How to make Taiyaki + Black Forest Milkshake

A few weeks ago, a girl left me a comment on Instagram asking me if what I had made was Taiyaki. I told her no, but thanked her for letting me know about this wonderful recipe. It’s true that I had already tried them, although I didn’t remember their name, and they were filled with ice cream…. I must add that the ones I tried, from an ice cream parlour in Madrid, I didn’t like at all. The dough was tasteless and overcooked, not to mention the ice cream was crystallised.

So the same day she told me about it, I bought the pan to make them. As happens to me on more than one occasion, I was overcome with emotion and didn’t think about the fact that my induction hob would not be compatible with this pan as it is raised on both sides. But I leave you with a way (different and peculiar, I won’t deny it) to use it and enjoy an incredible Taiyaki with a Black Forest milkshake at home.

The truth is that the way you enjoy them is entirely up to you. With some chocolate or caramel and whipped cream, they are wonderful. But if you feel like getting a bit more creative and pampering yourself (all the love you give yourself is more than deserved), this option could be fabulous. Especially for the weekend.

Taiyaki origin.

The translation of taiyaki that means “cooked sea bream“, first appeared in Tokyo a century ago. The story goes that a similar sweet known as imagawayaki was sold in Kansai, western Japan, and that vendors visiting Tokyo (then known as Edo) began selling it near one of the bridges in the Kanda district.

Imagawayakiwas made with a denser batter and was commonly found in a round shape. The taiyaki, on the other hand, was made with a thinner, more delicate batter, resulting in a crisp, fish-shaped cake. Both sweets were part of a trend to use molten metal moulds to shape food. At the turn of the century, as the Meiji period was coming to an end, taiyaki was becoming fashionable and it was common to find mentions of this cake in the newspapers.

It is unclear exactly why sea bream was chosen for the shape of the mould, but the most common theory is that the cake is associated with luxury. Sea bream is a somewhat expensive fish and for that reason, it is thought, the moulds were shaped like sea bream so that those who tasted it could imagine that they were doing well and eating luxury goods. In Japan, sea bream is known as the “king of fish” and is considered a delicacy, which suggests that this story may not be far off the mark.

Sea bream is eaten on special occasions, such as New Year’s Day, to anticipate good luck.

There may be a connection with the word for sea bream, “tai“, which sounds similar to “medetai“, Japanese for happy or auspicious, and the idea that eating it brings good luck.

Although it has been around for quite some time, taiyaki began to establish itself in society after World War II. With the need to earn money, making and selling taiyaki proved to be a simple and inexpensive way for many people to make a living in the post-war period. However, it was not until 1976 that taiyaki achieved its true success with the fortuitous release of the song Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun, meaning “Swim! Little Taiyaki“. It was an incredibly massive hit with children and adults alike, and is credited with helping to popularise taiyaki in Japan.

Today, taiyaki can be found everywhere in Japan.

The tail controversy.

Being such a popular food, it was easy to find various articles in which both experts and celebrities talked about the food. Andou Tsuruo, a novelist, wrote an article for the Yomiuri Shinbun newspaper entitled “Taiyaki tastes better with paste in the tail”.

In it, he shared his experience of meeting a taiyaki vendor who stuffed his taiyaki, including the tail, with red bean paste. Andou saw this as a generous act and opened a debate on whether or not the taiyaki tail should be filled with bean paste. Readers responded with the following opinions:

• The tail was originally just a handle to hold the taiyaki that was discarded after eating.
• The tail should not contain any filler as this part helped to reduce the sweetness after eating the rest of the taiyaki.
• If the tail has no filling, there is a feeling of wasting that part of it.
• If the tail is filled with bean paste, the cake has much more value.

The dispute continued over how to eat taiyaki: Do you start eating it from the head or from the tail? Some people even went so far as to assign different personality traits according to the way you eat taiyaki:

• If you started at the top, you were considered an optimist.
• If you started at the tail, you were a romantic.
• Someone who ate by the flipper was sensitive.
• A person who opened it, was a person of action.

There are different varieties of taiyaki depending on the region of Japan.

In Nagasaki Prefecture, the city of Tsushima is home to the Saga taiyaki. This is a taiyaki with a folded tail and a circular appearance, which is more similar to the original sweet imagawayaki. Another version of taiyaki has wings, known as hanetsuki taiyaki (taiyaki with wings attached), and is shaped like a fish surrounded by a thin, crispy rectangular wafer of dough. There is even a croissant-style taiyaki.

In Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, where scientists are studying the famous coelacanth, the taiyaki is shaped like this strange fish. In Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture, they make taiyaki in the shape of the carp streamer that is used to celebrate Children’s Day on 5 May. It is called koinoboriyaki. In places like Nagasaki City and Muroran City in Hokkaido, the waffle is baked in the shape of a whale and is known as kujirayaki, “baked whale”, while in Fukuoka Prefecture a taiyaki in the shape of a sunfish – manbouyaki– is sold.

In Akita City, a cold version of taiyaki called cold taiyaki “hiyashi taiyaki” is made, while in the north, in Aomori Prefecture, in Goshogawara City, a fried taiyaki “agetai taiyaki” is made.

Although taiyaki, wherever they are made, are traditionally shaped like fish, they can also be found in other shapes, such as faces of people, birds, turtles, anime characters, and even Hello Kitty. When they are shaped like people or animals, they are called ningyoyaki– cooked dolls.