Yakisoba (Japanese stir-fried noodles)

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

I soak the sealed packets of noodles in warm water, then use Hiroyuki's method.

Cheryl

←

The warm water actually helps to make the noodle al dente...It reduces the time of stirring in the hot skillet.

←

I just do it to loosen up the noodles so they don't break when I mix them in. Relaxes them a bit. Of course, they'd probably be easier to stir if I thought ahead and let them come to room temperature.

[Hiroyuki]

I have a feeling that the theme of the next cook-off in the Japan Forum after okonomiyaki, nabe, and curry should be yakisoba!

[torakris]

I have a feeling that the theme of the next cook-off in the Japan Forum after okonomiyaki, nabe, and curry should be yakisoba!

←

sounds good to me!!

[Hiroyuki]

Who else is up for the challenge??

[smallworld]

I am!

Or rather, my husband is. He's in charge of the yakisoba around here. Pad Thai, mie goreng and yaki beefun are all my domain, but his yakisoba can't be beat.

Would next weekend (September 10th/11th) be too soon?

[torakris]

I am!

Or rather, my husband is. He's in charge of the yakisoba around here. Pad Thai, mie goreng and yaki beefun are all my domain, but his yakisoba can't be beat.

Would next weekend (September 10th/11th) be too soon?

←

works for me!

[anzu]

I think Hiroyuki is right, in fact I've heard that "ramen" is a new word and that it used to be called "shina-soba" but I can't remember just when...

←

Coming kind of late to this discussion, but still...

There's an article here about the history of ramen in Japan.

Commenting a little on what it says in the article, 拉麺 are usually what they are called in China (referring to the hand-pulled noodles). I don't know my history of Chinese food names well enough, so it is possible that the name actually was used in Japan first, and then got taken to China. (This happened with quite a lot of words actually, 銀行 and 独立 are a couple of examples, even though they are not food related).

The other version 老麺 is also possible, as it has (for me at least) a very Cantonese feel to the name. The other explanations with other characters all sound very unlikely to me.

The term 'shina' in 'shinasoba' points to the name dating from between around 1870 - 1950, though there is a bit of leeway here. Generally speaking, China was not called 'shina' in Japan before around 1870, but was called 唐 instead. The name 'shina' was adopted as a loan word from English, and some of the time had quite derogatory connotations - 唐 continued to be used as the term for China and Chinese things when no derogatory meaning was intended in the first part of this period, and later 中華 started to get used in that more neutral sense. The bad connotations of the word were one reason why the term was used a lot less later on.

I think 'shina' has completely lost its bad connotations now, though (?).

I'm not sure I'd agree with this statement from the article without qualifying it a little:

It was a popular dish in Yokohama's Chinatown. In 1900, restaurants that served Chinese from Canton and Shanghai sold ramen. This ramen was a simple dish with salt flavored broth taken from pig bones using few toppings. The noodle was cut instead of hand pulled. In 1899, Japan and China signed a new treaty that let both citizens move freely in each countries. Many Chinese pulled portable food stalls and sold ramen and  gyoza dumplings, then called shina manju (支那饅頭), to workers.

To me, this makes it sound as if Chinese were able to sell noodles and gyoza freely throughout Japan after 1899. Not so! Actually, there were all types of restrictions on where Chinese could work and what kind of work they could do both before and after 1899, and although the Chinese were selling food in the Chinatowns of Yokohama, Kobe, and (if I remember correctly) Nagasaki, they were certainly not allowed to sell it in other parts of Japan. Most Chinese in other areas were working as laborers or as travelling salesmen, and even then there were a lot of restrictions on who could work, as well as when and where.

Also, Japanese newspaper articles from back then made it quite clear that most Japanese were NOT going to be eating Chinese food. The complaints were that it was too oily, too likely to contain undesirable ingredients, that it 'stank' (because of garlic use?), etc. In fact, Chinese food (or Chinese-style) food really only started getting freed of those connotations in the 1960s in Japan, and only really started getting more popular in the 1970s.

[torakris]

We haven't done one of these in a while...

This time it will be yakisoba, if you want to read more about yakisoba check out this thread.

I am still debating between a shio-yakisoba (salt flavor) or a sousu-yakisoba (sauce flavored)

[Hiroyuki]

Unfortunately, September 10 doesn't work for me, so I'm going to make mine on the next day. I'm going for Chuuka-fuu (Chinese style) yakisoba in an attempt to answer Palladion's question:

Instead of a sauce, they used a "spice" concoction from a shaker. I've tried making my own sauce in the past, using ingredients like worchestire sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, and the like, but still haven't gotten anything really nice. Anyone have a good recipe?

[torakris]

Unfortunately, September 10 doesn't work for me, so I'm going to make mine on the next day.  I'm going for Chuuka-fuu (Chinese style) yakisoba in an attempt to answer Palladion's question:

Instead of a sauce, they used a "spice" concoction from a shaker. I've tried making my own sauce in the past, using ingredients like worchestire sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, and the like, but still haven't gotten anything really nice. Anyone have a good recipe?

←

Please feel fre to make it on any day that works for you!

I was thinking of calling it Yakisoba Weekend, but that just sounded weird...

[AzianBrewer]

I had yakisoba on the evening 9-11-2001.

