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I love noodles too! ALL sorts of noodles and love the different textures and flavors of them. The geography and history of the people that create these different noodles have often determined the recipes. UDON of Japan is mostly accepted as kneded flour and hot salt-water only (very stiff dough, therefore kneaded by marching on plastic-bagged dough by feet), rested over-night, kneaded again, then rolled and cut. This process typically gives 1/8in thick and 1/8in wide noodles (flatter, thinner KISHIMEN noodles are from a specific area). When boiled, these Udon noodles are even enjoyed without soup, just a splash of soy sauce, a few Tbsp grated Daikon radish and a spritz of lemon (a pinch of Bonito flakes too).
This is easy and great cool or warm as a summer lunch.

Dare I ask, can you use the dough hook on the Kitchen Aid Mixer for the extensive kneading?

I don't care if it's flat or straight. I would just like a big steaming-hot bowl of udon in a fragrant broth, preferably with some fiery red kimchi on the side.

I know, I have the book too. But, the flour in US and Japan are different. I've lived here for 20 yrs and have plenty of experiences with the ingredients here. My guess is that they added yolks to make it easier for Americans to get the texture. You can believe that's Udon, but, if you want to be authentic, we, Japanese don't call that UDON, and the shape is not UDON either. As I said, it's Kishimen. I see so many things like that in Japanese food here. But, Japanese do the same thing too in Japan. Their pattie for the hamburger is basically a meatloaf. They put eggs, bread crumb, some vegetable, etc. I'm just to trying to tell you the authentic Japanese. I hope you understand.

Thebirdie: My information for the name and shape of the noodle as well as the content of the dough (i.e., including the egg yolks) comes from the book itself, by Tsuji. So perhaps there is a possibility that there are udon doughs that include yolks - otherwise, why would Tsuji include the yolk as an optional ingredient in the recipe that he calls "Udon"?

thanks,
Chichi

Slightly off topic, but check out the movie, appropriately titled, "Udon". It's a great dramedy about a failed stand-up comic and his love/hate relationship with his father, a master Udon maker. There are great scenes showing the making of udon and the hilarious udon pilgrimmage trend that the main character sparks.

Hi fellow noodle slurpers,

A few things:

Michele, I’ve seen udon in the Japanese stores being sold as both the “fat and tubular kind,” as well as the “broad and flat” kind. I’m a fan of the broad type because I think it’s just a little more fun to slurp! Personal preference, though.

The bag my grandfather obtained for me was actually from the noodle shop itself, which was a well-respected shop a few blocks from his apartment. I think that in order for the kansui to be in any way palatable, you have to make a commercial-sized quantity.

The unused portions may be frozen, prior to being cooked.

DrGaellon, I’ve tried kneading udon dough in the past very vigorously, for a very long time, but the results have always been less than satisfactory. I am intrigued by hmw0029’s suggestion of doing it by foot, though! Maybe my conception of “long and vigorous” kneading doesn’t quite cut it!

Betteirene, great point. I am a huge Julia Child fan, and one thing I am always trying to work on is being more descriptive in my directions, so that readers have a common reference point from which to understand a sentence.

If any one has other Udon or Asian noodle dough recipes that they have found to be completely successful, I’d love to know about them!

The bottom line about this recipe is that for those who have found their noodles to be not quite bouncy enough, a little injection of fat in the form of yolks DOES help!

When someone tells me that they can't cook, my standard reply is, "It's not the cook; it's the recipe." It's why I adore writers like Julia Child and Dorie Greenspan and now Tsuji, who use their recipes to teach what something should look like or feel like at a certain stage. Doesn't it make cooking just so much easier?

Thanks for the teaching, Chichi.

BTW, udon is made with medium-gluten flour (churiki-ko, or udon-ko), which very similar in gluten content to all purpose flour here in the US.

The "standard" flour in Japan has less gluten. that's why you can't use all purpose flour for tempura :-)

mmm earlobe soup!

I make udon without eggs (the traditional way) and the noodles come out chewy and yummy. Yes, I do step on the dough. it's too hard to hand-knead!

I found these tutorial videos very helpful, though there may be videos with subtitles somewhere.
http://homepage2.nifty.com/nakkara/indexUdonTeuchi.html

Multi grain bread! This looks like a great cookbook!!!

Oh, I'm sure the recipe will work as written, I just think it would be a lot better with heavy cream, butter and leeks instead of olive oil, skim milk and onions. Looking for leeks in my part of the country was like looking for hen's teeth when I was a kid. Now-a-days you can pick up a bundle of three big ones anytime you want at the local Wally World. A little bacon thrown in would not hurt it, either. I think Michael Z is right about that. Also, I like red Pontiac potatoes a lot better than I do Yukons.

BTW, leave the cheese out of this recipe and it will be good eats when cold.