Udon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Udon

Udon ( Japanese う ど ん , also: 饂 飩 ) is a type of noodle used in Japanese cuisine . It is made from wheat flour , table salt and water , has a white to creamy white color and a soft and elastic consistency. The udon are the thickest noodles in Japanese cuisine and are used in many different dishes. Udon predecessors probably came to Japan from China as early as the first millennium and were adapted there to local preferences. Together with other types of noodle, such as soba , they are part of the traditional noodles of Japanese cuisine, while ramen , for example, is considered to be Chinese noodles. In the prefecture of Kagawa Udon are particularly popular, which spread there Sanuki -Udon are usually somewhat thinner than other Udon. Thin wheat noodles Somen called while hiyamugi separate the two.

Description and preparation

General

Roll out the udon dough
Udon kiri, a special knife for cutting pasta. The handle is at the top left, the cutting edge at the bottom.

Udon are white or creamy white noodles with a soft and elastic consistency. They are made exclusively from wheat flour , salt and water , traditionally sea water is used for the preparation. The ratio between the ingredients is usually 100 parts wheat flour, 42 to 45 parts water and 2 to 5 parts salt. The exact amount of ingredients is often varied by the cook depending on the type of udon prepared, the demands on the consistency of the noodles and the prevailing weather of the day. To make the pasta, wheat flour is used, which is obtained from wheat with a low to medium protein content of 8 to 10%. This corresponds to varieties traded on the world market as “semi-soft wheat”. These are ground with a low mineral content of 0.36 to 0.4%.

The ingredients are kneaded into a very firm dough that is very difficult to work with by hand. Therefore, the dough is placed between flexible sheets, which today are mostly made of plastic, and trodden with the feet until it is elastic enough to be rolled out. In the commercial production of udon, however, the dough-kneading step is often performed by special machines.

To make the noodles, the dough is evenly rolled out, folded and cut with a special knife, the udon kiri . The noodles produced in this way are usually relatively thick, but for example the “Sanuki Udon” common in Kagawa Prefecture (historically: Sanuki Province ) on the island of Shikoku are cut thinner. With a thickness of 2.0 to 3.9 mm, udon are the thickest noodles in Japanese cuisine, only the hira -men ribbon noodles are wider, but flatter. The fresh pasta is put in boiling water; as soon as this boils again, cold water is added. If the water then starts to boil again, the noodles are done.

Industrially produced udon

Dried udon

In the industrial production of udon, a machine cuts the dough into strips of various thicknesses. The noodles made in this way can be sold in three different forms. Dried noodles are called Kan-men ( か ん め ん, 乾 め ん or 乾 麺 ), noodles that have already been cooked are called Yude-men ( ゆ で め ん, ゆ で 麺 or 茹 で 麺 ). Udon is rarely sold as uncooked, undried noodles; this form of noodle is known as Nama-men ( な ま め ん , な ま 麺 or 生 麺 ).

Most commonly, udon is sold as pre-cooked noodles. They can be offered unpacked, simply packaged or in sterilized plastic packaging. The noodles are cooked for 10 to 25 minutes in boiling water with a pH value of 5.5 to 6 and then have about 2.5 to 4 times the weight of the flour used for the noodles. For the sale of cooked noodles in sterilized plastic packaging them with water and lactic acid or sodium benzoate as a preservative packaged and then for more than 40 minutes at 90 ° C pasteurized . In this way, the pasta can be preserved for over three months.

If the fresh pasta is to be dried, a special drying process must be carried out, as otherwise the relatively thick pasta would be too stressed by drying too quickly and could break. This process is divided into three parts: First, the moisture is removed from the pasta near the surface at a relatively low temperature of around 15 to 20 ° C. This reduces the tensile stress in the pasta, which is caused by its own weight. In the second step, at a relatively high humidity of 70 to 80% and a temperature of 30 to 35 ° C, further moisture is removed, whereby there must be a balance between escaping moisture and the internal moisture distribution. In the last step, the total moisture content of the pasta is lowered to around 14%, and the temperature is gradually lowered to prevent the pasta from breaking.

