"Ryori Amime Chomisho" (15) Miscellaneous Section (Irizake, Amatoyu, Mannenzu, Nizome, Yuzumiso, Dengaku, etc.)

Sake and Fine Sake

The production method is not recorded here. Sand filtration is best. When it says to filter three times, it is also good to hang a silk cloth in three layers over a ladle. Regarding the method for the interval, iron is the right interval; it is good to use a low charcoal fire without covering the pot. Tin, copper, and also water baths are bad. It is best to use a cedar bentwood container, ensuring it does not leak, use a green bamboo handle, put the sake in that vessel, and heat it in a water bath. So-sake (refined sake) is good. Fine sake is bad if the woody aroma is too strong. Also, it is good to take regular fine sake, dilute it by half, and add one cup of water.

* "Sand filtration" is sand straining. Reference: "Dai Nihon Chishi Taikei Vol. 19 (Water Filtering Stone)" (National Diet Library Digital Collections)Water Filtering Stone) (National Diet Library Digital Collections)
* "Most good" means very good.
* "Method for the interval, iron is the right interval" might be a misreading.
* "Bad" means poor.

Sweet Sake (Amazake)

Wash one sho of koji with eight go of water, and make it using that water. Domyoji in Kawachi Province and Sendai dried rice are good. For medicinal supplements, boil and make it with lacquer wood.

* "Kawachi Province" is Kawachi no Kuni.
* "Domyoji" and "Sendai dried rice" reference: "Hirobunko Vol. 18 (Domyoji Hoshi / Sendai Hoshi) (National Diet Library Digital Collections)

Boiled Sake (Irizake)

Boil only old Morohaku sake, and when it comes to a boil, take the pot off as is, let it cool, then bring it to a boil again. If you boil it four or five times like this, when one sho of sake becomes about four go, add three large pickled plums, boil it up again, and adjust with roasted salt. Irizake made this way will not spoil. Also, in this method, it is best to add about five pieces of bonito flakes. If you like it very sweet, add rock sugar.

* "Old Morohaku" is old Morohaku. Morohaku is high-quality sake made from well-polished rice.
Reference: "Hirobunko Vol. 3 (Irizake) (National Diet Library Digital Collections)
* "About four go" means about four go.
* "Three" means about three.
* "Very" means extremely.

Quick Boiled Sake (Hayairizake)

Combine five cups of old sake, one cup of soy sauce, a little salt, a little vinegar, and ten me of sugar, and boil. When the sake aroma is gone, it is ready.

* "Soy sauce" refers to soy sauce.

Adding Sake to Cooking

It is bad for cooking to smell like sake. Boil old sake to remove the sake aroma, let it cool, and use it; then there will be no bad smell.

Sweet Soup (Amatoyu)

This is a broth. In one book, it is called shitaji (base). Dashi is the foundation of cooking. You must pay attention. Depending on the ingredient, there are things that go well and things that do not. For regular dashi, first, you should flavor it with bonito. You can use salt. When using a lot of dashi, shave off the outer skin, and crush the center with a metal hammer. It is good to prepare a large amount of dashi and boil vegetables in the dashi as well.

Drum dashi is thin sauce. Sticky dashi is made by thinly slicing mountain yam and soaking it in water overnight. This is sticky dashi. There are various kinds of dashi, such as kelp dashi, dried gourd strip dashi, kelp sweet salt, ginger, persimmon peel, and others. Boiling fish bones is called tomo-dashi (companion broth).

Mannenzu (Long-lasting Vinegar)

One cup of sake, one cup of soy sauce, and one white mochi cake, put into a jar. At first, it is called 'ayakashi'; add one cup of good vinegar, seal the mouth well so that air does not pass through, and place it in the sun. It will ripen in one month in winter, and in five to seven days in summer. A well-fired Bizen jar is good. When using it, generally speaking, add an equal amount of water and sake to the amount you use, and it will never lose its acidity. If you add the roots or leaves of sweet flag, it will be even better. As for the mochi, it is fine to replace it with a fresh white mochi cake every two or three months.

* "No" means good.
* Reference: "Hirobunko Vol. 10 (Mannenzu) (National Diet Library Digital Collections)

Nishime (Simmered Dish)

Add sake to soy sauce, simmer for a long time until it becomes thick, and then sprinkle sugar on it; the soy sauce will not return to its original state, and it will not spoil from mold. Japanese yam, arrowhead, fleeceflower, mukago, burdock, royal fern, bracken, bamboo shoots, matsutake mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, cauliflower mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, butterbur, kelp, wheat gluten, grilled tofu, konjac, and frozen konjac.

* "Kuwae" is arrowhead.
* "Kashuyu" refers to the Polygonaceae plant, fleeceflower.
* "Nukago" is thought to be mukago (bulbils).
* "Kokori konnyaku" is frozen konjac.

Zazen Beans

To boil them hard, wipe the beans with a cloth and boil them in raw soy sauce over charcoal fire. Black beans are a specialty of Sasayama in Tanba Province.

