Soba noodles

It was heavy rain as I left my apartment in the afternoon, a little bit later intended for a trip into Kyoto. I found Katherine and Kristine talking in the hall. As chance would have it, Katherine was headed to make soba noodles, but Stephen, who had also signed up, was sick and could not go. So I was invited along to fill in. At this point I still hoped to go into Kyoto after the class, but as you will see, it turned into something different.

The class was held at a lifelong learning center by the JR station, like an adult-ed class. We eventually found the room, and I was a little bit surprised that even for something like a cooking class you remove your shoes and wear slippers. We were a little bit late, and everyone was already mixing their dough. This was pretty straight forward, the dry ingredients in a bowl and you add water as you knead it together into a ball. Next flour the large wooden cutting board and roll the dough into a big flat circle. An interesting technique to this was to roll the dough right onto the dowel, then apply pressure from the center to the ends as you roll forward. It was a way to make your dough more circular if it was too oval. Once it was thin enough, which we only guessed at, you put extra flour on the top, then fold the whole thing in half. Flour again, and another fold. Continue to do this until you have about a 5" x 10" folded layer of dough. Next came the cutting, which we used a large cleaver-type blade and a wooden press. Instead of picking up and moving the wooden press each time, the edge was slanted, so you would chop downwards, then tilt the blade towards the block so it would move just the right amount. When this was done, we boiled our noodles until then turned a little gray, remove, rinse with cold water and serve on a plate. I kept getting compliments about my noodles, I had cut them thin and fine, while others in the class had ended up with thick, clumpy noodles that didn't really cook correctly.

Soba noodles are generally served cold on a plate, with a separate dish of sauce, which we added onions and wasabi to. Instead of pouring the sauce on the noodles, you dip them into the cup. The food was great, and we had some beer to go with, then a group picture. On the way out, we were invited out by some of the men, though it wasn't exactly clear where, perhaps his house, and we accepted.