Soba, Udon and Ramen.
"Ni-hachi" soba is two parts wheat to eight of buckwheat. The wheat is there for its gluten: buckwheat alone has none to hold the noodle together.
Soba (蕎麦) is made from buckwheat, a seed not related to wheat (XXI.8), with an earthy, nutty flavour. Its proteins form no gluten, so a dough of buckwheat flour and water is short and crumbly. The classic compromise is ni-hachi (二八): 20 % wheat flour, 80 % buckwheat. Ju-wari (十割), 100 % buckwheat, is held together by the skill of the maker, by very fresh, finely milled flour and sometimes by mixing it with hot water so its starch gelatinises and binds (XXVI.1). The dough is rolled thin and cut into 1–2 mm strands with a heavy soba knife, boiled briefly, rinsed in cold water and served cold on a bamboo tray (ざるそば) with a dipping tsuyu (XXVIII.1), or hot in soup. Buckwheat is a serious allergen, one Japan requires on every label; even the boiling water carries it.
Udon (うどん) is soft wheat flour, salt and water — about 40–50 % hydration with 4–5 % salt, which tightens the gluten — kneaded hard (traditionally by foot, wrapped in plastic), rested and cut thick; its bite is chewy but soft, served in a light dashi-and-usukuchi soup (かけ) or cold. Ramen (ラーメン) arrived with Chinese cooks in the late nineteenth century; its noodles use kansui (かん水), an alkaline solution of sodium and potassium carbonates that makes them yellow, firm and springy (XXI.7). Its broths are the most varied of all — clear chicken and soy (醤油), salt (塩), miso, and the milky pork-bone tonkotsu (豚骨) boiled hard until its fat emulsifies (XXVII.7). The workshop mixes a soba dough.
Below: for a noodle dough with the share of buckwheat you choose (the rest wheat flour), the gluten-forming protein it carries and a teaching index of how well the dough holds together without special skill, with the name of the blend; and a comparison of Japan's noodles.
- Explain why soba needs wheat or skill.
- Make udon with salt.
- Explain kansui in ramen.
- Match noodles to broths.
Wheat binds, buckwheat flavours, alkali springs
In the teaching index a ni-hachi dough scores about 0.81 — it holds well with ordinary care — while pure buckwheat scores 0 with cold water and only about 0.25 with hot: ju-wari is a craft, made from the freshest flour and handled quickly. The flavour runs the other way: the more buckwheat, the more of its nutty, slightly bitter taste. Soba cooks in 1–2 minutes and must be rinsed in cold water at once to remove surface starch and stop it softening.
Zaru soba for 2: boil 200 g dried soba in plenty of water without salt for the time on the packet (usually 4–5 minutes), stirring once; drain, rinse well under cold running water, rubbing gently, then chill in ice water and drain. Serve on a bamboo tray with cold tsuyu (kaeshi diluted with about three parts dashi, XXVIII.1), sliced scallion and wasabi; finish by pouring the hot cooking water (蕎麦湯) into the leftover tsuyu and drinking it. Udon from frozen is excellent: boil 1 minute and put into hot kake soup. Anyone allergic to buckwheat should avoid soba shops altogether: the shared cooking water and steam carry the allergen.
Cook dried soba and rinse half under cold water at once; leave the other half to drain warm. Compare their surfaces after five minutes.
Terms
- 二八 / 十割
- 20 % wheat and 80 % buckwheat / all buckwheat.
- かん水
- Kansui: alkaline salts for ramen noodles.
- ざるそば
- Cold soba on a bamboo tray with dipping sauce.
- 蕎麦湯
- Soba cooking water, drunk with the leftover tsuyu.
Sources
- S. Tsuji, Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, Kodansha, 1980 (rev. 2006).
- A teaching value chosen for the course: the right order of magnitude and shape, not a measurement of a particular food.