history

Unlike other Japanese noodle places, such as directly from the Chinese cuisine in force adopted Ramen , udon together with Soba counted among the more traditional types of noodles in Japan. There are different reports about when the first noodles were introduced in Japan. Either they came to Japan from China in the first centuries of our era or only in the 8th century, where they were picked up by the local culture and adapted accordingly. From the Muromachi period (from 1338 to 1573) udon are mostly only known as food in temples, the widespread use of udon is settled in the Edo period (1603 to 1868). The oldest known description of the production comes from the recipe book Ryōri monogatari ( 料理 物語 , German: "Kitchen Stories") from 1643. Udon enjoyed particular popularity in the area around Osaka and Kyōto . Udon also appears in the Kabuki theater, which originated in the Edo period and incorporated many allusions to contemporary trends: In the play Sukeroku ( 助 六 ), first performed in 1713, the udon seller Fukuyama bumped into one of the main characters (Kanpera Monbee) and referred to them with it to an udon shop near the theater.

With the so-called Meiji Restoration (from 1868), in which the previously isolated land opened up to other cultures, eating habits changed and at the same time the production of food. In 1884 T. Masaki introduced the first machine for the production of noodles in Japan, which revolutionized the industrial production of noodles. With the increasing importance of industrial food production, the interest in scientific research on food also increased. Most current studies in this area are funded by public institutions and universities or privately by the food industry. A paper by T. Shimizu et al. Has already dealt with the physical properties of cooked udon made from different types of Japanese flour. from 1958. Hara et al. found in 2003 that udon cooked in weakly electrolyzed water exhibited less gelation of the starch, which was reflected in the lower flexibility of the noodles. Much of the work deals with mathematical models of the drying process of udon. The models are designed to help predict the breakage of the noodles or to avoid breakage by optimizing the process. Examples of such models are given in the work of Tadao Inazu et al. (2005) and Jie Yu Chen et al. (2000).

variants

Kake Udon
Bukkake Udon
Nabe-yaki udon
Zaru Udon

Udon is served in countless variations in Japanese cuisine, the dishes can be categorized according to different properties. For example, a distinction is made between whether the noodles are served warm or cold, or whether they are dipped in a sauce, in broth, without any broth or sauce, in stews or otherwise prepared. Some of the variants can be prepared with both udon and soba , in some restaurants you can choose between both types of noodle. Many of the types of preparation have very poetic names and are often named after the legends and myths that are said to have led to their creation.

The most famous udon dishes include:

  • Kake Udon ( 掛 け う ど ん　or か け う ど ん ): Hot noodles in hot broth based on fish and / or soy sauce . This broth is called kake jiru and is used as the base broth for various other noodle dishes. Some of the variations listed below differ from Kake Udon in a certain selection of side dishes.
  • Bukkake Udon ( ぶ っ か け う ど ん , "Doused noodles"): Hot or cold dish in which the noodles are topped with various ingredients and then poured with broth.
  • Dojōjiru ( ド ジ ョ ウ じ る ): stew made from East Asian mud lashings (dojō) , fresh udon, vegetables, fried tofu and other ingredients. These are cooked in a broth made from dried sardines and seasoned with miso . Dojojiru is traditionally served in the Sanuki region at summer village festivals.
  • Kamaage Udon ( 釜 揚 げ う ど ん or か ま あ げ う ど ん ): Hot udon are served in a bowl with a little cooking water. Before eating, the noodles are dipped in a spicy dip.
  • Karē Udon (カ レ ー う ど ん , "Curry Udon"): Hot udon in curry sauce.
  • Kitsune Udon ( き つ ね う ど ん , "Fox Udon"): Hot udon in broth with deep-fried tofu. The name is based on the legend that foxes ( kitsune ) love to eat fried tofu.
  • Nabe-yaki udon ( 鍋 焼 き う ど ん ): stew with mushrooms , vegetables , egg , meat , udon and occasionally shrimp tempura . The dish is prepared and served in a stone pot, it is mainly eaten in winter.
  • Niku udon ( 肉 う ど ん or に く う ど ん , "meat udon"): Hot noodles are topped with soy sauce and sweetened beef .
  • Tanuki Udon ( た ぬ き う ど ん ): Hot udon in broth with pieces of fried tempura batter. Tanuki is the Japanese name for the raccoon dog , depicted in legends as a cunning animal. He is said to have stolen the vegetables and fish that are normally in the tempura batter. This leaves only crumbs of the dough, which are then served as a side dish to the udon soup.
  • Tempura Udon ( 天婦羅 う ど ん or て ん ぷ ら う ど ん ): Hot noodles are topped with tempura - mostly made from shrimps , but also from vegetables.
  • Tsukimi Udon ( 月 見 う ど ん , "moon-looking udon"): Hot udon in broth with a raw egg. The name refers to the resemblance of the egg yolk to the full moon and is also eaten for the tsukimi festival.
  • Uchikomi Udon ( う ち こ み う ど ん ): A stew made from udon, vegetables, fried tofu and other ingredients, cooked in a broth made from dried sardines. Miso or soy sauce can round off the taste of the dish. A typical dish from the Sanuki region.
  • Yaki Udon ( 焼 き う ど ん , "Fried Udon"): stir-fry, similar to yakisoba , but udon is used instead of other noodles. In addition to seaweed, vegetables and meat, a thick soy sauce is part of the dish.
  • Zaru Udon ( ざ る う ど ん ): Cold noodles that are served on a bamboo sieve called a zaru. Before eating, the noodles are dipped in a spicy dip.

