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Post by Bun'ami on May 8, 2017 17:00:22 GMT -5
偲羊羹, Shinobu Yokan, Nostalgic sweet bean jelly
Part 1; What and why?
Yokan, Red-Bean Jelly, 羊羹, Sweet jelly made of ground red beans.
While reading up on various Japanese sweets, I came across a few articles and thought it would be fun to try to recreate some period Japanese sweets. One article was about yokan, which I already knew was served as a sweet during the tea ceremony, but wanted to know how it was made, what it was, then share what I came up with.
Chinese characters used for Yokan are interesting 羊羹: yanggeng means "soup with sheep (meat)," i.e. 羊 (sheep) and 羹 (thick soup) probably a gelatine made from sheep. Presumably that was the ingredient for a Chinese confection that was brought to Japan by Zen monks in the late 12th c. In Japan, the animal gelatin was substituted by a mixture of various ingredients; mashed azuki beans, flour (wheat), kudzu starch and/or flavorings, depending on which resource you read. Yoshimasa Ashikaga (1436-1490), the eighth Ashikaga shogun, along with the painter and poet Nō-ami (1397–1471) promoted a simpler, more spiritual tea ceremony in the late 1400s. The art of drinking tea was refined to become a ritual of aesthetics, during these simplistic tea ceremonies, yokan was served, because it was the favorite sweet of Yoshimasa. According to Surugaya-Honpo, neri-yokan was originally made in a very traditional Japanese sweet shop in Fushimi, called Surugaya-Honpo, which was founded in 1461. Maybe they made the yokan for Yoshimasa?
Modern yokan is made with an (sweet red bean (azuki) paste), sugar and kanten (agar-agar). This causes a dilemma from various points of view: 1. Sweet red bean paste. Easy enough to make, but should I use tsubishian (mashed), or koshian (smooth) or a combination both? 2. Kanten (agar-agar) may have been discovered in Japan in 1658 by Mino Tarōzaemon (美濃 太郎左衛門), an innkeeper who, according to legend, was said to have discarded surplus seaweed soup and noticed that it gelled later after a winter night's freezing. What then would one use to make yokan pre-1658? Should I use wheat flour and steam the product? Maybe add water and kuzu to the cooking process for the red bean paste? 3. What should it be sweetened with and what is the history of sweeteners in Japan? Was sugar available? Some sources say it was available in the Nara Period, others state sugar was brought by the Portuguese, still another claims sugar wasn't available until the 1700's. 4. What are those flavorings stated in various resources? Chestnuts? Ground tea leaves?
More to follow, please feel free to comment, make suggestions and/or corrections.
Bun'ami
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Post by solveig on May 9, 2017 19:17:41 GMT -5
Kanten (agar-agar) may have been discovered in Japan in 1658 by Mino Tarōzaemon (美濃 太郎左衛門), an innkeeper who, according to legend, was said to have discarded surplus seaweed soup and noticed that it gelled later after a winter night's freezing. Nakamura claims that yōkan was indeed originally some sort of concoction made out of mutton and "black" sugar in China. However, under the influence of Buddhism, the dish evolved somewhat with the meat being left out entirely. There is no evidence for the mutton form being imported to Japan. Further, it is extremely unlikely that Eisai imported any recipes from China. Nakamura suggests that mochi may have first been used as a substitute for the meat.While a homonym for yōkan shows up in kogojiten, there is no entry for the yōkan that you are interested in. Unless it was known by a different word prior to the seventeenth century, it is quite possible that it simply is not premodern. I have been cheating and using yōkan for tea demos since they are extremely convenient and quite yummy.Adzuki beans are found by archeologists at prehistoric sites in Japan. The Japanese have been in love with the things for a long time.First, let us dispel the notion that お菓子 okashi must be sweet. It appears to be a be a food item consumed between meals and especially in conjunction with tea. Sakana or tsumami are words for incidental food consumed with alcohol. Godan is a word for food consumed at a post-meal meal and appears to feature pasta. There was a godan fad in the early Edo period. Regardless, Japanese classify both salty snacks and sweet snacks together as okashi. Historically, quite a variety of things. There is a famous story about Rikyū in which kamaboko was served with tea. Etymologically, kashi means fruit and nuts, and yes indeed such were consumed as incidental food. This was especially true for nuts once they stopped being a staple food. Possible nuts include: chestnuts, several types of acorn, &c. (I will upload a new copy of my manuscript in few days. The indigenous edible nuts are listed in it.) During the medieval period, Chinese okashi made its way into Japan. Drawings of which appear in a variety of culinary histories. Some of them resemble pretzels, and I suspect that they are were made out of fu which is basically wheat gluten. Mochi is of course celebratory and has a fairly long history in Japan probably going back to the early days of rice cultivation.There were a bunch of sugars available in Japan. However, you need to break this down into both type of sugar and prevalence. Yoshikawa has a fairly nice article on flavorings in which sweeteners are listed. These include such things as amazura which in combination with snow or shaved ice is about the only thing that Sei Shonagon ever admitted to liking. Amazura is extracted from Boston Ivy. Think of it as the Japanese answer to maple syrup. There was of course honey. There was also a couple of processes for producing maltose from grains such as rice.Chestnuts are a perennial favorite, but I do not expect them to be used as a flavoring. They do appear in a variety of interesting ways such as being cooked together with rice in a manner similar to making sekihan which is adzuki beans and rice. I think that this is a fairly recent novelty.There will be a section on historical condiments in my manuscript. I just haven't typed it in yet. At table, the number of condiments was fairly limited to such things as vinegar, hishio, and possibly so.
