2021.12.20
合理的なことは求めない 手焼き製法を徹底したせんべい専門店「喜作」
Kisaku: A Rice Cracker Specialty Store with a Thorough Commitment to a Hand-baked Making Method That Does Not Seek What Is Rational
創業以来、備長炭を使った昔ながらの手焼き製法を一貫するせんべい専門店の「本手焼きせんべい 喜作」。東京都文京区の江戸川橋商店街で約70年間、香ばしい香りを漂わせながら手焼きせんべいを1枚1枚焼き続けている老舗です。
お店に入ってすぐ隣に、備長炭が燃える火の上に網を置き、せんべいを1枚ずつ汗を流しながら丁寧に焼く職人さんの姿がとても印象的です。米本来の味と醤油の風味を感じられるせんべいは今でも愛されています。
Honteyaki Senbei Kisaku is a rice cracker specialty store. It has consistently employed the traditional hand-baked making method using high-grade charcoal since its foundation. It is a long-established store that has continued to bake rice crackers individually with a fragrant aroma wafting in the air for approximately 70 years in the Edogawabashi Shopping District in Bunkyo, Tokyo.
A net is placed on the fire where the high-grade charcoal burns immediately after you enter the store. You will be very impressed by the sight of the craftsmen working hard to carefully bake each rice cracker. These rice crackers that allow you to experience the inherent taste of the rice and the flavor of the soy sauce are still loved to this day.
職人の“手”でしか生まれない上質な味
燃える備長炭の上でせんべいを焼く職人さんの手には、熱さから手を守るため、軍手を3～4重に重ねて装着されています。網の上に大量に並べられたせんべいは、頃合いを見計らって1枚ずつひっくり返して焼き加減を調整します。せんべいの生地は、その日の気候や湿度の影響も受けるため、焼く上での調整が必要なこともあり、手焼きは重要な意味を持ちます。
喜作・三代目の千島武さんは、「合理的にせんべいを作ろうと思えば作れるが、味の質は落ちてしまいます。せんべいの状況を細かく把握しながら手焼きするほうが美味しいものができます」と職人さんの手で実現するこだわりの味の秘訣を話してくれました。
High-quality Taste That Can Only Be Created at the Hands of Craftsmen
The craftsmen who bake the rice crackers on the burning high-grade charcoal wear three to four layers of working gloves to protect their hands from the heat. They turn over the rice crackers lined up in large quantities on the net one-by-one at the right time to adjust the degree to which they are baked. The dough of the rice crackers is affected by the climate and humidity on the day. Therefore, it is necessary to make adjustments when baking them. Accordingly, hand-baking has an important significance.
Takeshi Chishima, the third-generation representative of Kisaku, told us about the secret of the wonderful taste realized at the hands of craftsmen: “It is possible to make rice crackers rationally if you want, but you will lose the quality of the taste. You can make better-tasting rice crackers by baking them by hand while grasping their situation in detail.”
職人が一枚一枚手で焼きあげている
A craftsman baking rice crackers one-by-one
大人気商品「わざとこわし」は職人がおやつとして食べていたのが始まり
喜作で一番の人気商品が「わざとこわし・割煎二度付け」です。「わざとこわし」は、わざと割った割口に、醤油味を利かせたせんべいで、製法特許取得・商標登録商品にもなります。その「わざとこわし割煎シリーズ」の醤油の二度付けがこの人気商品になります。
この「わざとこわし」は、もともと職人さんがおやつとして割って食べていたせんべいが起源ということです。当時は、見た目が割れているせんべいなので、職人さんの間でも商品化への葛藤があったとのことです。今では、濃いめの醤油の味付けと、ほどよい噛み応えが多くの人に好まれています。
Wazato Kowashi: A Popular Product That Started When Eaten as a Snack by Craftsmen
The most popular product at Kisaku is Wazato Kowashi Warisen Nidodzuke. Wazato Kowashi is a rice cracker deliberately cracked to bring out the flavor of the soy sauce. It is a product for which its making method has been patented and its trademark has been registered. Double dipping in soy sauce this Wazato Kowashi Warisen Series has made this a popular product.
This wazato kowashi (intentional cracking) originated with rice crackers being cracked and eaten as a snack by craftsmen. At that time, the rice crackers had a cracked appearance, so there was conflict even among the craftsmen about turning it into a product. Nowadays, many people love the strong soy sauce flavor and the moderate chewy texture.
看板商品の「わざとこわし」
Wazato Kowashi flagship product
昔から続く伝統の味を楽しめる本物のせんべい
上質な米からできる生地を職人さんの手で焼き上げ、醤油ダレで味つけを調整しながら完成させる喜作のせんべい。備長炭から舞う炎の前で職人さんが目を離さず向き合う姿は、昔から継がれる手焼き製法でしか生まれない伝統の味を守り続けている強い意志が感じられます。「喜作」は、日本人の食卓には欠かせない米と醤油から職人が生み出す美味しいせんべいを堪能できます。
Authentic Rice Crackers Which Allow You to Enjoy a Traditional Taste That Has Been around for a Long Time
Kisaku rice crackers are made at the hands of craftsmen baking the dough that comes from high-quality rice and then finishing them while adjusting the flavor with soy-based sauce. The sight of the craftsmen facing the rice crackers without taking their eyes off them in front of the flames fluttering from the high-grade charcoal reveals the strong will to keep protecting traditions born only from a hand-baked making method handed down since olden times. You can savor tasty rice crackers produced by craftsmen from the rice and soy sauce that are indispensable to Japanese dining tables at Kisaku.
