Ise Udon

Ise udon grew up around Ise Jingu, the grand shrine in Mie, and is generally traced to the Edo period, when local farmers grew wheat as a second crop and ate thick homemade noodles dressed with the tamari that pooled at the bottom of their miso. As the shrine drew waves of pilgrims, Ise's noodle shops pre-boiled the thick udon and kept it ready so travelers could be served almost instantly — an early fast food gentle on a tired stomach. The name 'Ise udon' is a relatively modern label that came into common use in the postwar Showa era; one account credits a lyricist with popularizing the name on the radio, though the exact moment is not firmly settled.

A pillowy, almost mochi-like noodle so soft it barely resists the teeth — the opposite of koshi by design. There is no soup to drink; instead a small dark pool of tare sits at the bottom, looking far saltier than it tastes, carrying a deep, sweet-savory umami rather than a sharp salt hit. You toss the noodles up through the sauce so every strand is glossed dark, then eat with the scallion. Done right it is mellow and rounded; the common disappointment is too little tossing, leaving pale, bland noodles over a salty puddle.

Long boiling is the whole technique. Where Sanuki udon is boiled briefly to keep its bite, Ise udon is simmered far longer — by some accounts up to about an hour — so the starch granules swell and gelatinize fully and the gluten relaxes, leaving a soft, thick, almost gluey noodle with no spring. The tare carries the dish in place of broth: tamari soy sauce, which is thicker, darker, and less sharply salty than ordinary soy, blended with a strong dashi of bonito (and often sardine) and kombu, plus mirin and sugar, then reduced to a clinging concentrate. Because there is so little of it, it must be dense and sweet enough to season the whole bowl in a few spoonfuls.