Noodles ── Soba
Sotoni
Sotoni — a way of counting the nihachi ratio by adding wheat flour on top of a full measure of buckwheat
One of two ways of counting the nihachi ratio: sotoni adds two parts wheat flour on top of a full ten parts buckwheat flour, as distinct from uchini, which starts from eight parts buckwheat and two parts wheat. Both are called nihachi, and which one a shop uses is said to come down to which arithmetic is easier at the workbench.
Lineage
What it's made of
The ingredients are the same buckwheat and wheat flour as uchini nihachi, and the look and taste are said to differ little. What sets it apart is the arithmetic: buckwheat flour is measured out first as a full ten parts, and two parts of wheat flour are then added on top of that base. The dough still binds a little more easily thanks to the wheat's gluten.
How it's made
At the workbench, the buckwheat flour is weighed out first as the full measure, then two parts of wheat flour are added on top of it. Compared with uchini, which weighs eight parts buckwheat and two parts wheat together as a single fixed measure from the start, sotoni is said to make it easier to nudge the wheat-flour amount up or down while keeping the buckwheat measure untouched, handy when adjusting the blend on the fly.
Why it took this shape
Debate over what nihachi actually means has run since the Edo period, and even with the same one-fifth of wheat flour, two customs — uchini and sotoni — are said to have grown out of disagreement over which ingredient to measure first. Because buckwheat flour's quality and dryness shift with season and source, fixing its amount first and adding wheat flour on top is said to have spread for the practical reason that it lets a maker adjust the blend by hand, right at the workbench.
Before you go
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Dishes in the same style
- Baniku SobaFrom the Aso area of Kumamoto: hot soba topped with horse meat simmered sweet and salty. It's said to carry the history of a region where horse meat took root as a restorative food for the injured and ill.
- Cha SobaA kawari-soba made by kneading powdered green tea, often matcha, into the buckwheat dough. It takes on a faint green tint along with tea's own aroma. It is said to be one of the playful noodle variations devised during the Bunka-Bunsei era (1804–30), alongside yuzu-flavored soba.