Noodles
Hocho
Hocho — wheat noodles hand-stretched to over two meters, eaten dipped in broth
Wheat dough is hand-stretched into noodles over two meters long, then dipped into a broth of shiitake and dried sardine seasoned with condiments — a noodle dish from the Betsuji district of Oita City, its name said to come from warlord Otomo Sorin likening the strands to abalone intestine.
- Origin: Oita City, Oita
- About 800 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
Hocho is a noodle dish made by kneading wheat flour into thin, udon-like strands and dipping them in a seasoned broth. Hand-stretched to over two meters long, it has a distinctive texture and springy chew unlike udon. It's eaten dipped in a broth made from dried shiitake and dried sardine, seasoned with ground sesame, grated ginger, kabosu citrus, and chopped scallion.
How it's made
Wheat flour is kneaded with salt and water, then left to rest for about an hour, which is said to develop the gluten enough to let it stretch long. The dough is hand-pulled into strands over two meters long, boiled, and then firmed up in cold water. It's eaten dipped in a seasoned broth, and because the noodles run so long, they're eaten by snapping off small portions with chopsticks as you go. It's also good simmered with chicken, taro, carrot, and daikon in a hot-pot-style udon.
Why it took this shape
The name is said to come from a retainer of the warlord Otomo Sorin, who presented Sorin, known to love abalone, with wheat flour stretched thin like abalone intestines and boiled; delighted with it, the lord is said to have given the dish its name. It's thought to have then taken root especially around the Bekki district, known for growing wheat. Because hand-stretching the noodles takes such time and skill, the dish is said to have been reserved for special occasions such as Obon and festivals, rather than eaten day to day, as a way to treat guests.
Before you go
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Dishes in the same style
- Abura SobaNo broth is poured at all — noodles are tossed in a soy-and-sesame-oil tare pooled at the bottom of the bowl, said to have started at shops in the Musashino area in the late 1950s, with vinegar and chili oil stirred in partway through.
- Abura ZomenPork and somen are fried together with a splash of broth, the oil and stock emulsifying into a silky coat on the noodles. Just how somen took root in wheat-free Amami isn't clear, but the dish is a fixture whenever people gather, not least for the August Dance festival.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Contrast
- Tai MenA whole sea bream, lightly salt-grilled then simmered in dashi, is set atop udon noodles boiled in that same broth — a Himeshima wedding dish, the bream chosen as a symbol of a lasting pair, its name also playing on a homophone for a couple's first meeting.
- Dango-jiruWheat dough kneaded and stretched into flat ribbons is simmered with root vegetables and shiitake in a barley-miso broth — an everyday Oita dish born of the prefecture's flour-based food culture, where poor rice land pushed wheat to the fore; the ribbons keep a firmer bite than udon.
Also from Oita
- Aji no MaruzushiA whole horse mackerel, cured in plum vinegar and opened flat, is wrapped around vinegared rice and rolled in red shiso leaf — a celebratory sushi from Saiki, painstaking to prepare, built on the rich mackerel landed from the Bungo Channel.
- AmimeshiKrill simmered sweet-savory in mirin, soy sauce, and ginger is folded into freshly steamed rice — a dish from the Usa, Nakatsu, and Bungotakada coast, where krill are hauled from the Buzen Sea tideflats each autumn and winter; a favorite of the northern Oita coast.
- Atama RyoriGills, jaw, and innards of a large fish like grouper are quickly parboiled along with the flesh and piled onto a single platter — a dish from inland Taketa, far from the sea, said to have grown from a wish to waste nothing of a rare catch, served with a citrus dipping sauce.
- Ayu UrukaAyu (sweetfish) flesh or innards are minced with salt and left to ferment for about a week — an Oita salted delicacy said to have begun as a way to keep the clean river's seasonal catch; the innards-only version, nigauruka, carries a distinctive bitterness.
- Beppu ReimenThe dish's spread is traced to around 1950, when a cook repatriated from what had been Manchuria began making cold noodles in Beppu. Genso Arirang, founded that same year, is often named as the pioneering shop; the local style pairs a Japanese-style seafood stock with noodles made from buckwheat, wheat, and starch.