So today is the first review I’ve done in a month! This was the first time since 2010 that I thought I’d take a little time off of reviewing. The main reason being that I’m so far ahead of myself – 110 reviews ahead in fact. I must say it’s nice to have such a buffer. Anyways, here we have a Myojo Udon bowl – honestly I can’t remember where it came from – someone either sent it (thank you) or I got it at the store. Myojo Udon sounds pretty good. Here’s a little information about udon from Wikipedia –
Udon (饂飩?, usually written as うどん) is a type of thick wheat flour noodle of Japanese cuisine. Udon is often served hot as a noodle soup in its simplest form, as kake udon, in a mildly flavoured broth called kakejiru, which is made of dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. It is usually topped with thinly chopped scallions. Other common toppings include tempura, often prawn or kakiage (a type of mixed tempura fritter), or aburaage, a type of deep-fried tofu pockets seasoned with sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. A thin slice of kamaboko, a halfmoon-shaped fish cake, is often added. Shichimi can be added to taste.
The flavor of broth and topping vary from region to region. Usually, dark brown broth, made from dark soy sauce (koikuchi shōyu), is used in eastern Japan, and light brown broth, made from light soy sauce (usukuchi shōyu), is used in western Japan. This is even noticeable in packaged instant noodles, which are often sold in two different versions for east and west.
Udon (饂飩?, usually written as うどん) is a type of thick wheat flour noodle of Japanese cuisine. Udon is often served hot as a noodle soup in its simplest form, as kake udon, in a mildly flavoured broth called kakejiru, which is made of dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. It is usually topped with thinly chopped scallions. Other common toppings include tempura, often prawn or kakiage (a type of mixed tempura fritter), or aburaage, a type of deep-fried tofu pockets seasoned with sugar, mirin, and soy sauce. A thin slice of kamaboko, a halfmoon-shaped fish cake, is often added. Shichimi can be added to taste.
The flavor of broth and topping vary from region to region. Usually, dark brown broth, made from dark soy sauce (koikuchi shōyu), is used in eastern Japan, and light brown broth, made from light soy sauce (usukuchi shōyu), is used in western Japan. This is even noticeable in packaged instant noodles, which are often sold in two different versions for east and west.
There are many stories explaining the origin of udon.
One story says that in AD 1241, Enni, a Rinzai monk, introduced flour milling technology from Song to Japan. Floured crops were then made into noodles such as udon, soba, and pancakes which were eaten by locals. Milling techniques were spread around the country. In the Edo period, the thicker wheat noodle was generally called udon, and served with a hot broth called nurumugi (温麦). The chilled variety was called hiyamugi (冷麦).
Another story states that during the Nara period, a Japanese envoy was introduced to 14 kinds of confection while being in China during the Tang Dynasty. One of them was called sakubei (索餅), which was listed as muginawa (牟義縄) in Shinsen Jikyō (新撰字鏡), a dictionary which was published in the Heian Era. The muginawa is believed to be an origin for many kinds of Japanese noodles. However, the muginawa in Shinsen Jikyō was made with wheat and rice flour.
Another story for udon claims that the original name of the noodle was konton, which was made with wheat flour and sweet fillings.[citation needed]
Yet another story says that a Buddhist priest called Kukai introduced udon noodles to Shikoku during the Heian Era.[citation needed] Kūkai, the Buddhist priest, traveled to Tang China around the beginning of the 9th century to study. Sanuki Province claimed to have been the first to adopt udon noodles from Kūkai. Hakata claimed to have produced udon noodles based on Enni’s recipe.[citation needed]
Alrighty – let’s give this Myojo Udon a try – spicy is good and I’m in the mood for udon!
Myojo Udon Hot & Spicy Flavor – United States
Detail from the cardboard outer (click to enlarge). Contains beef. To prepare, add in sachet contents and noodle pouch content to bowl. Add room temperature water to fill line. Microwave uncovered at 1000W for 3 minutes. Finally, stir and enjoy!
Under the cardboard outer packaging.
The pouch of udon noodles.
The soup base sachet.
The powder soup base.
The garnish sachet.
Dried green onion and seaweed.
Finished (click to enlarge). Added chashu pork and shichimi togarashi. The udon comes out nice – about what I expected. The broth has a dark color and a salty taste with a bit of a beef undertone. The spicy level out of ten would be around a 5 – it lingers a decent time after tasting. The included garnish was most seaweed – and it really went quite well in this one. 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 011152257709.
