User:HelloAnnyong/Translated/Mentsuyu

Mentsuyu (めんつゆ, also 麺汁) is a seasoning in Japanese cuisine. It is made from dashi, soy sauce, mirin (or Japanese rice wine) and sugar.

Description

Mentsuyu is most often eaten with sōmen, soba, udon and hiyamugi.

The uniform flavor of mentsuyu sold on the market is useful, and even though there are a number of cooking seasonings available, in the 21st century the soy sauce has been substituted out for other flavors.

History

Kaeshi is a base made from soy sauce, mirin and sugar. Prior to the use of soy sauce in kaeshi, a type of miso-based sauce (called taremiso) for dipping udon had already been in existence during the Muromachi period. This taremiso was made by taking miso paste, adding water to it and boiling it down to concentrate the flavor. The liquid would then be put in a cloth bag and left to hang so the water could drip out. Another version used miso that had not been heated and instead added strips of katsuobushi to the liquid. Eventually this became the current version of tare sauce.

In Cooking Story (料理物語, ryōri monogatari), a book published in 1643, a recipe for soba tsuyu is described. In it, taremiso is combined with a broth made from katsuobushi, shaved daikon, chives and mustard.

In The complete book of soba (蕎麦全書, soba zensho), a book written in 1751, two methods for making tsuyu are described. In the first, taremiso, sake and shaved bonito are combined and boiled off. Salt and tamari soy sauce are then added. This was served slightly heated at soba shops in the Edo period. The second method combines soy sauce, sake and water, which is then heated over a low flame. The writer of the book write down her own recipes, including a shoji (Buddhist asceticism of sorts) vegetarian soup that does not use katsuobushi, but it says that people can add katsuobushi if they like it. Since then, tsuyu made with soy sauce and mirin (or other sake that has a high sugar content) has become more popular.