In Tsugaru this is eaten at koshogatsu, the little new year in the middle of January. Ke is said to be the local word for gruel, and one account has kenojiru worn down from kayu no shiru, gruel soup. Some people call it the Tsugaru seven-herb porridge, though the ingredient list runs longer than seven.

Daikon, carrot, bracken, burdock, freeze-dried tofu, fried tofu, konnyaku, cowpeas. Every one of them is cut into small dice before anything else happens, and crushed green soybeans go in as well. The chopping is the work. What comes out of the pot is uniform, almost granular, which is the point: in years when rice was scarce the diced vegetables stood in for grains.

The occasion matters more than the recipe. A young wife spent the new year cooking for family and visitors, and at koshogatsu she went back to her own parents' house for a few days. This pot was what she made before she left, so the men would eat.

It was built to be reheated. The soup froze in the cold house, and pieces were broken off and warmed for days, tasting better each time. A dish designed for the days when the person who made it is not there. I remembered that arrangement before I remembered the name.