Japanese Noodles
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Vol. 32 No. 4 January 2019 Kikkoman’s quarterly intercultural forum for the exchange of ideas on food THE JAPANESE TABLE 4 CLOSE-UP JAPAN: Japanese Mushrooms — Japanese Noodles 5 JAPANESE STYLE: Ramen Wafu Dressing by Ayao Okumura TASTY TRAVEL: Shizuoka Oden Our 2018 series on Japanese noodles has taken a wide-ranging look — at the distinctive histories and traditions of somen, udon and soba. 6 With this issue, we conclude with ramen, one of the country’s most MORE ABOUT JAPANESE COOKING: popular noodles, which has fast become a global favorite. Ramen-Style Cellophane Noodle Soup with Simmered Pork Ramen Salad — 8 KIKKOMAN TODAY: KIKKOMAN LIVE KITCHEN TOKYO Kikkoman Opens Fusion Concept Restaurant Japanese Noodles Ramen Ramen noodles are made by adding about twenty Chinese restaurants in in the Great Kanto Earthquake of alkaline water to flour that has a Yokohama which invariably served 1923, portable stalls serving Shina protein content of 9 percent to noodle dishes, including chashao soba proliferated, and the popularity 11.5 percent. Typically, ramen tangmian soup noodles with sliced of the dish was assured. noodles are boiled, drained, added pork, and rousi tangmian soup Far to the north in Hokkaido, to a seasoned soup made from noodles with thin pork strips. Not the Chinese restaurant Takeya meat stock, and served with only Chinese, but Japanese locals opened in the city of Sapporo in various toppings. patronized these shops, where the 1921, across the street from a Japanese referred to noodle dishes as university. A Chinese chef at the China Origins Nankin soba. restaurant concocted a delicious The roots of ramen can be traced In 1910, a retired Japanese version of rousi tangmian that was back to China, whose noodle-eating customs offi cial who had been authentically Chinese and much food culture was introduced in working in Yokohama opened his sought-after by Chinese exchange Japan during the 1860s, when Japan own Chinese restaurant in the students studying at the university. ended its national isolation and Asakusa area of Tokyo. He hired Whenever a dish was ready, the reopened its ports to the outside Chinese cooks from Nankin-machi, cook would announce Hao le! world. The Chinese method of changed the name of the noodle (“a delicious dish is complete!”). making and cooking noodles dishes from Nankin soba to Shina That le sounded rather like ra to eventually evolved into a unique soba. He added toppings of chashao, the Japanese ear, and it was from Japanese style that became known or, as it eventually came to be this phrase that ra was paired with as “ramen.” called in Japanese, “chashu,” a the Japanese word men, meaning In the late nineteenth century, type of cooked pork, and memma noodles. Takeya’s “ra-men” noodles many Chinese settled in the port of simmered strips of sweet bamboo became tremendously popular, Yokohama—some as shopkeepers, shoots. Some years later, when the setting in motion a fad that swept others as laborers and still others city of Tokyo was reduced to rubble through the entire city of Sapporo. as housekeepers and chefs for Western traders who were active in the city. Eventually, those Chinese immigrants established their own Nankin-machi—Nankin being the Japanese pronunciation of Nanjing. Nankin-machi later evolved into Yokohama’s own unique Chinatown. In Nankin-machi, restaurants and food stalls popped up to cater to the needs of workers and shopkeepers; by 1887 there were Pre-cooked and dried ramen noodles Eating at a typical ramen shop counter 2 From left: Miso ramen; shoyu ramen; tonkotsu ramen; world’s fi rst instant noodles (1958) and world’s fi rst instant noodles in a cup (1971). Instant Fame soup fl avor, noodle texture and tonkotsu ramen, the rich pork-bone It was Momofuku Ando’s (1910- various toppings. The noodles at salt-based soup popular in Kyushu. 2007) invention in 1958 of the such ramen shops usually consist And throughout Japan, every locale world’s first instant noodles— of different types of high quality offers up distinct ramen fl avors: pre-cooked and dried ramen fl our that has been skillfully chashu cooked pork is a common noodles sold in a packet—that blended. Ramen noodles vary topping, but regional versions of spawned what would eventually in appearance: they can be thin, ramen often highlight a special local become a global industry. At a medium-thin or thick; some are product, such as chicken, crab or time when television was just straight, others curly. To make the shellfi sh. With Japan’s seemingly beginning to catch on in Japan, he noodles appear more appetizing, endless variety of unique ramen aired instant noodle commercials their yellow color is enhanced styles, one can experience and enjoy constantly, familiarizing Japanese by adding kuchinashi gardenia a truly “gourmet ramen” journey, throughout the country with the colorant; but above