Most people in Japan love noodles: hot or cold. Ramen,
soba, and udon may be the three most popular types of
noodles that can be served hot with a broth, or cold
without one. According to the noodle experts at Wikipedia,
most ramen is made from wheat flour, salt, water and
kansui. Kansui is an alkaline mineral water, named after
Lake Kan in Inner Mongolia. The lake contained just the
right amounts of minerals for making ramen. Soba is made
from a combination of buckwheat flour and wheat flour. Udon
is made from wheat flour. Soba noodles are probably the
thinnest with ramen not that much larger. Udon noodles are
thicker. Ramen are the most popular in Japan, followed by
soba, and then udon.
During the winter, these noodles are more commonly eaten
hot, although many restaurants have cold noodles on the
menu. Soba restaurants serve zaru soba, which is cold soba,
all year round. Zaru refers to the loose bamboo mat beneath
the cold noodles, which serves as a colander to let the
water drain. Restaurants that sell cold udon also leave
udon on the menu year-round, even though fewer people order
it. Most restaurants serving ramen only put cold ramen on
the menu for a limited time ranging from sometime in May
through sometime in September. This may be because making
cold ramen requires additional ingredients, unlike making
cold soba and udon.
Restaurants serve cold ramen, soba, and udon in a variety
of ways, but here I will talk about the most common way for
each. Ramen is boiled as usual and then chilled in cold
water. The ramen is drained; put into a bowl; covered with
ingredients that commonly include cucumber, lettuce,
tomatoes, strips of ham or pork, and thin strips of egg;
and served. Cold ramen was traditionally soy sauce flavored
only, but many restaurants now also offer sesame seed
flavor. A dab of hot mustard is served on the side to mix
in with the noodles. Other kinds of cold ramen are served
with soup, but I recommend the kind described here.
Soba is also boiled as usual, chilled in cold water, and
then drained. The soba is served on a bamboo mat, covered
with a light sprinkling of seaweed. A small cup of a
dipping sauce is on the side. The dipping sauce contains
sweetened soy sauce; a rice wine for cooking called mirin,
which may have a very low alcohol content; and a Japanese
soup stock called dashi. Wasabi and chopped green scallions
are served on the side. Diners add the wasabi and the green
onions a little at a time to the sauce and mix as they
like. Then diners eat the noodles, dipping them into the
sauce bite by bite before eating them. Some people prefer
cold soba to hot soba year round due to the strong smell
and taste of hot soba.
Cold udon is also boiled as usual, chilled in cold water,
and then drained. Like zaru soba, cold udon is served with
the dipping sauce described for soba. The cold udon may
also be covered with a topping such as seaweed. When I eat
cold udon, I find that lower quality udon made in a food
factory can become rubbery and chewy after boiling and
chilling, which is a problem I never see with higher
quality handmade udon. While I find the former worth
avoiding and the latter a cool delicious summertime meal,
some Japanese would disagree with me. Literal translation
of the Japanese expression "koshi ga aru" means "there is a
waist." This expression, when used to refer to cold udon
means that the noodles are chewy. In Japan, this is
positive. Maybe this is an acquired taste. If so, I have
not yet eaten enough cold udon to acquire it.
All three of these well-liked noodles can be tasty
summertime food. If you have never tried them, I heartily
recommend them. If you try them and don't like them, you
may not be used to them. If you don't like them, I suggest
you try these noodles again in a few different restaurants
just to be sure.
----------------------------------------------------
Aaron Language Services on the web at
http://www.aaronlanguage.com
is a translation and editing business primarily serving a
Japanese client base. We are always looking for experienced
editors specializing in medicine and the hard sciences.
Click personnel on the menu on our top page.
EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=64467
0 comments
Post a Comment