Text: Bowl pills
When I first came into contact with Japanese materials, when I mentioned udon noodles, everyone always thought of the white and fat Sanuki Udon. So when I first saw Inao Udon, many people had the urge to lift the table, thinking: This is not Udon at all, it is clearly a domestic noodle bought in the supermarket next door, don't bully me for not having culture!
I don't know which way you like to lift the table:
Furious flips the table...
Technical flip table...
The heart is like a water-stopping type lifting table...
However, Inaba Udon is really Udon. This time, we will talk about hand-extended udon represented by Inabi Udon and Goto Udon.
Hand-extended udon and plain noodles
The last time we talked about Udon, we mentioned that there are two very different traditional methods of noodle making in Udon: hand beating (手破ち) and hand ३ (手延べ). Hand-playing udon is similar to knife-cut noodles, represented by Sanuki Udon, hand-extended udon is similar to hanging noodles, and Inaba Udon is represented.
A knife-cut hand beats Udon. via：cn.ana-cooljapan.com
In addition to Inatino Udon (Akita Prefecture), the famous Japanese Tetsuya Udon also includes Goto Udon (Nagasaki Prefecture), Ikumi Udon (Toyama Prefecture), Andeaka Udon (Okayama Prefecture), etc.
From left: Sanuki Udon, Inabi Udon, Goto Udon. via：mi-journey.jp
There are several different theories about the "Three Great Udons of Japan", one of the more common ones is Sanuki Udon, Inabi Udon and Goto Udon, so we will also focus on Inabi Udon and Goto Udon below. Other accounts include Sanuki Udon, Inabi Udon, Ikumi Udon, or Zanki Udon, Inabi Udon, Mizusawa Udon (Gunma Prefecture, Hand Udon).
The five udons are mentioned separately in several accounts of the "Three Udons". via：mi-journey.jp
What about plain noodles?
According to the "Japanese Agriculture and Forestry Specification" (JAS), in machine-made dry noodles, noodles with a cross-sectional length of more than 1.7 mm are udon noodles, cold wheat between 1.3 and 1.7 mm, and plain noodles with a cross-sectional length of less than 1.3 mm. In the case of handmade noodles, the thicker noodles are udon and the thinner noodles are plain noodles.
Compare the vegetarian noodles around the place to taste it, is it OK? via：kinarino.jp
Handmade plain noodles are called hand-made plain noodles, and machine-made noodles are called machine plain noodles. The method of making hand-extended udon and hand-extended plain noodles is the same, but the thickness is different.
There are many famous vegetarian noodles in various parts of Japan, such as Miwasu noodles (Nara Prefecture), Shodoshima Vegetarian Noodles (Kagawa Prefecture), Banju Su noodles (Hyogo Prefecture), Shimabara Su noodles (Nagasaki Prefecture), Shiraishi Onomi (Miyagi Prefecture) and so on.
In addition, where you can do a good job of hand extension udon, making plain noodles is not a thing. Therefore, there are also such things as Inadi noodles and Goto noodles.
Inari plain noodles that look cool and icy. via：nipponselect.com
Send tang envoys and yunyou monks
Then, here's the problem. The famous Inabi Udon is located in Akita Prefecture in northeastern Japan, and the famous Goto Udon is located in Nagasaki Prefecture in southwest Japan, one tennan and one earth north, who started to do hand-extended udon first?
It is very likely that the Nagasaki people made the hand-extended udon first.
Five Islands Udon. via：kintyouriki.blog.so-net.ne.jp
It is said that the Goto Udon technique was brought back to Japan from China by the Tang envoys. At that time, the unreliable ships of the Tang envoys generally departed from Osaka and traveled back and forth through Kyushu (although sometimes they may not be able to return in the event of a shipwreck). Therefore, the area around Kyushu, including the Five Islands of Nagasaki, was the first area to have close contact with The Tang culture.
The great ship that sent the Tang envoys... via：btm.mynavi.jp
The route of the Tang envoys. via：tokyo-np.co.jp
Of course, when we talk about Zanki Udon, we also mentioned that the huge growth in wheat cultivation in Japan and the popularity of stone and water mills all occurred in the Edo period. Even if the Nagasaki people mastered the hand-extended udon technique in the 7th-9th centuries (China's Tang Dynasty), it is impossible to determine whether they began to make hand-extended udon at that time.