In Korea , the noodles are particularly popular as a ready-made meal, but also in snacks. The Korean Pronunciation / ondon / the Kanji 饂飩 is not common, instead, the food is as Udong ( 우동 ) known.

Nutritional value

100 g of dried, organically produced udon have a physiological calorific value of 1478  kJ (353  kcal ) and contain 12.4 g of protein , 72.3 g of carbohydrates , 1.7 g of fat and 660 mg of sodium . The pasta has a glycemic index (GI), which is comparable to other pasta such as spaghetti . If white rice is rated as the reference food with a value of GI = 100, udon has a significantly lower average value of GI = 58.

meaning

Economical meaning

Hanamaru chain udon restaurant

The Kagawa Prefecture , the smallest of the prefectures in Japan , is the leader in the production of Udon . In 2005, about 33,200 tons of wheat flour were processed into fresh udon in Japan, of which udon production in Kagawa Prefecture accounted for 29.4% with 9766 tons. The figures for dried and precooked udon are comparable: around 45,600 tons and 184,200 tons, respectively, were used throughout Japan, of which 12,091 tons (26.5%) and 39,796 tons (21.6%) were used in the Kagawa prefecture.

The number of udon restaurants in Kagawa Prefecture is estimated at over 700. Most of these restaurants are run as normal restaurants; However, self-service shops in which the customer has to warm up the pasta himself and choose side dishes are also widespread. The largest chain of udon restaurants is now owned by Yoshinoya Holdings Co., Ltd. owned company Hanamaru . It was founded at the end of 2001 in Takamatsu, the capital of Kagawa Prefecture, with five restaurants. By the end of 2008, the company already owned over 250 restaurants across Japan and four udon factories. They generated revenues of nearly 18 billion yen .

Although the amount of wheat imported into Japan has increased steadily since the 1950s, udon has long been made with flour made from wheat grown in Japan. However, due to a poor harvest in the early 1970s, one was forced to look for alternative types of flour. The flour of the class “Australian standard white” (ASW) imported from Western Australia even proved to be superior to the native varieties, which is most likely due to the starch composition of the wheat grown in Australia. A total of 4.86 million tons of wheat were imported into Japan between April 2008 and March 2009, which makes up about 90% of Japan's wheat demand. About 0.8 million tons of this come from Australia.

Social relevance

The five-volume book Osorubeki Sanuki Udon ( 恐 る べ き さ ぬ き う ど ん , German: “The amazing Sanuki Udon”) triggered a kind of “Udon boom” through which the noodles became known throughout Japan as a specialty of the Kagawa Prefecture . The first volume was published in 1993 by Kazutoshi Tao, an editor of several city magazines. The book describes the prefecture's udon shops and has become a guide for udon fans.

The Sanuki Udon Kenkyūkai ( さ ぬ き う ど ん 研究 会 , German: "Sanuki-Udon Research Society") was founded in 1984 with the aim of promoting and making known the culture around Udon, especially in the Kagawa Prefecture . Members of the society come mainly from companies that are directly related to Udon, but about a third of the members are university professors. Every year on July 2nd in the prefecture of Kagawa the "Udon Day" is celebrated, during which the production of fresh udon noodles takes center stage. Following an agreement between the prefecture administration and the Japanese Post Office, Kagawa Prefecture was "renamed" in 2011 to Udon Prefecture, letters to Kagawa can now also be addressed to "Udon Prefecture".