all, it is the all the way from northern Hokkaido product. In 1966, Ando traveled soup that is the most fascinating down to southernmost Okinawa. to the U.S. to pitch his instant ingredient of ramen. Made with noodles in supermarkets. Local stock of primarily chicken or supermarket staff removed the pork, Japanese cooks add kombu, ramen noodles from the package, katsuobushi dried bonito fl akes, broke them in half and placed dried sardines or other dried fi sh, them in a paper cup, poured in hot and dried shrimp or dried scallops, water, and ate them with a fork. all of which release umami and At that time, very few Americans greatly enhance the fl avor. Some owned noodle bowls or used soups are made by simmering chopsticks, and it was this episode pork bones for days to produce a that inspired Ando to develop new rich broth full of collagen and cup-type instant noodles. Today, ash content. These robust soups cover some one hundred billion servings are also popular with visitors from A traditional-style ramen street stall of instant noodles are consumed abroad, and some of Japan’s major Author’s profile annually around the world. ramen chain restaurants have Ayao Okumura, Ph.D. was born in 1937 in Wakayama Prefecture. A former professor at Kobe branches in cities around Yamate University, Dr. Okumura is a specialist in Ultimate Ramen the world. traditional Japanese cuisine. He is currently Bowls of fresh ramen are enjoyed There are three main ramen part-time professor at Osaka City University Graduate School, lecturing on the establishment in countless restaurants and varieties, according to soup base: and structure of Japanese food culture; as owner shops throughout Japan that vie miso ramen, the miso-based soup of cooking studio Douraku-tei, he is known for his to create the “ultimate” gourmet of Hokkaido; shoyu ramen, the authentic reproductions of historic Japanese dishes and menus. His various publications include Nippon ramen recipe. They constantly soy sauce-based Kanto-style found men shokubunka no 1300 nen (“1,300 years of experiment with combinations of mainly around the Tokyo area; and Japanese noodle food culture,” 2009; revised 2014). FOOD FORUM January 2019 3 CLOSE-UP JAPAN Traditions and trends in Japanese food culture Clockwise from top: Matsutake Bunashimeji, maitake, eryngii, shiitake and enoki Japanese Mushrooms A wide selection of mushrooms are edible types, it is unwise to pick available in Japan, and they appear in and eat wild mushrooms unless any number of dishes including hot Japanese have long experienced or following the advice pots, sautés, rice dishes and soups. of a specialist. About two-thirds of Mushrooms can be categorized into included mushrooms the country consists of forested land, artifi cially cultivated varieties and in their diet and the Japanese have welcomed wild mushrooms; in Japan there are wild mushrooms into their diet for estimated to be some 4,000 to 5,000 centuries, including shiitake, which different types of wild mushrooms, and grow on stumps or fallen broad-leaf of these, only about 100 kinds are edible. was adopted in Japan as early as the trees; the delicious maitake; and Mushrooms are largely divided 1600s to grow shiitake mushrooms. matsutake, which grow on the roots of into saprophytic mushrooms, which Currently, some mushrooms including Japanese red pines. With a very limited fi nd nutrition in decayed vegetation; shiitake, enoki, bunashimeji and yield, matsutake are expensive, and mycorrhiza mushrooms, which maitake are cultivated primarily in and are referred to as the “King grow in symbiosis with live tree roots. mushroom beds throughout the year; of Mushrooms.” More affordable Artifi cially cultivated mushrooms are recently, eryngii and other mushrooms matsutake available in Japan are saprophytic. Mushroom cultivation of foreign origin have been raised using imports. All mushrooms contain this method. At present, some 20 a considerable amount of umami. types of mushrooms are cultivated and For example, sun-drying shiitake available here year-round. mushrooms produces guanylic acid, Natural wild mushrooms, on a constituent of umami, making it the other hand, come into season in possible to experience a fl avor that raw Autumn, and this is the time when shiitake do not have. When cooking people enjoy mushroom-picking in with dried shiitake, they are soaked Japan’s woods. Wild mushrooms in water and rehydrated for use in also include poisonous varieties, simmered dishes, while shiitake Rice cooked with mushrooms and because some of these resemble soaking water is used as dashi. 4 JAPANESE STYLE Perspectives on Japanese cuisine Wafu Dressing Pork shabu-shabu salad with sesame dressing A wide range of salad dressings are marketed in Japan, but wafu dressings are also excellent as seasonings, enhancing the it was only in the late 1950s that Western-style dressings fl avor of most ingredients and adding richness to a recipe.