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Ise Udon (Thick, Soft Udon with Tamari Sauce)

Name: Ise Udon (Thick, Soft Udon with Tamari Sauce)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 800 g thick fresh udon noodles; 100 ml tamari; 100 ml bonito dashi; 2 tbsp mirin; 1 tbsp sugar; 4 spring onions; 4 egg yolks

Udon from Ise in Mie: thick noodles boiled for more than 25 minutes until very soft, served with no broth, just a spoonful or two of dark sauce made from tamari and bonito dashi, mixed through at the table.

Ingredients

4servings

Steps

Bring the dashi, tamari, mirin and sugar to the boil in a small pan to dissolve the sugar, then turn off the heat.
⏲ 2 min
Boil the noodles in plenty of water for at least 25 minutes, until soft right through and tender rather than springy.
⏲ 30 min
Drain and shake off the water. If you boiled them ahead, dip them in boiling water for 30 seconds just before serving.
Put the noodles in warm bowls and spoon 2-3 tablespoons of tare over each. Top with spring onion and, if you like, an egg yolk.
Mix well before eating so the tare from the bottom coats every noodle.

Variations

Egg yolk or raw egg. The commonest topping. The bowl in the photograph has spring onion only.
Tempura or wakame sprouts. Not unusual in shops.
Ise kamaboko. Locals sometimes add it to the spring onion.
Ise udon in broth. A few shops serve it in a soup.

Tips

Boil it for more than 25 minutes. The aim is soft and yielding, not springy.
Use thick noodles. The registered standard is 6mm or more, width plus thickness.
Use very little tare. It is a coating for the noodles, not a broth.
It is not as salty as it looks. The dark sauce is mostly savoury and sweet.
Boil ahead and reheat. That is how the shops do it.

More detail and the reasons why (2)

Udon that gives up its spring on purpose. The Ise Udon council's registered standard sets the noodles at 6mm or more (width plus thickness), boiled for at least 25 minutes in the making, and the tare based on tamari. Japanese Wikipedia contrasts the texture with Sanuki udon, which is prized for strong koshi. Unlike udon in broth, the bowl holds only a little dark tare at the bottom. Tamari is the clear liquid that collects on top when bean miso is made. At the other end of the same noodle is Yoshida no udon, hard enough that you have to bite through it.
Fast food that takes an hour to boil. Shops boil the noodles long in advance, portion them, and reheat each one to order in a dipping basket called a tōshi. With no soup it is also quick to eat, which suited the crowds of pilgrims to Ise Shrine. Japanese Wikipedia also records the opposite view, that thick noodles needing an hour to boil make it slow food. Its roots are said to lie with farmers who grew wheat after the rice, made thick noodles that did not need rolling thin, and poured over them the tamari from their own miso.