In 2006, the film Udon by director Katsuyuki Motohiro was released , which, roughly based on the true story of the "Udon boom", tells the stories of Kosuke, the son of a Udon restaurant owner.

literature

  • Michael Ashkenazi and Jeanne Jacob: Food culture in Japan , Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN 978-0-313-32438-3 .
  • Robb Satterwhite: What's what in Japanese restaurants: a guide to ordering, eating, and enjoying , Kodansha International, 1996, ISBN 978-4-7700-2086-4 .
  • James E. Kruger, Robert B. Matsuo, and Joel W. Dick (Eds.): Pasta and Noodle Technology , American Association of Cereal Chemists, St. Paul, USA, 1996. ISBN 0-913250-89-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Elizabeth Andoh and Leigh Beisch: Washoku: recipes from the Japanese home kitchen , Ten Speed ​​Press, 2005. ISBN 978-1-58008-519-9 . P. 36.
  2. ↑ Harold Corke and Monisha Bhattacharya: Wheat Products: 1. Noodles . In: Catharina Yung-Kang Wang Ang, KeShun Liu and Yao-Wen Huang (eds.): Asian foods: Science & Technology . Technomic Publishing Company, Inc., Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, 1999. ISBN 1-56676-736-9
  3. ↑ Bin Xiao Fu: Asian noodles: History, classification, raw materials, and processing . In: Food Research International , Volume 41, 2008. pp. 888-902. doi : 10.1016 / j.foodres.2007.11.007
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Michael Ashkenazi and Jeanne Jacob: Food culture in Japan , Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, ISBN 978-0-313-32438-3 . Pp. 37-38.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Seiichi Nagao: Processing Technology of Noodle Products in Japan . In: James E. Kruger, Robert B. Matsuo, and Joel W. Dick (Eds.): Pasta and Noodle Technology , American Association of Cereal Chemists, St. Paul, USA, 1996. ISBN 0-913250-89-9 . Pp. 169-194.
  6. ^ Wai-Kit Nip: Asian (Oriental) Noodles and Their Manufacture . In: Yiu H. Hui et al. (Ed.): Handbook of Food Products Manufacturing: Principles, Bakery, Beverages, Cereals, Cheese, Confectionary, Fats, Fruits, and Functional Foods , Wiley-Interscience, 2007. ISBN 978-0-470-12524-3 .
  7. ↑ Tadao Inazu, Ken-ichi Iwasaki and Takeshi Furuta: Effect of Temperature and Relative Humidity on Drying Kinetics of Fresh Japanese Noodle (Udon) . In: Lebensmittel-Wissenschaft und -Technologie , Volume 35, 2002. pp. 649-655. doi : 10.1006 / fstl.2002.0921
  8. ↑ a b c Hiroko Shimbo: The Japanese kitchen: 250 recipes in a traditional spirit , Harvard Common Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1-55832-177-9 . Pp. 156-157
  9. ↑ The Udon Odyssey: Roots , Kagawa Prefecture website, accessed September 2, 2009.
  10. ^ The origin of prominent Japanese dishes abroad. In: Japanese Restaurants Outside Japan  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.maff.go.jp   , Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, November 2006.
  11. ↑ Matsunosuke Nishiyama, Gerald Groemer: Edo culture: daily life and diversions in urban Japan, 1600-1868 , University of Hawaii Press, 1997. ISBN 978-0-8248-1850-0 . P. 222
  12. ↑ a b c Sachio Matsumoto: Pioneer Works on Rheology of Foodstuffs in Japan , Nihon Reoroji Gakkaishi (Journal of the Society of Rheology, Japan), Volume 33, Number 2, 2005. pp. 61-66. doi : 10.1678 / rheology.33.61
  13. ↑ Yasuo Hara, Aki Watanuki and Eiko Arai: Effects of Weakly Electrolyzed Water on Properties of Japanese Wheat Noodles (Udon) . In: Food Science and Technology Research , Volume 9, Number 4, 2003. pp. 320-326. doi : 10.3136 / fstr.9.320
  14. ↑ Tadao Inazo, Ken-Ichi Iwasaki and Tekshi Furota: Stress and Crack Prediction during Drying of Japanese Noodle (Udon) . In: International Journal of Food Science and Technology , Volume 40, 2005. pp. 621-630.
