Comparison of akashiyaki and takoyaki batter

<p>[Purpose] Akashiyaki is a local food of Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture. Originally called Tamagoyaki, it is similar to Takoyaki. In the Edo period , egg whites were used to produce artificial coral in Akashi, and the batter was made from the remaining egg yolks, jinko (Ukiko: wheat starch), and dashi, and octopus, which was abundant in Akashi. Today, Akashiyaki uses a lot of eggs, but the amount of egg yolk is not seen or heard about. Jinko is sold in Akashi City, its sale is rare east of Kobe City, and there are not many shops selling Akashiyaki outside of southern Hyogo Prefecture. Therefore, we investigated the current method of cooking Akashiyaki batter and compared it to Takoyaki, a food similar to Akashiyaki. </p><p>[Methods] The mixing ratio of ingredients was investigated from literature and recipe sites. Akashiyaki was purchased at 5 shops around Akashi Station, and Takoyaki was purchased at 5 shops around Osaka Station, and the textures, color, and salt content were measured and compared by sensory evaluation. </p><p> [Results] The recipes of the Akashi Tourist Association and Akashiyaki shops used Jinko in addition to wheat flour, but the recipes of companies and individuals did not use Jinko, and some recipes added strong flour or potato starch to weak flour, suggesting that Jinko is difficult to obtain. The proportions of batter differed by recipe, but Akashiyaki contained slightly more eggs than Takoyaki, and the amount of dashi was the same or slightly higher in Takoyaki. The salt content of the batter was higher in Akashiyaki than in Takoyaki. This was thought to be due to the difference in the way Akashiyaki was eaten, as Akashiyaki was often soaked in dashi and Takoyaki was often eaten with sauce. In addition, the ratio of the salt content of Akashiyaki batter to the salt content of the dashi varies from shop to shop, and it is speculated that each shop adjusts the salt content of the dashi to suit the batter. In the sensory evaluation, Akashiyaki was evaluated to be softer than Takoyaki and to have a strong taste of eggs and dashi.</p>