Mochi).

And in some strange twisted parallel universe, my Mother agreed to make it with Chicken this time (she absolutely, positively, cannot stand Chicken but somehow she's trying to accommodate 'what's left of my diet' needs).  I quickly whipped out the Chicken I always have in the fridge and quickly prepared before she started having second thoughts.

With Ozoni, simplicity is its strength.  Relying on the broth made with Dashi and Kombu, the ingredients are par cooked and then simply laid into the broth and served, it's a pure dish.

And to top off this gluttonous, Japanese bacchanalian food orgy; a specially prepared New Year's Sushi Rice. It's a family tradition that has plentiful, serene memories; it's actually a lot more labor intensive than it looks, ingredients are pre-cooked and then mixed together at the end, there are both raw (Salmon Roe and Squid) as well as the cooked rice, and even the shredded Egg on top has it own unique flair and is painstakingly prepared.

In all, it's a joyous occasion that's brings in the New Year and a great way to kick off the celebration of  food yet to be consumed!