The sauce is too thin or too salty?

If it is thin, reduce it a little more over moderately low heat; it also thickens as it cools. If it is salty, do not add more soy: loosen it with a little dashi or hot water. Tamari is already intense, so 40–50 ml is enough to coat the noodles, not to fill the bowl like soup.

The noodles came out too firm or fell apart?

Ise udon is meant to be on the soft side; cooking it very firm is not authentic. Store-bought pre-cooked noodles need only a short dip in hot water, then a thorough drain before the tare. Too long in the water and they collapse; raw extra-thick noodles would need a long boil.

Can I make the tare ahead of time?

Yes, and it gains body and depth as it cools. Keep it in a clean bottle in the fridge about 1 week and use it sooner if you can. It also pairs with single-serve commercial Ise tare. Heat the noodles only just before serving.

What can I use if I cannot find tamari?

Dark soy sauce alone tastes and looks thin. Add a little commercial noodle soup with a tamari character, or use a ready-made Ise udon tare. You want a dark, savory sauce that can coat a whole bowl in a small amount.

How is this different from dipping udon?

You do not dip the noodles into a large bowl of broth. After draining the thick noodles, pour on only 40–50 ml of dark, concentrated sauce and toss in the bowl. Green onion is the main garnish; taste the contrast of sauce and noodles first.

Ise Udon

Name: Ise Udon
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4人分
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: [Dashi for the sauce] Mixed shaved dried fish (bonito, frigate tuna, and similar) 5–6 g; [Dashi for the sauce] Kombu, a small piece (about 0.5 g); [Dashi for the sauce] Water 100 ml; [Tare, 4 servings] Tamari soy sauce 80 ml; [Tare, 4 servings] Mirin 80 ml; [Tare, 4 servings] Sugar (superfine or medium crystal sugar) 4 g; [Tare, 4 servings] Dashi 80 ml (the strained dashi above); Ise udon (pre-cooked noodles) 4 portions (1 per person); Finished Ise udon tare, 40–50 ml per person; Chopped green onions, as needed

By Chef Cannon

Cuisine: Japanese

Region: 三重県

Servings: 4人分

Ise Udon, also called thick Mie udon, is the Ise-Shima bowl of extra-thick, soft noodles tossed with a dark tamari sauce. It is not a dipping soup: a small amount of concentrated tare is mixed through in the bowl.

At a glance

Time: about 45 min · Serves 4 · Difficulty: easy · ≈ 450 kcal per serving (estimate)

Ingredients

[Dashi for the sauce] Mixed shaved dried fish (bonito, frigate tuna, and similar) 5–6 g
[Dashi for the sauce] Kombu, a small piece (about 0.5 g)
[Dashi for the sauce] Water 100 ml
[Tare, 4 servings] Tamari soy sauce 80 ml
[Tare, 4 servings] Mirin 80 ml
[Tare, 4 servings] Sugar (superfine or medium crystal sugar) 4 g
[Tare, 4 servings] Dashi 80 ml (the strained dashi above)
Ise udon (pre-cooked noodles) 4 portions (1 per person)
Finished Ise udon tare, 40–50 ml per person
Chopped green onions, as needed

Steps

Dashi for the sauce: Soak the kombu in 100 ml water for about 30 minutes. Heat it, take out the kombu just before it boils, add the mixed shaved fish, bring it back to a boil, then turn off the heat. Let it cool until lukewarm and strain (about 80–90 ml of dashi is enough). Drawing it a little on the strong side with the shaved fish suits the tare. You can add a little dried sardine if you like.
Tare: Pour 80 ml mirin into a pan and heat to burn off the alcohol (about 1–2 minutes, until the bubbling quiets). Add 80 ml tamari soy sauce and 4 g sugar, and reduce over moderately low heat until the volume is about two-thirds. Stir in the 80 ml of dashi and bring it just to a boil; that is enough, though you may reduce it a little further. Let it cool: as it cools it thickens and the flavor de
Reheat 1 portion of pre-cooked Ise udon in boiling water (follow the package. Starting from raw noodles would mean a long boil because they are extremely thick; at home, store-bought pre-cooked noodles are the usual choice). Drain them thoroughly.
Mound the hot noodles in a bowl and pour on about 1 ladle of tare (40–50 ml). Scatter chopped green onions on top and toss well in the bowl so the sauce coats the noodles before you eat. This is not a dipping noodle: a small amount of a concentrated sauce is meant to be mixed through.

