Japanese with Manga

Oden fixings fresh from the fryer with 揚げたて

Vocabulary Explanation: Collocations for cooking

At a crowded food stall, a grinning vendor in a headscarf holds long chopsticks over a tray of fried fish cakes. Behind him, a curly-haired woman holds out a box of croquettes. Hakumei stands in the foreground with her back to the reader.
ハクメイとミコチ » Volume 3 » Page 145

Hakumei and Mikochi are showing Iwashi around the city and want to find a restaurant he’d like for dinner. Nothing works out. One place is too cramped for him, another is closed, and he wants nothing sweet for dinner. They give up and head into a busy street of food stalls.

店主(てんしゅ)Ⓐ:
「ハクメイ　おでんダネ揚(あ)げたてだぜ」
“Hakumei! The oden fixings are fresh out of the fryer!”
店主(てんしゅ)Ⓑ:
「コロッケも熱々(あつあつ)だよ」
“The croquettes are piping hot, too!”
ハクメイ:
「両方(りょうほう)買(か)った！」
“I'll take both!”

Key Points

1揚(あ)げたて = fresh out of the fryer
  • 揚(あ)げる means to deep-fry. Add たて to a verb’s stem and it means the action has only just finished: 揚(あ)げたて, freshly fried.
  • The same pattern names other fresh food: 焼(や)きたてのパン (bread hot from the oven), 炊(た)きたてのご飯(はん) (rice just cooked), 出来(でき)たて (just made).
  • Vendors call it out because fried food is best in the first few minutes, while it’s still crisp.
2おでんダネ = oden ingredients
  • タネ (種) means the ingredients that go into a dish. Joined to おでん, its た becomes だ: おでんダネ. The same sound change gives すしダネ for the fish on sushi.
  • Many oden ingredients are fried fish cakes, such as さつま揚(あ)げ. This stall fries them on the spot.
3Stall vendors’ calls
  • The man ends with だぜ, a rough, friendly way to state a fact. The woman ends with だよ, which also tells the listener something new but sounds softer.
  • 熱々(あつあつ) doubles 熱(あつ)い to mean piping hot. も adds the croquettes to the oden fixings: the croquettes are hot, too.
  • Hakumei answers with 両方(りょうほう)買(か)った！, “I’ll take both!” The past tense 買(か)った announces that she has made up her mind.

Vocabulary

(Oden)

おでん is a winter dish of ingredients such as daikon, boiled eggs, konnyaku, and fish cakes, simmered for a long time in a light soy-flavored broth.

(Ingredients)

タネ, also written 種(たね), means a seed. In cooking, it means the ingredients that go into a dish, as in すしダネ for the fish on sushi and おでんダネ for the items in oden. It also means a trick’s secret, as in 手品(てじな)のタネ.

(To deep-fry)

揚(あ)げる means to deep-fry food in hot oil. It also means to send something up into the air, such as a flag or a kite.

(Freshly)

(Croquette)

コロッケ is a croquette, a deep-fried patty of mashed potato or meat coated in breadcrumbs.

(Piping hot)

熱々(あつあつ) describes food or drink that is piping hot, fresh off the heat. It also describes a couple who are madly in love.

(Both)

両方(りょうほう) is both of two things or two sides together. Its opposite is 片方(かたほう), one of the pair.

(To buy)

買(か)う is to buy something.

See Also

ハクメイとミコチ © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.