All about Sanuki Udon noodles: definition, production, recipes, use in food service business - Yamato Noodle (2024)

Below is the evolution tree diagram of Udon which is included in our Udon noodle making textbook. It schematically shows the evolution of noodle types branching out to the present. It is partly the history of how humans continued to develop ways to consume wheat they have started farming since the neolithic age. There was an area in China where wheat was cultivated for human consumption on a large scale. That was where many of wheat consuming methods, especially turning it into noodles were developed. Production method of udon was said to be brought from China to Japan by a famous monk a thousand years ago. Because of that, udon cuisine has spread across Japan mainly from Buddhist temples.

Over the past few hundred years, regular consumers has begun enjoying udon as daily meals, and we ended up having a variety of different types of udon dishes with unique features throughout Japan, that we now know as regional udon varieties. These udon dishes are very different in noodle texture, size, soups, toppings that usually come with the noodles or even how the locals in the region perceive udon. Some see udon as a casual, everyday food, while people in other regions see their udon as something that they may have on special occasions.

As for Sanuki udon, it has originated in Kagawa prefecture (taking the name from the old name of Kagawa and surrounding areas), and it features thick noodles that are firm and bouncy with a stock made from dry sardines, kelp, and other dry fish ingredients, soy sauce and other seasonings. The simplest version of Sanuki udon dish is a bowl of hot soup noodles with chopped up scallions for a topping. It is a bowl of noodle soup that immediately reminds Kagawa locals of their homeland. Sanuki udon – a soul food of Kagawa pref.

Not even slurping noodles is not considered impolite, but quite the opposite – this is actually how udon noodles are supposed to be eaten! To Japanese people, eating udon noodles gives a certain sense of peace of mind.

Sanuki Udon became very popular throughout Japan with so many Sanuki Udon specialty shops emerging across the country, making it almost as famous as udon itself. Thus in the minds of many Japanese, udon means Sanuki udon. Several famous chains of udon specialty shops brought it to the overseas markets as well, making this noodle cuisine the world’s most famous udon.

Much udon in Japan is consumed at special restaurants specializing in this particular cuisine.

So, what is great about an udon shop? Well, the ultimate answer to this question may be its simplicity. The quality of what an udon shop offers can be boiled down (pun intended!) to the quality of its noodles — which is ultimately determined by the noodles’ texture and taste. Of course, an udon shop would need to make other components of its offerings great as well, but unless it has great noodles, it would be difficult to make the offerings attractive to its customers. So, in a sense, the performance of an udon shop depends on its ability to consistently produce and serve superb noodles.

In terms of operation of an udon shop, this means having proper equipment and operational flow, which on the basic level is made possible by having an effective floor plan. The picture above shows a sample floor plan for a self-served udon shop – a very popular restaurant type in Japan. This is an udon shop where you can have a bowl of udon noodle hot soup dish for the equivalent of a few dollars. For the lack of better words, this is a ‘low-end’ of udon shops where customers would have to do a bit of work like carrying a tray of food they ordered to their seats, and take their emptied dishes back. This kind of setup makes low pricing possible by eliminating as many serving personnel as possible. The shop staff can focus on other duties inside the kitchen – like making and cooking noodles, preparing broths, making deep-fried foods and other side dishes. Customers come and make an order for noodles and soup, then move along the lane where a variety of freshly fried tempura and other items are available for pickup. And then there is a cashier register at the end of the lane to ring them up. So, the hungrier we are, the riskier it is to end up ordering, paying and eating more than we otherwise would at a full-service restaurant.

As was mentioned above, Kagawa is the place where Sanuki noodle cuisine originated from. It is actually the smallest prefecture of all 47 in Japan. It is one of the 4 prefectures on Shikoku Island situated in the Southwest of Japan. The total population is little shy of 1 million, and what Kagawa is most famous for?…, you guessed it, udon! There are over 700 udon shops, most of which are mom-and-pop shops, each offering its original menu: noodles, soups, toppings, and side dishes. They are basically primary sources of tourism in this prefecture. There is even a special taxi you can rent for a day that would take you from udon shop to udon shop. And what they call it? – yes, you guessed it right – it is “udon taxi” There are so many other good things in Kagawa, but because of the overwhelming presence of udon, they are far less famous.

So, what you would find at a typical Sanuki udon shop if you had a chance to visit one in Kagawa is, of course, udon noodles + some sort of stock or sauce, toppings, and side dishes. Let us cover all of them in more details.

When ordering at an udon shop, one is presented with the following chooices:

The size of noodles:

Typically small – means one serving of cooked noodles, which vary from shop to shop, but typically 200 grams.

