4/20/2016

Tenpura Tempura in Edo

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. Food in Edo  江戸の食卓 .
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tenpura てんぷら . 天婦羅 . 天麩羅 . 天ぷら Tenpura, Tempura
deep-fried battered food


The name "Tempura" was only used to describe fish Tempura.
agemono 揚げ物 deep fried food
shoojin age 精進揚げ deep-fried vegetables


- quote -
"Agemono", or deep-fried foods, are of three basic types.
"Suage", in which foods are fried without a coating of flour or batter, is appropriate for freshwater fish, eggplant, green peppers and other vegetables whose color and shape can be utilized to good effect.
"Karaage", in which food is first dredged in flour or arrowroot starch, preserves the natural water content of the food and produces a crisp outer surface. In "tatsutaage", a variant of "karaage", pieces of chicken are marinated in a mixture of "sake", soy sauce and sugar, lightly covered with arrowroot starch and deep-fried.



"Tempura" belongs to a third type of "agemono", in which foods are coated with batter. For "agemono" a heavy pot with a wide bottom is used. Vegetable oil is poured into the pot to a depth twice the thickness of the foods to be fried and is then heated to a temperature of 160°to 180°C (320°to 360°F). To keep the oil at a constant temperature, it is important that the foods do not cover more than a third of the surface area of the oil.
- reference source : web-japan.org/museum/others/cuisine -

- quote -
Many ingredients are deep-fried. Mostly fish and seafood and vegetables.
Even the new leaves of greet tea are made into tempura during the season 新茶の天婦羅.
..... The recipe for tempura was introduced to Japan by Portuguese Jesuit missionaries particularly active in the city of Nagasaki also founded by the Portuguese, during the sixteenth century (1549).
Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, reportedly loved tempura. Originally, tempura was a popular food eaten at street vendors called 'yatai'(屋台) since the Genroku era.


Tempura yatai (stall) - (Fukagawa Edo Museum)

Today, tempura is still a popular side dish at home, and is frequently eaten as a topping at soba stands.
..... In Japan, restaurants specializing in tempura are called tenpura-ya and range from inexpensive fast food chains to very expensive five-star restaurants. Many restaurants offer tempura as part of a set meal or a bento (lunch box), and it is also a popular ingredient in take-out or convenience store bento boxes. The ingredients and styles of cooking and serving tempura vary greatly through the country, with importance being placed on using fresh, seasonal ingredients.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !

frittierter Fisch, frittiertes Gemüse

WASHOKU : Tenpura Tempura dishes in our BLOG

basu tenpura バス天ぷら tempura from black bass
ブラックバス天ぷら付のうどん
From Lake Biwa

Maple leaves tempura (momiji tenpura)


kinpura きんぷら 【金麩羅】Kinpura, Kimpura (golden Tempura)
To make the dish look more "golden" in Edo they used egg yolk with the coating.


"Suwamachi Kimpura" すわ町 金ぷら Kinpura from the Suwamachi district
"Kimpura" using luxurious egg made a clear departure from tempura sold at the stand and "Kimpuraya" in Suwamachi (present-day Komagata, Taitō ward) gained popularity as a restaurant serving "Kimpura". A painter, Yoshitsuya was a student who was good at drawing samurai and showed great performance as an ukiyo-e (wood block prints) artist in the end of the Edo period.
source : library.metro.tokyo.jp/portals...

Sometimes the coating is made with buckwheat flour. Oil from torreya nuts (kaya 榧(かや) is used for frying.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


. yatai 屋台 food stalls, pushcart stalls .
The most famous three ones were for Sushi, Tenpura and Soba buckwheat noodles.

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江戸前天ぷら Edo-mae tempura, made with local seafood from Tokyo Bay.
The most favorite were shrimp and tiger prawns, ika 烏賊 squid, anago 穴子 sea eel and megochi めごち eel,
kohada 小鰭 spotted shad and kisu 鱚 smelt-whiting, Sillago japonica.

The fried ingredients were picked up with a small bamboo stick, dipped in a sauce of soy sauce with grated radish (daikon) and enjoyed outside, from spring to autumn.

In Edo, only goma-abura ごま油 sesame oil was used for Tempura. It kept longer tasty when re-heated.
Tempura stalls were only allowed to fry outside homes to prevent fires. Inside a home or restaurant it was forbidden to prepare Tempura.

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tenpuraya 天麩羅屋 vendor of tenpura in Edo
They were the beginning of small stalls selling "fast food" to be eaten while standing, for the fast-living workers of Edo.


source : homepage3.nifty.com/shokubun

. Food vendors in Edo .

