Noodles ── Udon
Noshikomi Udon
Noshikomi Udon — mountain-work udon rolled and dropped straight into the pot
From Okutama, Tokyo: udon simmered in a dashi of dried sardines and shiitake, seasoned with sake, salt, and soy sauce. It's said to have taken root as a meal households could serve quickly to men back from work in the mountains.
- Origin: Tokyo Okutama
- About 60 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
The dashi is mainly dried sardines and shiitake, seasoned with sake, salt, and soy sauce; the toppings run from vegetables to chikuwa fish cake. A firm noodle, rolled and cut from medium-strength flour and salt, is simmered directly in that broth, so noodle and soup are said to come together as one.
How it's made
Medium-strength flour is kneaded with salt into a dough. The name noshikomi comes from "rolling it out wide," and in some areas it's also called zuridashi udon. The noodle goes into a pot of dashi seasoned with sake and salt, simmered with vegetables and chikuwa, and finished with soy sauce.
Why it took this shape
In the Edo period, Okutama was shogunate-held land, its steep terrain unsuited to paddy fields, so wheat and buckwheat became the main crops and a flour-based food culture is said to have taken hold. It's said to have settled in as a dish households could serve quickly and hot to men coming home cold from work in the mountains.
Before you go
- How to read a ticket machineShops that use a ticket machine (shokken-ki) often place their most popular items in a similar spot.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
- What staff say, and how to respondCommon set phrases you'll hear at restaurants, with what they mean and what to do when you hear them. You don't need to memorize them — just recognizing them is enough.
Dishes in the same style
- Bukkake UdonUdon boiled and chilled in cold water, then doused directly with a concentrated sauce. Scallion and grated daikon go on top, and mixing everything together boldly is said to be the standard way of eating it. A hot version, using warm broth instead, is also said to exist.
- Chikara UdonKake udon topped with a piece of grilled mochi. The name is said to trace to mochi's reputation as a food that "gives you strength," carrying more calories than plain rice. In the Kinki region it is also called kachin udon, from okachin, an old courtly word for mochi.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Also from Tokyo
- 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.
- Ajitsuke NoriSheet nori brushed with a soy-and-sugar seasoning and toasted crisp, said to have been devised as a gift for an imperial visit to Kyoto in the Meiji era. Its snap gives way to a burst of flavor and aroma.
- Anago ZushiConger eel, simmered sweet and savory, is laid over sushi rice and brushed with a reduced glaze called tsume — a staple Edomae topping from a fish that thrived in Tokyo Bay's nutrient-rich waters, its slick skin demanding a sushi chef's careful hand to clean.
- AnmitsuCubes of agar jelly topped with red peas, sweet bean paste, and dark syrup. Said to have begun when a Ginza sweets shop in the early Showa era added its own bean paste to the simpler "mitsumame" — jelly and peas in syrup — marking a point where wagashi met café culture.
- Asakusa shichimiA seven-spice chili blend from a shop tracing back to 1625 in Asakusa's old Yagenbori district, often described as the origin point of shichimi togarashi. The neighborhood's history as a hub for medicinal-herb wholesalers is credited with shaping a blend informed by traditional Chinese medicine, and the shop is known for custom-mixing blends to order.
- Bettara-zukeDaikon salted first, then pickled sweet in rice malt and sugar — said to descend from a lightly pickled daikon once sold at Edo's ebisu-kō market. The rice malt gives it a natural sweetness, and it still headlines Nihonbashi's autumn "Bettara Market."