TL: ShimizuA, manshiro Editor: Arocks
Page 01
Special short story – Congratulatory Sweets
In the kitchen where a sweet aroma was adrift in the air, Shizuko kneaded azuki beans that had been boiled with sugar until they were dry.
“Alright, I think it’s smooth enough while leaving some lumps? behind.”
Shizuko was making the so-called “Anko(red bean paste)”, specifically a Tsubu-an(Coarse red bean paste).
By the way, if you strained the boiled azuki beans in the middle of the process and then kneaded it, you’ll get Koshi-an (Fine red bean paste).
This time, Nobunaga ordered her to make a special “Congratulatory Sweets” to be given to his subordinates, so she made a dorayaki branded/stamped with the Oda clan’s family crest.
”Alright, I still can taste Azuki bean’s taste inside, it’s turned out good.”
“Just the smell itself is enough to give me heartburn; you sure you didn’t use too much sugar?”
As Shizuko murmured in her taste-test after she was done kneading, she heard Ashimitsu’s voice, unable to bear the sweet aroma drifting in the mansion.
She had asked him to wait to taste the prototype, but it seems he had nothing to do so he popped his head in the kitchen.
Page 02
“Because sweets should be as sweet as they can be. Something like ‘Mild sweet’ is a phrase that only a modern person who is accustomed to sweet can say. Also, sweets for special occasions need to pack a punch!”
“But, still… nah, nevermind.”
“Well, you don’t really like sweet things after all, do you? Fufu, here, I’ll serve it with bitter green tea, so please bear with it.”
Shizuko let out a chuckle when a memory from the old days resurfaced. Ashimitsu, who had an inkling of what caused her to smile, could only grimace.
“My palate is just delicate.”
“Yeah, sure. But it was you who fainted in agony the first time you tried a cake.”
When Ashimitsu was living with Shizuko in the modern era, he once tried a western confectionery, a no-bake cheesecake which made him faint in agony.
The moment it entered his mouth, a sweetness that he had never experienced exploded inside, a sourness that one wouldn’t expect from the outside, viscous texture that he couldn’t spit out nor swallow, left Ashimitsu able to only cover his mouth and writhe on the floor.
It was a lot more moderate compared to other cakes, but even so, a no-bake cheesecake still used 80g of sugar. It amounted to at least about 17 sugar cubes, which was surprisingly sweet for the unfamiliar Ashimitsu.
Page 03
By the way, for him who had never even imagined things like cream cheese, the sourness he felt in his mouth made him think that this thing was rotten. However, he couldn’t spit out something that Shizuko said was delicious and offered him even if he dies, so he passed out in agony.
“Enough about me. So, what are you making?”
While scowling, Ashimitsu tried to blatantly change the subject. Shizuko let him be and began explaining.
“The Lord asked me for a special confectionery to be given to exceptional subordinates. Since I got the chance, I thought I would make a fusion of Japanese and Western styles, dorayaki.”
This predominant theory of the origin of dorayaki comes from the fact that it used gong-shaped castella dough to wrap the red bean paste filling.
The exquisite harmony of the honey-filled castella dough that came from Nanban and has evolved uniquely in Japan, added with the red bean that forms the core of Japanese traditional confectionery, creates a delicious taste that even people who are not good with sweets can’t help but reach for more.
Put the pot on top of a soaked cloth, scoop up the coarse red bean paste which has cooled down with a wooden spatula, and sandwich it in the pre-baked castella dough.
Then, as she pressed the branding iron of the family crest specially made in the technology town from above, there was a sweet and fragrant smell of castella dough being burned.
Page 04
“Hoo, quite a splendid thing you made there. The golden-brown dough really made the crest look fantastic.”
“Well, it’s for a reward, after all, so you need to show that they’re special from a glance, right? Wouldn’t it be gorgeous if you put this in a wooden(paulownia/kiri) box with paper so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom?”
“I would prefer a Shoyu senbei(Soy sauce flavored rice crackers) or Okaki(thin baked mochi). It lasts a long time and goes well with tea. But I think the dora-yaki have a special feeling to them as you can’t usually have them…”
“Yup, since some of the men probably won’t like sweet things, I have to make another type of confectionery.”
Shizuko nodded as she understood what her uncle was trying to say.
As Ashimitsu sampled the finished dorayaki, he was surprised that rather than the intense sweetness he expected, he found a moderate sweetness spread in his mouth.
With this, even a man who doesn’t really like sweets can enjoy it with tea. At first the sweetness of the bean paste burst with an impact, but after that, the faint fragrant sweetness of the castella left a pleasant after-taste in his mouth.
After receiving a pass from Ashimitsu, she began packing it in order to present it to Nobunaga. However, she forgot the existence of a woman who does not miss any sweet scent that floats in her estate.
Afterwards, Shizuko was stuck with kneading the red bean paste endlessly until her hand went numb.
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