Inabi Udon first appeared in the Edo period in the fifth year of The Kwonbun (1665), when Sato Ichibei, who lived in the village of Inatei in Dewa Kingdom (present-day Ina-cho, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture), was the first person to make Inabi Udon. The noodles made by Sato Ichibei include not only dried indo-udon noodles, but also various noodles such as soba noodles and chestnut noodles. In 1690, the noodles made by his family became the imperial supplies of the lord of the Akita domain.
The Sato City Guards family has preserved the small wooden cards used to sell various noodles, including dry udon (dry warm meal). via：city-yuzawa.jp
So, why did the Sato Ichibei come up with the approach of Inatino Udon? There are two ways to say it. One theory is that the inspiration came from the Shiraishi Warm Face (白石溫麺).
"Shiraishi Warm Noodles", originating from Shiraishi City, Miyagi Prefecture, is a 400-year-old plain noodle. It is said that at that time, the father of the Shiraishi man Suzuki Asaemon had a weak stomach, so he learned the method of making Shiraishi warm noodles from the Yunyou monks and made soft noodles for his father to enjoy (a little touching...). ）。
The first Sato Ichibei to make Inabi Udon was a native of Mutsu Kingdom (present-day Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, Aomori, and parts of Akita), and Sato Ichibei probably came to Inatino Village with the technique of Shiraishi Warm Noodles and started a new business of Teyo Udon.
Clear soup rice garden udon. via：syunzoudou.com
Another theory is that the Tetsuyen Udon technique was introduced to Inaba Village through Kitamae ships that transported goods throughout Japan, and the technology was inherited from Nara's Three-Wheel Plain Noodles. The problem with this claim is that the Kitamae Ship only opened the Western Route to Hokuriku in 1672, and that Sato Ichibei had already made Indo Udon in 1665.
The route of the North Front Ship. via：n-story.jp
Starch with camellia oil
Generally speaking, the raw materials for making hand-extended udon are mainly wheat flour, water and salt, and loose powder and vegetable oil should be added in the process of rolling noodles to avoid sticking to the noodles. However, there are still some differences in the production of Ina-tino Udon and Goto Udon.
Indo-udon uses starch as a loose powder. via：yellpj.jp
Indyo udon does not use vegetable oil during the dough rolling process, but uses starch as a loose powder. This practice is consistent with the aforementioned Shiraishi warm noodles in Miyagi Prefecture. But Shiraishi Warm Noodles are short and look slim like cute children, while Inaba Udon noodles are slender.
The length of the warm surface of the white stone is compared with the general plain surface. via：gogo-miyagi.com
Unlike Inatino Udon, Goto Udon uses camellia oil ("Tsubaki oil" in Japanese) during the dough rolling stage instead of loose powder. In the article on edible oil, we mentioned that the Japanese have been using camellia oil since the Heian period.
Camellia oil from Goto. via：ennichi-japan.com
From December to March, Nagasaki Goto is a sea of camellia trees, while admiring the camellia flowers, drinking camellia tea, and then eating some goto udon that has been moisturized with camellia oil, with camellia salt, is it wonderful?
Facing the sea, camellia blossoms. via：risvel.com
Camellia from Goto. via：yukoyuko.net
In addition, the brain-opening Goto people also extracted camellia yeast and used it to make sake, shochu, wine, fish soy sauce, soap, essential oils, etc.
Shochu made with camellia yeast. via：shochu-kikou.com
Soap made from camellia yeast. via：wwdjapan.com
Even goto City's mascot is a cat with camellia flowers on its head - the camellia cat (つばきねこ)...
The camellia cat who is watching the "Japanese Camellia Picture Book" really loves to learn it! via：tsubakioil.jp
Hollow and solid
Whether it is Japan's hand-extended udon, hand-extended noodles, or China's noodles, the technology is very similar. Taking the manual practice of Inari Udon as an example, the steps are as follows:
Rubbing surface→ arousal (maturation) → strip, article → 盘→ → → (hand)→ → arousal→ → → over the secondary abductions → /abductions (postponed) → →
The wire [top] and the winding strip [bottom]. via：nanmoda.jp
Secondary pull bar. via：city-yuzawa.jp
Due to the manual operation and multiple awakenings, the entire production process of the traditional Inaba Udon takes 4 days to complete.