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Post by Bun'ami on May 10, 2017 18:23:33 GMT -5
Kanten (agar-agar) may have been discovered in Japan in 1658 by Mino Tarōzaemon (美濃 太郎左衛門), an innkeeper who, according to legend, was said to have discarded surplus seaweed soup and noticed that it gelled later after a winter night's freezing. Nakamura claims that yōkan was indeed originally some sort of concoction made out of mutton and "black" sugar in China. However, under the influence of Buddhism, the dish evolved somewhat with the meat being left out entirely. There is no evidence for the mutton form being imported to Japan. Further, it is extremely unlikely that Eisai imported any recipes from China. Nakamura suggests that mochi may have first been used as a substitute for the meat.While a homonym for yōkan shows up in kogojiten, there is no entry for the yōkan that you are interested in. Unless it was known by a different word prior to the seventeenth century, it is quite possible that it simply is not premodern. I have been cheating and using yōkan for tea demos since they are extremely convenient and quite yummy. I find this quite interesting, many of the sources I read place "yokan" (sweet bean jelly) from 1191, made from water (mizu), wheat flour (komugiko), and adzuki paste (an). So if it's not called "yokan", then this sweet bean jelly might have had another word and the translators simple used the word "yokan" because it is a familiar word?
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Post by solveig on May 10, 2017 20:32:08 GMT -5
I find this quite interesting, many of the sources I read place "yokan" (sweet bean jelly) from 1191, made from water (mizu), wheat flour (komugiko), and adzuki paste (an). So if it's not called "yokan", then this sweet bean jelly might have had another word and the translators simple used the word "yokan" because it is a familiar word? Come on. You know that you can not make something jellylike from wheat flour, sugar, and water. It just will not work. Further, the modern word yōkan which refers to something edible does not even appear to have been around in the Muromachi period. I've got several Japanese culinary histories here. They generally agree with each other. Some put the arrival of 唐菓子 tōgashi Chinese incidental food to as early as Shotoku Taishi which is pre-Nara. Regardless, a number of these confections are mentioned in Wamyō Ruijushō『和名類聚抄』a Heian Period (794-1185) Japanese dictionary completed ca 938. Supposably, prior to the arrival of tōgarashi, the Japanese pretty much made do with tree nuts. (At least that appears to be the opinion of Ego Michiko.) For practical purposes, tea arrived in Japan when Eisai returned from China during the Kamakura period. Sekiso Ōrai『尺素往来』provides some information about both kashi 菓子 and tenshin 点心 served in tea events. Even at this late date, nuts featured prominently. Regardless, mochi was around in the Nara period and was apparently combined with fruit and sweeteners. Sweetened snow cones show up in the Pillow Book. Ame also shows up in the Wamyōsho and appears to justify varieties of some sort of hard or at least semisolid candy. For example, I have one complete set and one incomplete set of molds for form sweets by compressing what is essentially flavored and colored sugar. Of corse, as I recall at least, wagon is preferred.
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Post by Bun'ami on May 10, 2017 22:11:37 GMT -5
Come on. You know that you can not make something jellylike from wheat flour, sugar, and water. It just will not work. Think of a very thick gravy, you put it in the refrigerator for later then discover it has thickened into a hard rubbery jelly. It's very similar to kuzu-mochi, only not as clear and has a "pasty" taste to it. I had planned on making some kuzu-mochi, Sasaki Sanmi talks a bit about how to form it properly for tea, so I was going to follow the recipe in the Ryori Monogatari using Sasaki Sanmis recommendations. I'll make a batch with komugiko instead of the kuzu and let you see and taste the differences.
