いけずな京男
A rainy day. In the afternoon when the rain eased, I went to Saganomori Kawanaka-san for some shopping. A long time ago, there was a mahjong gathering at a friend's house nearby, and since they also ran a guesthouse, the lady of the house used to treat us with yudofu made with their tofu. I still remember the taste, so occasionally I feel like having it and drive there. The shop has a parking lot for four cars next to it. I was worried if it would be crowded, but when I arrived, it was a lucky day with only one elderly customer leaving, so I had the place to myself. Well, even in autumn such luck is rare, but today was fortunate. There were new product samples displayed at the entrance, so I pointed at them and requested Sagatofu, Kinugoshi, summer limited edition spicy tofu, aburaage, and hirousu. If you buy these at a supermarket, you would get a good amount of change from a thousand yen, but here it added up to around three thousand yen. The Kyoto locals' favorite omotofu shop's tofu costs 98 yen. I use it regularly. Sagatofu 480 Kinugoshi 480 Spicy tofu 440 Hirousu 270x5 1350 Aburaage 270 Total 3262 yen The tofu is about the size of two pieces from a supermarket. It was smooth and silky in texture despite being firm. Hirousu contains large pieces of yurine (lily root) and ginnan (ginkgo nuts). It has a satisfying texture. And most importantly, it's delicious. It's authentic, so it's not expensive at all. I brought them back and made yudofu, tofu, warmed hirousu with ginger, grated daikon, and kujo negi, and aburaage with kujo negi in a closing dish called Yuba-don. It's perfect with beer in this season. I also wanted to buy bou-hirousu, which is a longer shape, but it would take a bit more time. I thought the tofu shop only sold during the day because they start early in the morning, but it seems they also make them during the day. By the way, spicy tofu. Many Kyoto locals are not familiar with it, and the origin is uncertain. Around 2000, I found out there was a type of tea bowl tofu in Noto, and in Kanazawa, they casually mentioned adding spicy sauce to cold tofu, which surprised me. However, I heard that someone who trained in Kyoto passed it on to Noto. On the other hand, in Gifu, the same thing has been eaten for a long time, so there is a possibility that it was passed from Gifu to Kyoto. It's intriguing. Lastly, I read a book called "Tofu Michi," which summarizes the stories of the shop owner here. From his training days to the current tofu-making process, and also serving tofu at Tenryu-ji Temple events, I learned that tofu has such a deep foundation. Thinking about that, I will continue to enjoy it in the future. Thank you for the delicious meal.