Udon

Udon (Japaneseうどん, also:饂 饨) is a type of pasta of Japanese cuisine. It is made from wheat flour, salt and water, has a white to off- white color and a soft and elastic consistency. The udon noodles are the thickest of Japanese cuisine and processed into many different dishes. Precursor of Udon probably got there in the first millennium from China to Japan and have been adapted there to the local preference. Along with other types of pasta, such as Soba, they are among the traditional noodles Japanese cuisine, while, for example, ramen noodles are considered Chinese. In the prefecture of Kagawa udon are especially popular, widespread there Sanuki udon are usually somewhat thinner than other Udon.

• 5.1 Economic importance
• 5.2 Social significance

• 6.1 Literature
• 6.2 Notes and references

Description and Preparation

Generally

Udon are white or off- white pasta with a soft and elastic consistency. They are made exclusively from wheat flour, salt and water, traditional sea water is used for the preparation. The ratio between the ingredients is usually 100 parts of wheat flour, 32 to 35 parts of water and 2 to 3 parts of salt. The exact amount of ingredients is often varied by cooking, depending on the type of cooked udon, the demands on the consistency of the noodles and the prevailing weather on the day. For the preparation of the pasta flour is used which is obtained from wheat having a low to medium protein content of 8 to 10%. This corresponds to the global market as a " semi-soft wheat " ( semi - soft wheat) traded varieties. These will be grinding with a low mineral content from 0.36 to 0.4 %.

The ingredients are kneaded into a very stiff dough, which is very difficult to be processed by hand. Therefore, the dough between flexible sheets, which today are mostly made of plastic, placed and trampled until it is elastic enough to be rolled out. In the commercial production of Udon, however, the step of Teigknetens is often taken of special machines.

The dough is rolled out, folded and with a special knife, the Udon kiri, cut to prepare the noodles evenly thin. The resulting noodles are usually relatively thick, but are, for example, in the prefecture of Kagawa ( historically: Sanuki Province) on the island of Shikoku widespread " Sanuki Udon " cut thinner. With a thickness of 2.0 to 3.9 mm Udon noodles are the thickest of Japanese cuisine, only the noodles Hira measures are wider, but flatter. The fresh pasta is placed in boiling water; as soon as it starts boiling again, cold water is added. Starts then the water back to boil, the noodles are cooked.

Industrially produced Udon

In the industrial production of Udon the dough is cut by a machine in strips of different thickness. The noodles thus produced can be sold in three different forms. Dried noodles are called Kan - men (かんめん,乾めんor干 麺) referred to already cooked pasta called Yude - men (ゆでめん,ゆで麺or茹で 麺). When uncooked, not dried noodles udon are rarely sold, this form of pasta is called Nama - men (なまめん,なま麺or生 麺).

The most common Udon are sold as already cooked pasta. You can thereby be unpacked, only very simple packed or offered in sterilized plastic packaging. The noodles are cooked it for 10 to 25 minutes in boiling water with a pH value of 5.5 to 6, and then have about 2.5 - up to 4 times the weight of the flour used for noodles. For the sale of cooked noodles in sterilized plastic containers they are packaged as a preservative with water and lactic acid or sodium benzoate and then pasteurized for more than 40 minutes at about 90 ° C. The noodles can be preserved for more than three months in this way.

If the fresh pasta is dried, a special drying process must be carried out because the relatively thick noodles would otherwise be heavily burdened by too rapid drying and could break it. This process is divided into three parts: First, the pasta is at a relatively low temperature of about 15 to 20 ° C, the moisture near the surface withdrawn. This reduces the tensile stress in the noodles 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 for an additional moisture is removed, whereby a balance between moisture and exiting the internal moisture distribution must be provided. In the last step of the overall moisture content of the noodles is reduced to about 14 %, while the temperature is gradually lowered in order to avoid breakage of the pasta.