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Post by Bun'ami on Jun 4, 2017 0:55:17 GMT -5
Shinobu Yokan
An - sweet bean paste
290 g of adzuki beans 100g of kurosate (Black sugar) 100g of ame (Maltose)
Processed as before. Ame was very thick and sticky, use a wet wooden spatula. Used 290g of adzuki because it was what I had left over, made more than enough an. I had planned on using it for manjū anyways.
Kuzu Yokan
50g of kuzu 250 ml mizu 100g ame 200g of an
In a bowl, mix kuzu with 1/3 water, dissolve, strain into pot. Note kuzu is sold in small uneven chunks. Add 1/3 water to remaining undissolved kuzu in bowl, mix with wooden spoon and try to break up chunks so they dissolve, strain into pot. Add 100g of ame to bowl and then last 1/3 water, mix to dissolve the ame (I microwaved for 30 secs to warm the water to make the ame dissolve faster), add to pot while stirring to thoroughly mix everything together. Add the 200g of an to the bowl and set next to pot for quick addition later. Wet a bread pan (8 1/2 x 4 1/2) to make removal of yokan easier after it cools. Heat pot over medium low heat, stir constantly, don't let it boil. At first it appears as a off white milky liquid, as it heats and the kuzu cooks, it will turn into semi-tranlusent globs, When about 60% of the mixture is translucent (i.e. it's almost done) quickly add the an and stir in. When the an is fully incorporated, the kuzu should have finished cooking, keep stirring and cook and additional 2-3 min. Turn out into the wet bread pan, cool completely.
Notes;
For the an, I used to much kurosate, it became to dark, not a deep rich red, I will cut back to 50g. I used kurosato for a more rich flavor and because I like it and it's period. The ame I could buy was a very thick, viscous substance, quite hard, I had to dig out the quantity I wanted to use, which was difficult because it stuck to everything and produces long stings of goo. I found that if I used a wet spatula, it made extraction from the container easier. I found a similar recipe on the web for kuzu-yokan and redacted it a bit to fit a smaller batch, then substituted the ame for the granulated sugar.
Results;
It failed horribly, the end product became to sticky to manipulate in the bread pan, could not spread out evenly, then it did not jell as expected. I tried a common recipe for kuzu mochi and that failed also. I tried a Ryori Monotagari recipe and that did not come out as expected. I think it may have been the wrong kuzu. I purchased the kuzu at a local Asian grocer, the only kind of kuzu they had was Vietnamese. I did a bit more research and found out that Vietnamese kuzu was not the same a Japanese kuzu, a slightly different subspecies. Vietnamese kuzu has less actual starch per gram and more impurities. According to a Japanese kuzu starch study. I'll see about purchasing some Japanese kuzu starch.
I also think period yokan might have been steamed with flour and not cooked with kuzu, as suggested by source, I'll have to experiment with that.
I also noticed that some kuzu starch produces were half cooked and then steamed (one kuzu mochi recipe I saw), I'll try that too.
Good thing most of the ingredients are cheap.
Bun'ami
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Post by Bun'ami on Jun 4, 2017 3:31:58 GMT -5
I also think period yokan might have been steamed with flour and not cooked with kuzu, as suggested by source, I'll have to experiment with that. Here is that source if anyone is intersted. Kuzumochi - Chilled Starch Mochi
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Post by Bun'ami on Jun 6, 2017 12:52:35 GMT -5
I think it may have been the wrong kuzu. I purchased the kuzu at a local Asian grocer, the only kind of kuzu they had was Vietnamese. I did a bit more research and found out that Vietnamese kuzu was not the same a Japanese kuzu, a slightly different subspecies. Vietnamese kuzu has less actual starch per gram and more impurities. According to a Japanese kuzu starch study. I'll see about purchasing some Japanese kuzu starch. I double checked the quality of my kuzuko by making kuzu-kiri. A quick and easy recipe. 50g kuzu starch 150g water Dissolve the kuzu with a little water then add the rest of the water. Strain into a 9x9 pan. Place pan on top of some very hot/almost boiling water, gently move around to make an even thin layer. When the kuzu has hardened, submerge in the hot water for 15-30 sec to completely cook, kuzu will turn transparent. Remove and place in cold/ice water, submerge to completely cool, ~ 1 min., carefuly peel off the kuzu from the bottom of the pan. Place on a cutting board and cut into noodles, serve with kuromitsu and kinako. The normal appearance is a translucent, even off-white noodle, these were streaky and grainy. The normal mouth texture is silky smooth and slightly chewy, these were gummy and gritty. The normal taste is slightly sweet with no after-taste, these had a faint smell of dirty gym socks. Yeah, I got a bad batch of kuzu.