天麩羅の指をぎぼしへ引きなすり
tenpura no yubi o giboshi e hikinasuri

he wipes his fatty tempura fingers
on the giboshi decoration
of the bridge


This Senryu tells us about the carefree behaviour of the tempura cooks.
Tempura was made with some flavor on the food items, but not served with sauce as it is today.
Some sources say Tempura dipping sauce was introduced much later in the Meiji period.

. senryu, senryū 川柳 Senryu in Edo .

. giboshi 擬宝珠 metal decoration of a railing .

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source : togetter.com/li

Tsukioka 月岡芳年「風俗三十二相  むまさう 嘉永年間女郎之風俗」
A prostitute eating shrimp tempura

mumasao むまさう Umaso, this is so delicious !

. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡芳年 (1839 – June 9, 1892) .


The pose of the lady, turning to the side to wipe her face, is the same as in a favorite ukiyo-e by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, which was used to put on a handfan for some cooling in summer.


歌川国芳- 園中八撰花 Enchu Hassenka (Eight flowers of the garden)
- 松 Matsu (with pine in the background)

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. Legends and Tales from Japan 伝説 - Introduction .

The kitsune 狐 Fox likes tempura and tempura oil . . .

................................................................................. Ibaraki 茨城県

In the 稲敷郡 Inashiki district at 江戸崎町 Edosaki village there are many fox legends, when people have to walk along the paths of the fields, were foxes and badgers play their tricks on the humans.
Sometimes the fox steals the tempura of someone returning from town and bringing it home as a present for the family 土産の天ぷら.


................................................................................. Miyazaki 宮崎県

In えびの市 Ebino town, in 尾八重野 Obeno, there was a lady fox called おせん狐 O-Sen , the King of all the regional foxes there.
She lived in the trenches dug during the war by the army of 西郷隆盛 Saigo Takamori.
When people walked along 浜川原 Hamawawabaru at night, there was a large branche of a pine tree in the middle of the road and they could not pass. This was an act of the Fox O-Sen. So they threw some Tempura at the branches, and they dissolved, leaving them to see a huge fox with a large tail on the road.


................................................................................. Nagano 長野県

Offerings for the ancestors on the family altar (butsudan 仏壇) for the O-Bon rituals contain many things, among them 野菜や天ぷら vegetables and tempura.
.
In the 上伊那郡 Kamiina district sometimes people get bewitched by a fox.
They behave quite wild and strange, walk on all four's an want only Tempura to eat.
To get rid of the spell they have to be kept in one room over night and hit with branches of a peach tree 桃の枝. That will bring them back to normal.
.
To get rid of the bewitchment of a fox, among other things, people say prayers and have to eat Tempura.
.
In the 東筑摩郡 Higashichikuma district were people kept silk worms 養蚕, they had to fry their tempura away from home by the river so as not to get the smell to the silk worms.
Sometimes at night a fox came, dipped his tail into the Tempura frying pan and made it un-usable. If the farmers forgot to take the bottle with sesame oil home, this would also be gone by next morning.


................................................................................. Niigata 新潟県

In 十日町市 Tokaichi town there was a fox called サンクロウギツネ Sankurogitsune, living between the hamlets of 蒲生集落 Gamo and 室野集落 Murono. If people walked there he would steal their 天ぷらや油揚 tempura and Aburaage Tofu.


................................................................................. Osaka 大阪府

In 堺市 Sakai town there was a fox
At the 城蔵稲荷 Inari Fox Shrine they tell this story:
An old priest once kept a White Fox with three legs. The brother of the priest was a hunter and the fox feared him. The fox shape-shifted into the old priest and pretended his brother had killed someone and wanted to have him punished. But the brother understood the trick, put some Tempura of a rat on the ground, tricked the White Fox to catch it and killed the fox.

