“Coo-cu-coo!” - Lord Brutus (regally)
While Tsugaru’s palate is “uniquely refined”, there are a lot of interesting Japanese dishes out there that very few people (including Japanese people themselves) have ever tried.
Which of course means I had to test the recipes. And who better to start off with than the darling Michael the Eighteenth, from A Date With Yesterday. This castella-loving celestial being stated:
While the information isn’t commonly available in English, if you read old Japanese, you can find cookbooks and records of people eating castella as a part of traditional dishes. However it should be noted that these castella were made with very little, if any, sugar at all, and were more like a slice of bread.
The most common way of eating Edo era castellas was with grated daikon radish on top. It was considered a somewhat extravagant food and according to some, used medicinally when ill because it was meant to give you stamina. The other most common way was, just as Michael said, in a bowl of hearty miso soup.
You know where this is going, don’t you? Yes.
I got a slice of traditional Nagasaki castella cake (albeit with sugar) and put it in a bowl of Edo era style seasonal vegetable miso soup.
It truly is heavenly.
The best way I can describe it is something akin to a soft corn or egg bread in a hearty broth. It’s really good and somehow tastes very indulgent at the same time.
“No shichimi?” Tsugaru (pouting slightly)
