Part 5 – Sweet Senbei
His grandmother was using the same matcha tea brew she had always used, nothing special, but full of nostalgia for Sasuke, and so was the senbei: the umami flavor from the soy sauce coupled with a slightly smokey flavor that he couldn't get at any other shop or convenient store that sold senbei.
"Still as good as I remember," he said as he observed the interior of the cracker.
"Thank you," Teyaki said, "We made them specifically for you."
"I heard a few people knew I was coming," Sasuke said.
"Yes," Uruchi said, "We knew, but we have some free time now."
"Free time," Sasuke asked, "What about the shop?"
"We don't usually open until later," Uruchi said, "Most kids around town prefer Western desserts around this time. We'd love to try, but we can't seem to get the recipes right."
"I could help," Sasuke said, "I've been studying Western desserts in my cooking class back in Osaka."
"I don't see a problem," Teyaki said, "So long as your grandmother doesn't."
"I don't mind," Kamibu said, "So long as you show me how much of your homework you've worked on."
"I can deal with that," Sasuke said.
"We just need to decide on a time," Teyaki said.
"A time for," Sasuke asked.
"We need time to try making the recipe," Uruchi said.
"And we need time to promote the new recipe," Teyaki said.
"With making it, no time like the present," Sasuke said, "The problem is promoting it."
"You could set up a stand at the new year's festival," Kamibu said.
"That's five days from now," Sasuke said, "It'd give us a little time to come up with a good dessert."
"And come up with a few options," Teyaki said.
"Did you at least do a small amount of homework," Kamibu asked.
"I can go get it," Sasuke said.
"Go ahead," Kamibu said.
After grabbing his notebook, he could hear some whispering from the ground floor, and as he walked downstairs, he heard Teyaki say, "That's not a bad idea."
"What's not a bad idea," Sasuke asked.
"Maybe you need to bring your notebook with you," Teyaki said.
"Your father did say one of your homework assignments was making a new kind of dessert for your cooking class," Kamibu said, "Maybe you could jot down some notes."
"Given," Sasuke said, secretly thinking "They're lying," he held out his note and textbooks to his grandmother, "The problems are marked down, and the page is marked with a sticky note."
Kamibu observed the page, and smiled, "Almost finished," she said as she closed the textbook, and handed it and his notebook back, "You'll finish later tonight?"
"Yes, grandma," Sasuke said.
"Ok, then," Kamibu said, "Grab your coat, and don't catch a cold."
"I'll do my best, grandma," Sasuke said.
"Come on," Teyaki said as he stood up, and walked over to the door with Uruchi.
"Right behind you," Sasuke said as he walked over to the door, grabbed his jacket, and slipped on his shoes on the way out the door.
"It's so good to have you back in town," Uruchi said as they walked toward the senbei shop, "I wish you'd visit more often."
"I just haven't been able to," Sasuke said, "I never found an excuse."
"Your grandparents and family weren't enough," Teyaki asked.
"Come on, uncle, that's not fair," Sasuke said.
"I'm just messing with you," Teyaki said as they walked by a street that showed Hokage Rock.
"I see they added Tsunade's face onto the rock," Sasuke said.
"Yep," Uruchi said, "She's been a very big influence on this village. She helped many of the small businesses in town with planning, loans, and negotiations with the bank."
"Does she ever stop in," Sasuke asked.
"A few times," Teyaki said, "We have a small section only she can sit in, have tea, and have her meetings in privacy."
"Meetings with the various members of the public," Sasuke asked.
"Among others," Uruchi said.
"And what about anyone that I know," Sasuke asked.
"Shino comes in quite a few times," Teyaki said, "The same order every time, two senbei, and a hot tea to go."
"During exams," Sasuke asked as they turned onto the street the shop was located on.
"Almost exclusively," Teyaki said, "Sometimes he comes in before exams. Ours is fast, cheap, and convenient for people on the go."
"I'd imagine," Sasuke said as they walked up to the front of the shop.
As Teyaki unlocked the door, and they walked in, it was apparent they had taken the inventory off the shelves to prepare for the downtime they were expecting.
"Nice and empty, just like you'd expect," Sasuke said.
"We don't want to leave the senbei out too long," Teyaki said, "It is bread after all."
"Of course," Sasuke said as he pulled out his notebook.
"If you can get to work on your recipe, I can fire up the grill," Teyaki said.
"Of course," Sasuke said.
What's weird is that despite how many times Sasuke had stopped off at the shop after school for a snack, he had never been in the kitchen before.
The counter was about two yards long and about two and a half feet wide and had a marble top.
As he opened his notebook, he observed his recipes, "What are you thinking of," Uruchi asked.
"You guys still make your sweet senbei crackers," Sasuke asked.
"Never stopped making them," Teyaki said.
"Why don't we start there," Sasuke asked, "Can I have a pen?"
"Right here," Uruchi said as she handed Sasuke one of the pens she had at the counter.
"Thanks," Sasuke said as he began writing, "I need to know how to make them in order to design the recipe."
"Ok then," Teyaki said as he pulled out a fresh sheet of dough, "You of course know the basics, right?"
"Grind rice into a powder, mix it with hot water," Sasuke began, "Kneed it, divide it, steam it, cool it, kneed it again, cut it, dry it, then grill it, and coat it."