[torakris]

It turns out we are will be going out this weekend so I made up some yaki-udon on Friday!

Udon are my favorite of the Japanese noodles and yaki-udon is very similar to yakisoba except with udon noodles. i usually make a very simple one with just soy sauce and a large handful of katsuo-bushi (bonito flakes).

I found this package of yaki-udon on sale and decided to give it a try.

(note the sale sticker )

I added what I had in the house, pork, cabbage, onions and carrots and topped it with beni-shoga and katsuo flakes

it had this extra seasoning pack with butter flavor, I was going to leave it out...

I really wish I had.

butter and yakisoba.....eeewww

[smallworld]

Here's what my husband cooked up:

Negi yakisoba. Very simple with negi (scallions) and shrimp, flavoured with oyster sauce, chicken bouillon powder, garlic and ginger rather than the little powdered packs of sauce that come with the noodles. Topped with white scallion ends sliced and mixed with ground sesame, tobanjan (chili paste) and sesame oil.

He mostly followed this recipe (Japanese), substituting shrimp for chikuwa.

His usual yakisoba usually has so many gu (toppings- like pork, cabbage etc) that they almost spill out of the wok, so this simple recipe was a nice change. I liked it a lot and requested that he make it again soon (not likely but a girl's gotta try).

[SuzySushi]

Here's what my husband cooked up:

Negi yakisoba.

←

Oooooooooh!!! That looks good!!!

[Yuki]

it had this extra seasoning pack with butter flavor, I was going to leave it out...

I really wish I had.

butter and yakisoba.....eeewww

←

I guess you probably would not enjoy the combination of yaki-udon and mayo.

[Hiroyuki]

I did make my yakisoba on September 10. It had turned out that we could not go to Aichi World Fair on that day.

I made two types of yakisoba, Chuuka-fuu (Chinese-style) yakisoba and yakisoba with the powder sauce that came with the yakisoba noodles. The ingredients were quite similar to those that I mentioned here.

After I stirred the yakisoba noodles, I divided them into halves. I added the powder sauce that came with the yakisoba noodles to the first half. Then I made a special sauce by following this recipe:

http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~china/newpage33.htm

2 tbsp chuunou sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

The recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon MSG, but I didn't add it.

I added the sauce to the other half.

Results:

Right: Chuuka-fuu yakisoba

Left: Yakisoba with the powder sauce that came with the yakisoba noodles

I found the Chuuka-fuu yakisoba more flavorful. It's worth giving it a try.

[torakris]

those both look wonderful!

Yuki,

I actually do like mayo on my yakisoba, I have never really liked the taste of butter and this wasn't even real butter it was like popcorn butter.

I made a lot so that we would have enough for lunch on Saturday (read: lazy mother), I tried to mask teh butter taste by reheating it with okonomiyaki sauce (the only kind of "sauce" I had) and a large dollop of karashi. I really liked the karashi with it.

[halalsushi]

My obachan made yakisoba today for dinner.

[torakris]

My obachan made yakisoba today for dinner.

←

what was in it?

[smallworld]

So Kristin, Hiroyuki, Halalsushi's obachan and I were the only ones who made yakisoba? I think we should declare this Yakisoba Week or Yakisoba Month to let everybody participate!

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

I missed this one. I was out of town, visiting my parents. Darn.

edit-

Ended up making yakisoba for the hubby and I for Tuesday night dinner. The kids wanted beer battered halibut, and I didn't have enough for all of us, so out came the emergency yakisoba stash.

I made it using the UFO yakisoba that I get in the refrigerated section of the local Asian market (with sauce) and added corn, scallions, carrots and ham.

Edited September 14, 2005 by MomOfLittleFoodies (log)

[halalsushi]

She just put carrots, some sliced broccoli, negi, onions, and beef in it. And she made the noodles from flour.

[torakris]

homemade noodles?

wow!

[BarbaraY]

I made yakisoba last week using slivers of pork. It turned out very well. No mayo though. Maybe next time.

I can't seem to post the photo right now but will try again later.

Edited November 3, 2005 by BarbaraY (log)

[chibirisu]

When I'm making yakisoba for a gang, I play it safer than I do when making it for myself.

Typical ingredients when making it for a gang:

--Shredded napa cabbage

--Possibly some spinach for color contrast

--Green onions

--The meat or tofu state depends on who's in the crowd

--Okonomiyaki sauce or yakisoba sauce (depending on what I've made most recently)

--Red pickled ginger and ao-nori on the side

--Sometimes I sliver and stir-fry in some crystallized ginger when cooking it for a friend who doesn't like the pickled variety; it turns kind of translucent and sweet-sharp, kind of honey-crystal-colored.

When I make it for myself, I get a lot wilder (and a lot lazier). One of my favorite improv-yakisoba events:

--Chopped-up kimchee

--Scrambled egg

--Sesame oil mixed into veg oil for the yakisoba-frying

--Leftover shabu-shabu meat and leftover little cocktail shrimp

--Green onions

--Splash of soy sauce and sake with some dashi granules mixed in

--Ramen noodles for the yakisoba noodles (a notch above the ten-for-a-dollar variety, but still the type that you put hot water on and wait three minutes for...)

Took about 10 minutes from the time I opened the refrigerator, which was also a bonus.

Edited November 3, 2005 by chibirisu (log)