[“Tofu Hyakuchin” and “Kori-Tofu” in Edo]
This year, the rainy season has ended without waiting for the Gion Festival Yoiyama, and summer has already begun in earnest in Kyoto. Usually, preparations for summer are made gradually over the rainy season, but this year's unexpected seasonal change has made changes in clothing, food, and housing somewhat hectic. The preparation of barley tea started early, hot soba noodles have been replaced by cold somen noodles, and the number of times ice is being made has increased dramatically, turning on the “summer” switch all at once. This year's summer is going to be long. That is why we want to spend it peacefully while cooling ourselves from the inside out with cool, cold food. When I was thinking about this, I found a cool and refreshing dish that could be a summer dessert in a modern edition of “Tofu Hyakuchin,” a cookbook from the Edo period that I had been flipping through the other day.
Published in 1782, “Tofu Hyakuchin” was a cookbook that created a huge boom among the common people of Edo (present-day Tokyo) by introducing a hundred cooking methods using tofu. The popularity of the book was so great that a sequel, “Tofu Hyakuchin Sequel,” was published the following year, and it also led to the popularity of ‘Hyakuchinmono’ cookbooks that dealt with other ingredients, such as “Daikon Hyakuchin” and “Tai Hyakuchin.” Another feature of this book is that tofu dishes are categorized and evaluated in six levels: “ordinary,” “common,” “fine,” “unusual,” “exquisite curiosity,” and “masterpiece.” Tofu dishes classified as “Masterpiece” are said to have been prepared not only for their rarity or beauty of appearance, but also for their deep pursuit of the original flavor of the tofu.
One of the most unusual and surprising tofu dishes is “玲瓏とうふ (kori-tofu).” The word “玲瓏 (reiro)” in the name of the dish refers to the clear, translucent beauty of materials like jade. Just seeing that it is written with the character for “ice (氷)” and read as “kori” brings an indescribable sense of coolness to the heart. The recipe is a simple sentence: "Kanten is dissolved by boiling, and tofu is simmered and set using the resulting liquid. It is then cooled before serving. The seasoning can be adjusted to taste.” In other words, it is tofu set with kanten, but no specific seasoning is mentioned. The recipe is very flexible in that it can be served as a refreshing snack with soy sauce, condiments, and spices, or as a cold dessert with molasses or soybean flour, depending on the taste of the person eating it. Even if you do not have a sink can for agar, you can make it by pouring tofu and agar into a bowl you have on hand.
In this case, I used smooth silken tofu and molasses to make a cool, sweet treat. The transparent agar and pure white tofu look even cooler when placed on Otera Kohachiro Shoten's Kanamari. In the Edo period, when there were no refrigerators, this dish, which made people feel cool with all five senses, from its appearance and texture to its cold temperature, is a dish that brings comfort even in the hot season, reflecting the rich sense of seasonality and aesthetic sense of the people of Edo.
Otera Kohachiro Shoten's Kanamari S
https://www.shokunin.com/en/otera/kanamari.html
Seiryugama's Teacup
https://www.shokunin.com/en/seiryu/yunomi.html
Seiryugama's Kumidashi
https://www.shokunin.com/en/seiryu/kumidashi.html
Koizumi Glass's Flat Bottom Evaporating Dish 60mm
https://www.shokunin.com/en/koizumi/johatsu.html
Sanjo Showroom
https://www.shokunin.com/en/showroom/sanjo.html
References
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%86%E8%85%90%E7%99%BE%E7%8F%8D
https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2536494/1/25
https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%8E%B2%E7%93%8F-661266
https://www.ja-tottoriinaba.jp/product/recipe/detail/%e7%8e%b2%e7%93%8f%ef%bc%88%e3%81%93%e3%81%8a%e3%82%8a%ef%bc%89%e3%81%a8%e3%81%86%e3%81%b5 (Recipe)
