Chestnut Shaped Egg Yolk Anpan Sweet Bun

An egg yolk filled anpan sounds really good, and ought to be, especially from a shinise like Miki Keiran. However, I was a little disappointed. It was by no means bad, but the combination has the potential to be quite amazing and it wasn’t. Too bad.

Egg Yolk Anpan Sweet Bun - Egg Yolk Bean Paste Filling

How did it taste?
The bread is soft and just average in taste as far as Japanese bread goes, the egg yolk glaze is quite nice, quite thick and sticky, and fragrant too. There are white (and a few black) poppy seeds adhered to the glaze at the bottom, to create the visual effect of a chestnut.

The filling is egg yolk and smooth and creamy white shiroan bean paste. If you didn’t know it was bean paste, you probably wouldn’t guess it by the taste or texture. The richness of the egg yolk appropriately comes to the forefront.

One variety of this anpan contains a chestnut, which is fine, but with the addition of the whole chestnut, the richness and delicacy of the egg yolk gets overpowered. I tried just the egg yolk bean paste mixture and it was very, very good.

In the end, I think that there is too much bread to filling and the presence of the chestnut muddled the taste.

This is one interesting confection to me and one that I would like to redesign! This anpan cost 150 yen, that is not expensive at all for any anpan in Japan. And, this is Nishiki Market. No one goes to Nishiki Market looking for a bargain! If there were tons more filling I think this would have worked better. Just double the price and double or triple the amount of filling and this anpan would be out of this world! I am not sure what to do about the chestnut but they definitely need one to offer one without the chestnut. This is a shinise egg shop, I think that they should focus on the egg aspect rather than try to make it conventional with a chestnut.

Egg Yolk Anpan Sweet Bun - Egg Yolk Bean Paste Filling (notice chestnut chunk at bottom of paste)

About Anpan
The meaning of anpan comes from ‘an’, anko bean paste and ‘pan’ the adopted word in Japanese for bread. This now ubiquitous confection was developed in 1875 by Yasubei Kimura, a samurai who had recently lost his livelihood as a result of the Meiji Restoration. This was a time of rapid Westernization of Japan but bread hadn’t really caught on in Meiji era Japan. Yasubei, in need of a livelihood based his confection on the traditional manju confection, replacing the mochi with bread but keeping the sweet bean filling. This proved a winning combination. Yasubei was recruited to make an imperial anpan for the emperor and his bakery thrives today in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district.

About Miki Keiran
Miki Keiran was founded in 1928 and the Honten (Main Store) is located in the Nishiki Market. Miki Keiren also has stores in several department stores in Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. Miki Keiren only makes Kyoto-style dashimaki tamago omelettes for take out. Dashi means broth and much of Kyoto cuisine starts with broth. Miki Keiren uses the finest eggs for their omelettes but the dashi costs even more money than the eggs. That is Kyoto! Miki is a family name meaning ‘three trees’ and keiren means ‘chicken egg’.

Miki Keiren’s dashimaki is a must have for New Year’s in Kyoto. Kyotoites have to reserve theirs in advance and then they come to a different location on a nearby street away from the narrow Nishiki Market shopping street to pick theirs up at an appointed time a day or two before New Year’s. In Kyoto, dashimaki is serious business!

– Shop Photo and Map Coming Soon –

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For this unusual wagashi just two ingredients; sugar and egg yolk, and some ancient Portuguese technique are needed to make Keiran Somen, literally ‘chicken egg angel hair noodles’.

Barbarian Confection: Fios de Ovos

Tsuruya is a Kyoto wagashi shinise that has a new shop in the Nishiki Market called Tsurujuan. I had heard about this confection from Miwa but I had never seen it. The moment I laid eyes on it I reached for my wallet.

The inventiveness of wagashi never ceases to amaze, keiran somen, like kasutera and kompeito, is one of those ‘not quite’ Japanese confections that is inspired by fios de ovos, or ‘angel hair’ that made its way to Japan in the 1600′s from Portugal. The ingredient list is short; just sugar and egg yolk. The taste and texture is out of this world rich and luxurious!

Keiran Somen – Package

Keiran Somen – Package Unwrapped

Keiran Somen

Keiran somen is based on the Portuguese dish fios de ovos or ‘angel hair’.

How to Make: A Pound of Sugar, A Pound of Egg Yolk

A few years ago I learned why pound cake is called pound cake; a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of flour. Very simple, very rich. When I first tasted Tsuruya’s keiran somen, the first thing that came to mind was, a pound of sugar, a pound of egg yolk.

Kyoto Tsuruya won’t say how they make their keiran somen, however they do say that it is made the ‘traditional way’. There are a small number of wagashi companies in Japan that make keiran somen. Rock sugar is melted over heat in a pan and into this well stirred egg yolk is poured from a container with multiple narrow spouts. The cooked threads of egg yolk are gathered up into a loop, just like yarn. It is then twisted tight and cut into bite sized pieces.

Keiran Somen

Keiran Somen

Keiran Somen Pulled Apart

Gently untwisting will separate the ‘noodles’.

Keiran Somen – detail

Ingredient List: Sugar and Egg

(From the second line) 砂糖 sugar, 鶏卵 chicken egg