History

Unlike other Japanese noodles, as applicable as taken directly from the Chinese cuisine Ramen, Udon are counted together with soba noodles to the more traditional Japan. There are different indications of when the noodles were first introduced in Japan. Either they have already come in the first centuries of our era, or only in the 8th century from China to Japan and there picked up by the local culture and adjusted accordingly. From the Muromachi period ( 1338-1573 ) Udon are mostly known only as food in temples, the prevalence of Udon is located in the Edo period ( 1603-1868 ). The oldest known description of the production comes from the recipe book ryori monogatari (料理 物语, German: "Kitchen Stories "). Popularity enjoyed by 1643 Special Udon at this time in the area around Osaka and Kyoto. Also in the resulting in the Edo period, Kabuki theater, which absorbed many allusions to contemporary trends, Udon appear: In 1713 for the first time listed piece Sukeroku (助 六) is penalized for pushing the udon seller Fukuyama one of the main characters ( Kanpera Monbee ) and refers thus to a udon shop, which was located near the theater.

With the so-called Meiji Restoration ( 1868 ), in which the previously isolated held country opened to other cultures, also the eating habits and at the same time enabling the manufacture of food changed. 1884 was presented by T. Masaki the first machine for producing noodles in Japan, which revolutionized industrial production of pasta. With the rising importance of industrial food production, interest in scientific employment increased with food. The most recent studies in this field but privately funded by public institutions and universities or by the food industry. The physical properties of cooked udon from different Japanese flours already employed a work by T. Shimizu et al. from the year 1958. Hara et al. presented in 2003 found that Udon cooked in weakly electrolyzed water, have a lower gelatinization of the starch, which is reflected in a lower flexibility of the noodles. Many works deal with mathematical modeling of the drying process of Udon. The models will help predict the breaking of noodles or avoid by optimization of the process breaking. Examples of such models are in the works of Tadao Inazu et al. (2005) and Yu Jie Chen et al. (2000) to find.

Variants

Udon are served in Japanese cuisine in countless variations, the dishes can be prepared by different properties categorize. For example, to distinguish whether the noodles are served hot or cold, or whether they gedipt in a sauce in broth are served otherwise prepared without broth or sauce, or in stews. Some of the variants can be prepared with both Udon and Soba with, in some restaurants you can choose between two types of pasta. Many of the methods of preparation have very poetic names and are often named after legends and myths that should have led to its creation.

Among 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 serves as the base broth for various other pasta dishes. Some of the enumerated consecutive variations differ from Kake Udon by a certain selection of side dishes.
• Bukkake Udon (ぶっかけ うどん, " Übergossene noodles " ): Hot or cold dish where the noodles topped with various ingredients and then poured with broth.
• Dojōjiru (ドジョウじる): Stew from East Asian loach ( dojo ), fresh udon, vegetable, fried tofu and other ingredients. These are cooked in a broth made ​​from dried sardines and flavored with miso. Dojojiru is traditionally served in the Sanuki region in summer village festivals.
• Kamaage Udon (釜 揚げ うどんorかまあげ うどん): Hot udon served with little of the cooking water into a bowl. Before eating the noodles are dipped in a spicy dipping sauce.
• Kare 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 fried tofu. The name comes from the legend that foxes ( Kitsune ) very happy ate fried tofu.
• Hub -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 sweetened soy sauce and 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, which is shown in legend as a cunning animal. He is said to have the vegetables and the fish, which are usually located in tempura batter stolen. This only crumbs of dough left behind, which are then served as a side dish for udon soup.
• Tempura Udon (天 婦 羅 うどんorてんぷら うどん): Hot noodles with tempura - mostly from shrimp, but also from vegetables - occupied.
• Tsukimi Udon (月見 うどん, "Moon Look - Udon " ): Hot udon in broth with a raw egg. The name refers to the similarity of the egg yolk with the full moon.
• Uchikomi Udon (うちこみ うどん): Stew from Udon, vegetables, fried tofu and other ingredients, cooked in a broth made ​​from dried sardines. Miso or soy sauce can round out the flavor of the dish. A typical dish from the Sanuki region.
• Yaki Udon (焼きうどん, " Fried Udon " ): fry, like yakisoba, however, be used instead of other Udon noodles. In addition to algae, vegetables and meat a thick soy sauce is part of the court.
• Zaru Udon (ざる うどん): Cold noodles served on a bamboo screen Zaru said. Before eating the noodles are dipped in a spicy dipping sauce.