  15. ↑ Jie Yu Chen, Keiichi Isobe, Han Zhang and Ryuji Matsunaga: Hot-Air Drying Model for Udon Noodles . In: Food Science and Technology Research , Volume 6, Number 4, 2000. pp. 284-287. doi : 10.3136 / fstr.6.284
  16. ↑ a b c The Udon Odyssey: Menu , Kagawa Prefecture website, accessed September 2, 2009.
  17. ↑ a b c d Robb Satterwhite: Soba and Udon (Buckwheat and Thick White Noodles). In: What's what in Japanese restaurants: a guide to ordering, eating, and enjoying , Kodansha International, 1996, ISBN 978-4-7700-2086-4 . Pp. 71-77.
  18. ↑ a b c The Udon Odyssey: Menu (Add to broth) , Kagawa Prefecture website, accessed September 8, 2009.
  19. ↑ a b The Udon Odyssey: Menu (Stew) , Kagawa Prefecture website, accessed September 4, 2009.
  20. ↑ The Udon Odyssey: Menu (Uses No Broth) , Kagawa Prefecture Web site, accessed September 8, 2009.
  21. ^ Jan Dodd and Simon Richmond: The rough guide to Japan , Rough Guides, 2001, ISBN 978-1-85828-699-0 . P. 52.
  22. ↑ translated from: Art Ulene: The NutriBase nutrition facts desk reference , NutriBase Series, 2nd revised edition, Avery Verlag 2001, ISBN 978-1-58333-001-2 .
  23. ↑ M. Sugiyama, AC Tang, Y. Wakaki and W. Koyama: Glycemic index of single and mixed meal foods among common Japanese foods with white rice as a reference food . In: European Journal of Clinical Nutrition , Nature Publishing Group, Number 57, 2003. pp. 743-752. doi : 10.1038 / sj.ejcn.1601606
  24. ↑ 2005 Index of Processed Foods of Rice and Flour , General Food Policy Bureau, MAFF. Quoted in: The Udon Odyssey: Udon Data , Kagawa Prefecture website, accessed September 9, 2009.
  25. ↑ a b Asako Murakami: Kagawa folks get to bottom of their 'udon' bowls in more ways than one . In: The Japan Times Online , December 23, 2000; accessed September 11, 2009.
  26. ↑ Hanamaru Company Profile ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 9, 2009.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hanamaruudon.com
  27. ↑ Fredoun Z. Ahmadi-Esfahani: Wheat market shares in the presence of Japanese import quotas . In: Journal of Policy Modeling , Volume 17, Issue 3, June 1995. pp. 315-323. doi : 10.1016 / 0161-8938 (94) 00036-F
  28. ↑ Japan to increase wheat imports as rain ravages crop . In: The Financial Express Online , August 9, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2009.
  29. ↑ 恐 る べ き さ ぬ き う ど ん ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at www.e-udon.jp, accessed on September 11, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.e-udon.jp
  30. ↑ a b Akiko Kondo: 'Sanuki udon' is slurping its way into Japanese hearts . In: The Japan Times Online , August 30, 2003; accessed September 11, 2009.
  31. ^ The Udon Odyssey: The Sanuki Udon Society , Kagawa Prefecture website, accessed September 11, 2009.
  32. ↑ The Udon Odyssey: Udon Day , Kagawa Prefecture Web site, accessed September 11, 2009.
  33. ↑ Kagawa to accept postal items addressed to 'Udon Prefecture'. In: Mainichi Daily News . December 6, 2011, archived from the original on December 6, 2011 ; accessed on December 13, 2011 .
  34. ↑ 香 川宛 先 「う ど ん 県」 に 年 賀 状 を 俳 優 の 要 潤 潤 さ ん が ＰＲ . In: 47 News / Kyōdō Tsūshin . December 6, 2011, Retrieved December 13, 2011 (Japanese).
  35. ↑ Kagawa-ken kankō kyōkai (Kagawa Prefecture Tourism Association): Website of the "Udon Prefecture"
  36. ↑ Udon , entry in www.lovehkfilm.com, accessed on 11 September, 2009.
  37. ^ Udon in the Internet Movie Database , accessed September 11, 2009.

Web links

Commons : Udon  album with pictures, videos and audio files
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on December 11, 2009 in this version .