Exploring Unique Edo Culinary Traditions: Introduction to Hyacchin
“I want to eat food that I don’t usually eat. But all I can find by Googling are things I’ve seen elsewhere”.
In that case, how about taking a look at “Hyacchin”? Hyacchin is a cookbook published in the Edo period. It is known for compiling several themes, such as “Tofu Hyacchin” and “Egg Hyacchin.
Cooking ‘Aobuchi Jiru’: An Sea Bream Soup Recipe in history
One such Hyacchin is “Tai Hyacchin,” published in the late 18th century, which, as the name suggests, is a compilation of recipes for sea bream from the Edo period. In this article, we have reproduced one of them.
鯛の身を少あぶりすり身にして酒にてのべ又宇多芋を能摺合て後たれ味噌にてとき合す仕様常のとろろ汁の如く加薬の類針栗せうが青苔の粉又ハ胡椒の粉右小皿に入てさすへし右乃仕方して少しもなまくさけなし
Use the recipe above to make “Aobuchi Jiru” soup.
To rewrite it in modern language.
How to make seabream aobuchi soup (yam soup with green laver). The sea bream is first ground into a paste, stretched with sake, rubbed with uda imo (apparently Yamato, imo potato), and then dipped in miso sauce. The finished dish looks like Tororo soup. For condiments, serve with a small dish of chestnuts, ginger, and green laver or pepper powder. The finished dish does not smell fishy at all.
A Personal Culinary Experiment: Tasting Edo Period Cuisine Today
I made and ate it myself. I created and ate it myself, and it tasted delicious! The aroma of the seared sea bream and the fatty fat is mixed with the soft yam and goes down your throat smoothly with the aroma of green laver. It goes well with white rice. I had to prepare shredded chestnuts as condiments, but it was a pity that I couldn’t get them (I wonder how they would have tasted…). I am thrilled with the taste of this dish.
Many recipes in Hyacchin, including this one, make you think, “What? This is not a “new to the old, new to the latest. (A person has compiled a collection of Hyacchin recipes, which you can find on this page. The historical background on the other pages is profoundly thought-provoking.