* "Tanshu" is Tanba Province.

Toshunkin

This is a type of denbu (fish flakes). According to the tradition of a great Edo household: take dried fish, fillet it into three pieces, remove the bones, and grill the meat. Cut kelp into quarters, and add prickly ash bark, burdock (sliced into strips), grilled wheat gluten (cut thinly), and black beans. Add one sho of aged sake and five go of soy sauce. With the liquid brimming, simmer for a long time over charcoal fire, adjust the seasoning with roasted salt, add a little sugar, and when serving, sprinkle with toasted poppy seeds. What the world calls 'denbu' is a simplified version of this. It is also good to add dried abalone or pickled plums.

* "Kofu" refers to Edo.
* "Tabu-tabu to" means brimming or full.
* "Kushigai" is skewered abalone, which is dried.

Kashikawa (Prickly Ash Bark)

Soak prickly ash bark in water overnight to remove the bitterness. Chop it into small pieces, chop kelp, mix in equal parts, simmer for a long time in sake and soy sauce, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

* The reading of "Kashikawa" might be a misreading. "Karakawa" is the bark of young prickly ash trees, chopped and pickled in salt. Reference: "Pickle Salt Adjustment (Kashikawa) (National Diet Library Digital Collections)"

Fukuda Denbu

Those made in Osaka are good. It is made using dried squid.

* Reference: "Complete Japanese Cooking Methods (Fukuda Denbu) (National Diet Library Digital Collections)"

Ume-ga-ka (Scent of Plum)

Shave bonito flakes thinly, simmer them in sake, then season with soy sauce, and it is best when it becomes crumbly. You should add dried citrus peel, [illegible], [illegible], and prickly ash powder.

Boiled Plum (Nimume) Plum Paste

Take regular pickled plums, boil only the flesh once to remove the saltiness, then simmer for a long time in sake alone, and add a good amount of sugar. It should be boiled in an earthenware pot.

Horon Miso

The product from Masuya in Kyoto is good. Homemade version not yet attempted.

* "Not yet attempted" might be a misreading.

Yuzu Miso

Take a large ripe yuzu, use the tip of a small knife to cut a round lid, hollow it out like a tea-ceremony kettle, wash it with hot water, and thoroughly remove the white pith inside. Grind toasted sesame seeds well into white miso, knead together with equal parts sake and water, add sugar, and mix in yuzu peel and minced ginger cut into thin strips. It can be steamed or grilled.

* "Well" means thoroughly. * Reference: "Kōbunko Vol. 18 (
Yuzu Miso) (National Diet Library Digital Collections)

Yuzu Paste (Yukō)

Cut yuzu peel into strips and remove the white pith. Simmer in soy sauce and add sugar.

Yubeshi (Dried Yuzu)

For ripe yuzu, hollow out the center as usual. Take Kawachi Domyoji or regular dried rice, soften it with soy sauce, add sugar, put it into the halved yuzu, steam it, dry it in the sun for a long time, and after it hardens, store it as a block. It is good to add nutmeg or walnuts.

* "Kaya" refers to the Japanese nutmeg tree.

Obaku Tofu

Press tofu between boards from top and bottom to remove water. Once it becomes firm, grill it with soy sauce on both sides, cut into pieces, and use as sashimi or a side dish.

* "Obaku Tofu" is yellow-dyed tofu. Reference: "Kōbunko Vol. 13 (Obaku Tofu)"

Dengaku

For small skewers, use the same method. For ray, eel, goby, small crucian carp, abalone, ark shell, clam, pen shell, oyster, and shrimp, grill each with miso or soy sauce.

Tofu Dengaku

What is called 'Mekawa' in the early modern period is made by first coating tofu with soy sauce, grilling it, and then coating it with miso and grilling it again. Dissolve sea urchin in sake, brush it on, and then add salt and grill.

※ Reference: "Practical Cooking Methods (Mekawa Dengaku)"

Eggplant: Same as above.

In Edo, this is called 'Shigiyaki'. For eggplant (wash and cut first; washing after cutting is bad), apply plenty of oil, grill once, soak in water, and after a while, coat with chili miso and grill. Cover and let sit for a while.

※ "仝" means 'same as above'. "Eggplant: Same as above" refers to eggplant dengaku.

Vegetables: Same as above.

Daikon radish, turnip, burdock root, mountain yam, taro, chestnut, fleeceflower, lotus root, arrowhead, melon, pumpkin, winter melon, matsutake mushroom, and oyster mushroom, each prepared as miso dengaku.

※ "Rofuku" is the name of a vegetable in the Brassicaceae family. Daikon radish.

Grilled Arrowhead

Boil the arrowhead well, coat with soy sauce and grill, then wrap in a cloth, flatten it by tapping with a pestle on a board, and grill again on a wire mesh. This is called 'pressed arrowhead'.

Author's note: ● indicates characters that could not be deciphered. I will update this as I decipher new characters or notice typos and misreadings. For details, please read the "Self-Introduction/Disclaimer" section. 📖