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Roasted sweet potato, mountain yam grilled with sea urchin miso, layered grilled snow crab, stone-wall-style grilled shinjo, duck akebono-yaki, dried persimmon ikomi, and ginkgo nuts dressed with roe

As for the stone-wall-style grilled shinjo among the grilled dishes: we peel Ishikawa taro, a satoimo cultivar, coat it in squid ink, and let it rest…

Grilled apple sandwich

Deep-fried scallop rice, spiral-cut beltfish roll, deep-fried dried whiting, and warm-smoked asparagus roll

For the deep-fried scallop rice among the fried dishes, we cook glutinous rice with 10 percent black rice mixed in, keeping it a little firm, and…

Amber-glazed beef tendon, and layered conger eel, lily bulb, and taro

The bekko-ni beef tendon in the simmered course took its inspiration from Korean cooking. Rice bran works too, but we reconstitute the beef Achilles…

Light kuzu-thickened clear soup, fugu milt tofu, and kinko ikomi

For the kinko ikomi in the clear soup, we soak the kinko (a prized species of sea cucumber) in water mixed with straw ash and leave it for about…

Kabocha dumplings

Layered serving paper and folded paper

Shiwasu, the old name for December, is said to come from a time of year so busy that even priests, or shi, are said to run about, or hashiru — though…

Gourd-Shaped Taro Set in Mint Gelée

The gourd-shaped taro set in mint gelée doesn't match the season for this shape, but we made it into an attractive hyōtan (bottle-gourd) form…

Halfbeak okara-pressed sushi

For the sayori kirazu sushi, we blanch the okara — also called kirazu — briefly in hot water and squeeze it dry, season it the same way as sushi…

Herring roe on kombu, thin-sliced kombu

Tube-cut burdock coated in shrimp powder, deep-fried

For the tube-cut burdock coated in shrimp powder, we dry and toast tiny opossum shrimp, grind them finely in a mortar, pass them through a sieve…