The production steps of Goto Udon are similar to those of Inabi Udon, but the steps before the pulling strip are generally changed to mechanization, and the steps after that are manual operations are generally completed on the 2nd, and some factories increase the wake-up time and complete it on the 3rd.
Goto Udon is drying. via：tokyo-kurayashiki.com
Although both Inabi Udon and Goto Udon look slender, a closer look reveals that the cross-section of Inajen Udon is rectangular and the cross-section of Goto Udon is circular. The reason is that goto Udon's "pulling strips" is only to stretch the noodles by hand, while Inatino Udon will also use rollers to flatten the noodles after elongating the noodles .0020000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
In the cold season, a bowl of hot clear soup udon is very healing.
The link of rice garden udon flattening. via：nanmoda.jp
Small partners familiar with China's handmade noodles know that handmade noodles are prone to hollowing, also often referred to as hollow noodles, the main reason for hollowing is that the gas produced during the awakening process accumulates in the dough. Compared to solid mechanism noodles, hollow handmade noodles have a more elastic taste.
Indyo Udon holes are large and flexible. via：furusato-tax.jp
There are many holes in Inaba udon noodles, while there are only thin holes in Goto udon noodles. The tradition of handmade noodles in Inateo Udon is better preserved, while some parts of goto udon noodle making have been changed to machine noodle making, and the appearance cycle is shorter, which is also the reason for the difference in the holes in the noodles between the two.
The cave is hollowed out in the five-winter ratio of The Garden. via: "Salt-resistant yeast on the formation of voids in hand-stretched dry noodles Inaniwa udon"
Than inland chicken with flying fish
There are many ways to eat in indo-udon, which can be cold or hot, with soup or without soup.
Udon made in Inaba. via：nanmoda.jp
In the hot summer, after the cold water, the bamboo curtain presents a udon (ざるうどん) that makes people feel cool, with soy sauce and juice and other blends, and the medicinal flavors of chopped shallots, ginger paste, wasabi, white radish puree, sesame seeds and other medicinal flavors, which are excellent ways to highlight the elastic teeth and smooth characteristics of indo-udon noodles. Similar to this is the udon sauce (noodles are served together with seasonings).
The cold soup udon is also suitable for summer. The most simple version is a sauced soy sauce base, garnished with chopped green onions. You can also add some perilla plum meat or lemon (or orange or grapefruit) and use the sour flavor to open the taste buds that have been knocked down by the heat. Or pair it with lettuce, okra, slippery mushroom or yam puree to add a bit of a smooth taste to indo-udon.
Lemon rice garden udon. via：syunzoudou.com
Hot clear soup rice garden udon. via：kuzefuku-arcade.jp
In addition, Akita is also a good companion for Inaba Udon than inland chickens. Whether it is chicken noodle soup or chicken dipped noodles, it is a strong Akita flavor.
Indo Udon noodles than inland chicken soup. via：common3.pref.akita.lg.jp
In Nagasaki Goto, the most authentic way to eat Goto Udon is the ground! prison! cook!
Doesn't that sound scary?
When you think of "hell cooker", you may think of such a scene... via：drawception.com
But it doesn't look scary at all. The softly cooked udon is served with a sauce made with flying fish sauce and dipping sauce made with soy sauce, raw eggs, wooden fish flowers, chopped green onions, ginger puree, etc., and it looks delicious.
Hell cook. via：masuda-udon.co.jp
It is said that the reason why hell cooking is called hell cooking is because some outsiders have tasted this dish in Goto and shouted "Super (しごく/極)delicious!" In Japanese, the word "Zhiji" is just in harmony with "Ji Ji" (じごく), hence the name.
The most distinctive flavor of hell cooking is the flying fish juice. When talking about flying fish, we mentioned that Nagasaki is an important producer of Chikushi flying fish and thin flying fish.
Flying fish gliding... via：bbc.com
The flying fish is boiled and then sun-dried to make dried flying fish, and then the dried flying fish is used to make the juice. Udon noodles soaked with Goto camellia oil with Goto flying fish flavor juice, really Goto ah...
Goto flying fish juice + goto camellia oil made of udon noodles. via：chobei-shop.com
Because of its abundance of flying fish, the mascot of The town of Shinigami Goshima in Nagasaki Prefecture is a flying fish cat (あミ~ご) with a flying fish on its head. Do you prefer a flying fish cat, or a camellia cat?
A flying fish cat with a flying fish on its head. via：yurugp.jp
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