[Sca-cooks] Concerning Ryori Monogatari

[James Chevallier]

Fascinating stuff. Thanks for the summary.

Tangentially, I was researching foreign restaurants in Paris and there is no mention of sushi at those from before the Eighties. My guess is that the lack of seaweed was one major reason. For that matter, it seems that Americans made it popular first and the French followed (making it worthwhile to import seaweed).


Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com




-----Original Message-----
From: Solveig Throndardottir <nostrand at acm.org>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Thu, Mar 2, 2017 10:48 am
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Concerning Ryori Monogatari

Noble Cooks!Greetings from Sólveig! There are actually two extant versions of Ryori Monogatari. Both of these date from before 1650 which places both of them within the so-called “gray area” from which we accept documentation. We commonly do this for dance, heraldry, and other areas of interest. This may or may satisfy Cariadoc, but it does fit in with generally accepted standards for the Society. There are reasons to use the later version rather than the earlier version. The earlier version of Ryori Monogatari both has fewer recipes and uses less kanji. Those of you who read Japanese will immediately understand why having kanji available is very useful. Regardless, a Japanese scholar recently published an academic paper which compares the two versions. Like most premodern cookbooks, Ryori Monogatari rarely gives amounts of ingredients. It also assumes prior knowledge of how to prepare commonly used ingredients. There are sources for Japanese food and food culture which predate Ryori Monogatari. For example. There is the dietetics volume of Ishinpo. (Here we can find Japanese cooking milk in a double boiler.) We can date ingredients and to some extent processing from such works as the Wamyosho and a farm manual which was originally produced in China, but available in Japan. There is also quite a bit of culinary information in the Fudoki. We also have archaeological data going as far back as Jomon period shell mounds. The early Chinese source is『斉民要術』which a fellow in the East Kingdom is translating from the Chinese. I have a copy of the Chinese original with Japanese translation which is published as:『斉民要術―現存する最古の料理書』It has interesting information such as how to grow koji and how to prepare other ingredients commonly found in premodern Japanese cuisine. Further, some contend that early Japanese aristocrats were dining on Chinese cuisine. Further, even butter shows up in the Nihongi where it was introduced to the emperor by a physician of Korean descent. Concerning noodles. Noodles were not included in actual meals. Ryori Monogatari relegates them to the category of “godan” cuisine which was eaten outside of regular meals. As for being bland, Japanese as recently as the 1980s believed that American cuisine is bland and that Japanese cuisine is spicer. Regardless, there were several spices and condiments used in Japanese cookery in period. Be prepared for some of them to be pricey. For example, ordinary mustard should not be substituted for Japanese mustard. There are three species of mustard of which brown mustard is used in Japan. Further, Japanese mustard is 100% ground mustard seeds while American prepared mustard contains quite a few fillers. Another problem is wasabi. Most commercially prepared wasabi (even in Japan) is actually ordinary horseradish dyed green. Actual wasabi is ideally grated on a microplane (historically sharkskin) immediately prior to use. Wasabi is cultivated in Japan and New Zealand and is quite expensive. You can also buy ground 100% wasabi powder produced by Sushi Sonic on Amazaon, but you must be careful not to buy their other variety which is primarily ground horseradish. Fruit is generally consumed outside of regular meals. Whole fruit are commonly offered before butsudan. There are some exceptions. For example, chestnuts (like adzuki beans) are sometimes added to rice while it is being cooked. This sort of thing is generically known as “kawarigohan”. However, this sort of thing is not typical of formal aristocratic meals. Your Humble ServantSólveig ÞróndardóttirAmateur Scholar_______________________________________________Sca-cooks mailing listSca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.orghttp://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/sca-cooks-ansteorra.org