It’s always fun to find a new sake pairing, but the Entabe site reports on one that may not have crossed your mind – sake and butter.
To be more specific, sake from the Fukuju brewery in Kobe is incorporated into a “butter sandwich” made by local cake shop Bocksun. These buttery sandwich biscuits are found everywhere from high-end sweet shops to convenience stores (although not usually with alcohol).
The buttery confection uses Fukuju’s Mikagegō junmai and sakekasu (sake lees) in the buttercream filling, which is sandwiched between two soft cookies. A box of five costs JPY 1,250 including tax.
The box and also the cookies themselves are stamped with the Fukuju logo. A delicate, sweet aroma emerges as soon as the packaging is opened. The flour-scented biscuit and rich butter filling gradually give way to a rich, mellow flavour, and the sakekasu contribute an amazake-like deep umami and sweetness that fills the mouth. The flavour of the sake stands up to the butter, which should please any sake fans that try it.
Butter sandwich biscuits usually have raisins in the filling, but this one has a surprise inside – soft and flaky black soy beans from the famous growing region of Tamba, selected to up the sweet treat’s Japanese credentials.
Links
- Original article (Japanese, Entabe, 27 October 2018) Click through for food porn photos.
- Shushikan/Fukuju brewery (Japanese)
- Fukuju brewery (English)
- Bocksun (Japanese)