"Exactly," Teyaki said as he pointed at his nephew, "We do things a little differently than other senbei shops though. For our sweet senbei, instead of soy sauce, we use tamari, and instead of regular sugar, we grind kokutō sugar by hand."
"Tamari and Kukutō sugar," Sasuke asked as he wrote down his uncle's notes, "I always knew something was interesting about your senbei."
"Compared to what you could get at the store, you mean," Uruchi said.
"Compared to what you can get anywhere else, period," Sasuke said as he pointed his pen at them, "What about the soak?"
"A mixture of tamari and brown sugar," Teyaki said, "It's very simple, and it adds more flavor."
"Indeed," Sasuke said, "What about drying," he pointed at the unkneaded dough, "Doesn't the dough have to dry for three to five days?"
"We've found a small workaround," Teyaki said as he pulled out a broiler pan with holes cut out of the bottom, "When we use the grill, we put the cut crackers on top, and make a small tent out of foil."
"So you smoke them dry," Sasuke said, "That always explained the slightly smoky flavor I never had in Osaka."
"Now you know the secret," Teyaki said.
"We could play off the smoky flavor," Sasuke said, "What about apples?"
"Apple wouldn't be too bad," Uruchi said, "Local markets are full of them."
"Maybe try out a few different apples," Sasuke said.
"We could use Fuji apples," Uruchi said.
"The mild flavor could play off the mild smoky flavor that you give the senbei," Sasuke said, "The sweet flavor of a Kinsei would also be a nice pairing with the soy sauce you use."
"What about Orin apples," Teyaki asked.
"They do go well with savory flavors," Sasuke said, "I say we try them all."
"I'll make a run down to the store," Uruchi said.
"I'll need a few things myself," Sasuke said as he wrote down everything he needed for his buttercream and a simple whipped cream.
"Thank you," Uruchi said as she took the list and grabbed her coat on the way out.
"You're thinking some kind of cobbler-like dessert," Teyaki asked.
"That, or some kind of sandwich like dessert," Sasuke said, "You have the crackers, I have the buttercream or whipped cream. All we need is the fruit."
"I'll light the fire," Teyaki said as stuffed a handful of wood into the pit underneath the grill, "So, I noticed that the tray was on mom's kitchen table. Did you have company over?"
"I did," Sasuke said.
"Let me guess," Teyaki said, "The pretty pink-haired girl that you used to hang around when you used to live here?"
"You describing Sakura as pretty is a little disturbing," Sasuke said.
"Why, because you don't find her pretty," Teyaki asked.
"No, I do," Sasuke said, "But it's primarily because you're married and old enough to be her grandfather."
Teyaki chuckled as he lit one of his matches, and placed it in between two of the logs, "Shouldn't take more than a few minutes," he said as he began cutting the crackers, and placing them on the broiler pan, "I always make sure to leave at least one inch of space between each senbei."
"Make sure it gets dried evenly," Sasuke asked.
"That," Teyaki said, "And the smoke coming from underneath needs room to move around inside the dome we're about to create."
"That way the smoky flavor give evenly incorporated across the cracker," Sasuke said.
"Exactly," Teyaki said, "Same principle when smoking fish, you want to make sure the fish gets evenly smoked."
"Fish or any other kind of meat," Sasuke asked.
"Yes," Teyaki said as he pointed to a small cut-out in the counter, "If you would tear off two sheets of foil."
Sasuke reached into the cut-out, and it seems that his aunt and uncle had modified the cut-out usually used for parchment paper to dispense and cut foil.
Teyaki had done this before, apparently, because he was right, it took two sheets of foil to encase the broiler pan, and they needed the excess to close the gap made in the center of the foil.
"What now," Sasuke asked.
"Now we need to make a few vent holes for the smoke to go through," Teyaki said.
"We need vent holes in the foil," Sasuke asked
"Yes," Teyaki said, "Smoke itself is toxic, so we'd need to vent off the smoke, but we still want the smoky flavor, so the vent holes need to be relatively small," he reached over to the side of the table, and pulled out a small paring knife, "Three holes," he very quickly poked three holes into the top of the foil which opened holes about a quarter inch wide, "Make sure they don't overlap, and that they don't tear the foil."
"Nice little tip there," Sasuke said.
"Thanks," Teyaki said as he put the knife away.
"How long should they take to dry out," Sasuke asked.
"When the fire gets going," Teyaki said, "About half an hour. The cooking itself should only take a few minutes."
"And the soak," Sasuke asked.
"That takes a bit longer," Teyaki said.
"And it's something I'll happily share with you," Uruchi said as she walked through the door with two bags of groceries.
"This is kind of fun," Teyaki said.
"What," Sasuke asked, "Having someone around stealing your recipes?"
"Having some help in the kitchen, and having you back," Teyaki said as he put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "And getting this time to talk, we haven't done that in a little while."
"I haven't been here in a little while," Sasuke said before pointing to the grill, "By the way, the fire."
Teyaki turned around to see the smoke coming, "Thanks," he said as he reached up, and turned the exhaust hood on, "Might want to keep the smoke from suffocating us."
"How about I make some tea to go with this," Uruchi asked.
"That'd be perfect," Sasuke said.
Will continue in the next chapter…