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Post by Bun'ami on Jun 19, 2017 21:23:59 GMT -5
Finally a bit of success. I found a recipe for kurimushi yokan, that used kuzu and flour, with a few adaptations I made some period like yokan, both smooth and chunky. It was received well at a local academy(SCA A&S) event. It still needs a bit of adjusting to use some period materials, but overall I think I have a good recipe. Shinobu Yokan 300 gm sweet red bean paste; Koshian (漉し餡) or Tsubushian (潰し餡) (Same as described before or above, tsubushian is not strained) 30 gm wheat flour (preferably soft wheat flour, like cake flour or pastry flour) Hakuriki-ko 薄力粉 10 gm kuzu starch; kuzuko 葛粉 30 gm maltose; ame 飴 1 pinch salt; shio 塩 30-35 ml water; mizu 水 Parchment paper, brown bakers paper, or bamboo leaves Bakers twine, bamboo string or other substitute, cut about 21" long, at least 3 of them. Equipment for steaming Prep the parchment paper or bamboo leaves, (I used the brown bakers parchment paper, it's what I had on hand and I couldn't get any bamboo leaves) I cut the parchment paper into a rectangle, 9" x 21" then divided it into thirds both ways, so you end up with 9 sections of 3" x 7". Prepare the koshian or tsubushian first, you can use fresh made bean paste or previously made bean paste, it keeps well in the freezer, just cool or thaw to room temperature before using. This keeps the starches from being activated if it's to hot and lessens the steaming time when cooking so ingredients don't settle before gelling. I made mine with the cooked adzuki beans, 25% kurosate (black or brown sugar) and 75% ame. Mix the sweet bean paste with the flour in a large bowl with a wooden spatula until completely incorporated, this prevents lumps, set aside. Mix the kuzu with about 1-2 T of water in a small bowl with a wooden spoon until the kuzu is fully dissolved, it's also good to use a clean finger for this to break up the lumps. [Note: kuzu is sold in chunks, not as a powder, you can gently break up the chunks and grind to a powder in a mortar and pestle, I recommend not using a suribachi, this will help the kuzu to quickly and fully dissolve.] Add the ame to the kuzu mixture and stir until fully dissolve. I found this is easier to add the ame to the liquid ingredients as it can be difficulty to handle or dissolve in the dryer ingredients. You can add 1-2 T of more water to make the process easier to mix. Then add the salt and mix well. Add this mixture to the bean paste and flour mixture, mix well with the wooden spatula to fully incorporate. Now comes the tricky part, the amount of residual water in the red bean paste you made is not known. Right now it should be rather thick, so we are going to slowly add the rest of the water, a bit at a time, mixing well with the wooden spatula until we reach the desired consistency. The desired consistency is thick enough to hold onto wooden spatula, then turn the spatula and let the mixture drop off, if a lump forms and drops in 1-2 second, your good. IF you add to much water and it runs off, you won't be able to form the final product in a bamboo leaf. Fear not, it's not a total waste, just get a small pan (one the fits into your steamer) and use that instead of the bamboo leaf (see below). Set up your steaming equipment with plenty of water in the bottom half, it's going to steam for a long time, if you have a small steamer assembly, then start some water to boil in a kettle so you can replace the water in the steamer and not lose and steam time. Get the steam going really good at a high temperature/rapid boil. If you haven't steamed anything in a bamboo or wood steamer, put a cloth on the steam rack, large enough so that when you put the top on the steamer, you can fold over the corners of the cloth to help keep the steam in. Using the prepared bamboo leaf or parchment paper, put a long lump of the mixture in the center rectangle about 2.5" x 6.5" and heap it up, I found that it used all of the yokan mixture I made above. Fold over one short edge to cover the yokan mixture, then fold over the other short edge, shape with hands as necessary to create a nice even form. Then fold over one long edge, followed by the other long edge, it looks kind of like a burrito. Hold securely and tie it in at least 3 place with the bakers twine, one in the middle, then the other two midway from middle to edge. Place this package in the middle of your hot steamer and steam for 45 min., adding water to the bottom half as necessary to keep the steam going and the water boiling. The yokan will puff up and expand while cooking in the steamer, this is fine. After steaming, take the steamer off the boiling water (it's easier to remove without the steam in you face and hands), remove the yokan package with a set of tongs or thick clean cloth, set aside to cool. When you open up the yokan package it should look something like this in this video: Kuri mushi-yokanThis is what my final product look like, both kinds, though the tsubushian I used small bread pans 2" x 3". Reports from tasters were good, though some liked the kashian yokan over the tsubushian yokan, it was a matter of texture, not taste. I might up the quantity of kuzu to see if I can make a more mizuyokan like product. All the ingredients were period, most of all the materials and techniques were period (just need the bamboo leaves) and I think I successfully made period yokan, the kind that Yoshimasa Ashikaga would have preferred with his tea. Bun'ami
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