Medium, 2 servings or 1.5 servings.

Large 3 or 2 servings. And there are usually bigger options. One needs to be careful because different shops may have different definitions of “one serving”. There are some shops that start cooking your noodles after picking your serving size, so they ask you this first. Then, you need to choose whether you want the noodles to be served in a hot soup, cold, or “kama-age” style, which is served without washing starch off the noodles (more about this later), or other options.

Some udon shops have options for soup noodles. They can serve you warmed noodles in cold soup or chilled noodles in hot soup. This may sound peculiar, but these types of options are available at some udon shops because some locals are obsessed with the noodle texture. Typically, a Sanuki Udon Specialty shop can offer 3 different noodle textures for the same type of noodles.

One such option is for hot soup udon – this type of noodles is basically cooked, washed, portioned, and warmed on order. The texture is soft and clean because starch gets washed off.

Cold noodles are cooked, washed, and chilled with ice water. This type of noodles is firm and sometimes hard because outer surface of noodles is hardened through a contact with ice water.

Then, there is another type, called “kama-age”, which means “right out of boiling pot”.

Protein:

Creates hardness and strength

1. When water is added, it becomes “gluten”, and forms web-like structures

2. Protein hardens when heated

3. Hardness of noodles is determined by protein content

Starch:

Plays a role in forming sticky and viscous texture

1. When water is added, it turns into a glue-like and viscous substance

2. Noodles’ gustatory effect is influenced by the dough’s viscocity

As you can see from the chart above: Udon noodles are made from two main categories of ingredients: solid and liquid.

The main component of solid ingredients for Udon noodles is usually wheat flour (sometimes, additives like green tea or seaweed powder can be used for coloring or flavor as well).

The main component of liquid ingredients for Udon noodles is water. Tomake good quality udon noodlessoft water is more appropriate because it does not contain minerals which can hinder formation of gluten structures in the dough, and make boiling time longer. Salt which is added in relatively large quantities is considered as a liquid ingredient (because it dissolves in water).

In udon noodles salt plays the following roles:

– makes dough more elastic by tightening gluten in flour

– inhibits growth of unwanted bacteria

– improves flavor of noodles

– adds salty taste (though most of the salt is released into cooking water)

– prevents cracks in noodles when they dry

Although standard recipe of Sanuki Udon has more or less defined levels of hydration and salinity depending on the ambient conditions they can be adjusted accordingly.

One of the unique characteristics of Sanuki udon noodles is the use of vinegar.

In udon noodles vinegar performs the following functions:

– it optimizes the resting/aging process

– prevents dough from spoiling

– controls Ph level of cooking water (which helps to reduce noodle loss during cooking)

Production of udon dough can be subdivided into the following 4 stages:

1. weighing of ingredients (precise measurement, and calculation of ingredient ratios are the key for production of good udon noodles)

2. mixing the ingredients utilizing the principle of “granulation through agitation” (1 minute of dry mixing; 4 minutes after adding 2/3 of liquid ingredients; 1 minute after adding the remaining 1/3 of liquid ingredients)

3. 1st resting (for 2 hours at 28 degrees Celsius)

4. pressing

5. 2nd resting (for overnight at 18 degrees Celsius)

When the dough is ready, it is thinned down into a flat sheet of desired thickness, and then cut into noodle strands.

Below is a sequence of steps for udon noodle making using “multi-directional kneading” type of noodle making equipment (refer to >this page< for further details)

As a general rule udon noodles have square shape, which is not only more aesthetically attractive, but also ensures more hom*ogeneous boiling, as well as allows noodles to carry more soup due to slightly curved dents on their cross-sections which are made possible by noodles having square shape.

To ensure our udon noodles have square shape after cooking, in their raw form they need to have their width bigger than their thickness. This is due to the fact that the width (the rolled side of udon dough sheet) tends to grow bigger (expand) during boiling.

For cooking udon noodles it is generally advised to use at least 10 times of water to the weight of noodles (i.e. to boil 1 kg of noodles we would need at least 10 liters of water).

After putting noodles in boiling water it is recommended to stir them to prevent them from lumping together, and to maintain a water temperature of at least 98.5 degrees Celsius.

Boiling time and cooking techniques differ depending on the type of dish noodles are prepared for.

For hot “kamaage” style dishes udon noodles are usually boiled for about 5-6 minutes, for hot soup dishes – about 8 minutes, for udon noodles served cold (“zaru udon”) boiling time is approximately 10 minutes.

Information on udon noodle making equipment

Information on udon school

Learn how you can create your own brand of Sanuki Udon noodles for your food business