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- reference : nichibun yokai database -

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- quote -
Sugoroku for Introducing Popular Local Specialties of Edo, New Edition
(Shinpan Gofunai Ryūkō meibutsu Annnai Surogoku)

This is an illustrated sugoroku (a Japanese board game similar to western Snakes and Ladders), which starts from morning market in Nihonbashi and ends at Sannō festival. In the form of a sugoroku, it depicts famous specialties in the Edo period. Many food and restaurant names can be found.
In this picture sugoroku, you can find soba (buckwheat noodles), broiled eel, sushi, and the names of confectioners and restaurants including those serving tempura. There are various stories regarding the origins of tempura, but an essay called "Kiyūshōran", written in the latter part of Edo period, introduced that Yoshibei sold fried fresh fish at a stand in Nihonbashi a little before the Bunka period (1804-1817). Tempura was popular among the general public in the 19th century.
You can also find the words "Suwamachi Kimpura" and a yellow picture of tempura. "Kimpura" means tempura with coating of flour mixed with egg yolk (it also means tempura with coating of buckwheat flour). "Kimpura" using luxurious egg made a clear departure from tempura sold at the stand and "Kimpuraya" in Suwamachi (present-day Komagata, Taitō ward) gained popularity as a restaurant serving "Kimpura".
A painter, Yoshitsuya was a student who was good at drawing samurai and showed great performance as an ukiyo-e (wood block prints) artist in the end of the Edo period.
- Tokyo Metropolitan Library -
. sugoroku  双六と伝説 Legends about the game Sugoroku .

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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -

天麩羅にかぎる魚や花曇
tenpura ni kagiru sakana ya hanagumori

this fish is best
as Tempura . . .
cherry blossom haze


綾部仁喜 Ayabe Jinki (1929 - 2015)

. WKD : "hanagumori" 花曇, .
- - kigo for late spring - -
A clouded sky during the Cherry blossom season, blossom haze, is "hanagumori", 花曇, only in this season used as a kigo for late spring and never used for other flowers in haze or clouds.

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歳晩や親身のような天婦羅蕎麦
長谷川かな女 Hasegawa Kanajo

天麩羅にからりと揚げて春告げ草 高澤良一
天麩羅の種のねずつぽ石鼎忌 石川桂郎
てんぷらの揚げの終りの新生姜 草間時彦
てんぷらやすでに鰭張る今年鯊 水原秋櫻子

たらの芽の天麩羅の棘食べにけり 長谷川公二
人獣の舌の天麩羅花ぐもり 磯貝碧蹄館
刀豆の天麩羅といふごわつけり 高澤良一
土用入り天麩羅箸の先焦げて 荒巷樹(野火)
活鯊に天麩羅油ぱちぱちと 長谷川櫂 蓬莱
竹の春吹かれとてとて天麩羅食ふ 攝津幸彦
草餅に草の天麩羅みどりの日 御子柴弘子
落葉降るさなか天麩羅匂ひけり 中嶋秀子
退屈も*たらの芽も天麩羅にせり 櫂未知子
餅あはひ天麩羅そばを皆たのむ 櫻井康敞
餅花の下を天麩羅そば通る 鈴木鷹夫 春の門
鱚天麩羅に笑ひ納めをいたしけり 辻桃子
稲の秋てんぷらの鍋鳴りはじむ 長谷川櫂
蓮枯れたりかくててんぷら蕎麦の味 久保田万太郎
長月のてんぷらあぶら古りにけり 辻桃子
黄菊白菊てんぷら揚がる市場の中 穴井太

- reference : haikureikudb -

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source : yoshi43.blog97.fc2.com

even the cats
enjoy their Tempura -
Spring in Edo


Gabi Greve, April 2016

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- Senryu -

てんぷらの店に筮(めどき)を立てて置き
tenpura no mise ni medoki o tatete oki

at the Tempura shop
they put up bamboo stick containers
for all to use


The bamboo sticks were put into a bamboo container and customers could take one out to eat their fill of Tempura.

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筮竹で判断させる天麩羅屋
seichiku de handan saseru tenpura ya

the Tempura cook
judges the food
by the bamboo stick


Since the fish was covered in batter and put in hot oil, the cook had no other choice to guess the situation by the babmoo stick still sticking out of the oil.

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小平次を竹鑓(たけやり)で突く天麩羅屋
koheiji o takeyari de tsuku tempuraya

at the Tempura shop
the spotted shad is pierced
by a bamboo spear


koheiji 小平次 is another word for kohada 小鰭 spotted shad

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- reference : wheatbaku.exblog.jp -

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source : www.6128080.com/sun/edo/ - Onodera Nenryou

To make good tempura, the heat of the oil has to be adjusted.
for fish, about 180 - 185℃, for vegetables only 160 - 180℃.

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. Japanese Architecture - Interior Design - The Japanese Home .

. Edo bakufu 江戸幕府 The Edo Government .

. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo 江戸の名所 .

. Doing Business in Edo - 商売 - Introduction .

. shokunin 職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .

. senryu, senryū 川柳 Senryu poems in Edo .

. Legends and Tales from Japan 伝説 - Introduction .


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