In Korea, the noodles are especially popular as a finished dish, but also in snacks. The Korean pronunciation / ondon / Kanji饂 饨is not common, instead, is the food as Udong ( 우동 ) known.

Nutritional value

100 g of dried, organically produced Udon contain 353 kcal (1477 kJ ), 12.4 g protein, 72.3 g carbohydrates, 1.7 grams of fat and 660 mg sodium. The noodles have a Glycemic Index ( GI), which is comparable with other pasta such as spaghetti. If White as the reference food rice with a value of GI = 100 rated, Udon have a significantly lower average value of GI = 58

Importance

Economic Importance

A leader in the production of Udon is the Kagawa Prefecture, which is the smallest prefecture of Japan with about one million inhabitants. In 2005, about 33,200 tons of wheat flour were processed to fresh udon in Japan, of which the production of the Kagawa prefecture udon constituted with 9766 tonnes of 29.4%. For dried and pre-cooked udon the numbers are comparable: Japan Wide been this about 45,600 tons or approximately 184,200 tons used of which fall on the Kagawa Prefecture 12,091 tonnes ( 26.5% ) and 39 796 tonnes ( 21.6 %).

The number of udon restaurants in Kagawa Prefecture is estimated at over 700. The majority of these restaurants will be operated as a normal restaurant; Self-service stores, where customers warm up the pasta itself and select supplements must, however, are also widespread. The largest chain of restaurants has the udon today to Yoshinoya Holdings Co., Ltd.. company owned Hanamaru. She was in the capital of Kagawa prefecture Takamatsu founded in late 2001 with five restaurants. Already the end of 2008 included more than 250 restaurants across Japan and four Udon factories to the company. They achieved revenues of nearly 18 billion yen.

Although since the 1950s the amount of imported wheat to Japan increased continuously, Udon were made a long time with flour from wheat grown in Japan. Due to a poor harvest in the early 1970s, however, it was forced to look for alternative flours. Imported from Western Australia flour Class " Australian Standard White " (ASW ) proved to be even as the indigenous varieties to consider what is most likely due to the starch composition of the crops grown in Australia wheat. Total 2009 4.86 million tons of wheat were imported to Japan between April 2008 and March, which account for 90 % of the wheat demand in Japan. Of this, about 0.8 million tons from Australia.

Social significance

A kind of " Udon - Boom" by which the noodles in Japan were known as specialty of Kagawa Prefecture, solved the five-volume book Sanuki Udon Osorubeki (恐るべき さぬき うどん, German: " The amazing Sanuki Udon " ) from. The first volume was published in 1993 by Kazutoshi Tao, an editor of several city magazines. The book describes the udon shops Prefecture and has developed into a guide for Udon fans.

With the aim specifically to promote the culture to Udon in Kagawa Prefecture and make known, Sanuki Udon Kenkyūkai 1984 was (さぬき うどん 研究 会, German: " Sanuki udon Research Company") was founded. Members of society are mainly from companies that have direct relation to Udon, but are about one-third of university professors. Every year is celebrated on the 2nd July in the Kagawa Prefecture of " Udon Day", in which the production of fresh udon noodles at the center. Under an agreement with the prefectural government of Japan Post Kagawa Prefecture was the " renamed " in Udon Prefecture in 2011, letters to Kagawa can now also be addressed to the " Prefecture Udon ".

2006 saw the film director Katsuyuki Motohiro the Udon, which tells the adventures of Kosuke, the son of an udon restaurant owner in gross based on the true story of " Udon boom ".

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