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Notes

Tamari soy sauce is dark and savory. Regular dark soy sauce alone looks and tastes thin, so if you cannot find tamari, add a splash of a commercial noodle soup with a tamari character to dark soy in about a 1-to-1 splash from the bottle, or use a ready-made Ise udon tare, which will come closer.

The noodles are about three times as thick as ordinary udon, and a softer bite with modest chew is the authentic texture. Cooking them too firm does not taste like Ise udon. Do not soak pre-cooked noodles so long that they fall apart; a short dip in hot water is enough.

The tare keeps well. Pour it into a clean bottle and refrigerate about 1 week (use it sooner if you can). It is also fine to combine it with single-serve packets of commercial tare.

Chopped green onion is the classic garnish. Some shops add grated ginger or tempura, but start with just the onion and the dark sauce and taste that simplicity first.

The original, more commercial formula made tare for 20 people. Here it is scaled to a home batch for 4 (80 ml tamari, 80 ml mirin, 4 g sugar, 80 ml dashi). Leftovers are useful for reheated udon on another day.

Time and temperature

Soak kombu 30 min · Just below a boil remove kombu, add shaved fish, boil and strain · Heat mirin 1–2 min to burn off alcohol · Reduce tare to two-thirds, add dashi, boil · Reheat noodles briefly, drain · Toss with 40–50 ml tare per person

Nutrition

450 kcal · Protein 14 g · Fat 3 g · Carbs 90 g

about 1 bowl (1 of 4 servings) estimate

Substitutes

Tamari → dark soy plus a splash of tamari-style noodle soup, or bottled Ise tare
Mixed shaved fish → katsuobushi alone; the dashi will be a little paler
Homemade dashi → a little instant dashi, used sparingly so it is not too salty
Green onion → a little grated ginger, or tempura as some shops serve it

Storage

The tare is ideal to make ahead: keep it in a clean bottle in the fridge about 1 week and use it sooner if you can. Reheat the noodles just before serving. Leftover pre-cooked noodles keep sealed in the fridge for the same day; dip them briefly in hot water, and do not boil them long. Freezing the dressed bowl makes the noodles mushy, so skip that.

FAQ

The sauce is too thin or too salty?: If it is thin, reduce it a little more over moderately low heat; it also thickens as it cools. If it is salty, do not add more soy: loosen it with a little dashi or hot water. Tamari is already intense, so 40–50 ml is enough to coat the noodles, not to fill the bowl like soup.
The noodles came out too firm or fell apart?: Ise udon is meant to be on the soft side; cooking it very firm is not authentic. Store-bought pre-cooked noodles need only a short dip in hot water, then a thorough drain before the tare. Too long in the water and they collapse; raw extra-thick noodles would need a long boil.
Can I make the tare ahead of time?: Yes, and it gains body and depth as it cools. Keep it in a clean bottle in the fridge about 1 week and use it sooner if you can. It also pairs with single-serve commercial Ise tare. Heat the noodles only just before serving.
What can I use if I cannot find tamari?: Dark soy sauce alone tastes and looks thin. Add a little commercial noodle soup with a tamari character, or use a ready-made Ise udon tare. You want a dark, savory sauce that can coat a whole bowl in a small amount.
How is this different from dipping udon?: You do not dip the noodles into a large bowl of broth. After draining the thick noodles, pour on only 40–50 ml of dark, concentrated sauce and toss in the bowl. Green onion is the main garnish; taste the contrast of sauce and noodles first.

Origin and history

Ise udon is the regional noodle of Ise-Shima in Mie Prefecture (Ise and Toba): extremely thick, soft udon tossed with a dark tamari-based sauce. It is also a kind of soul food for the people of Ise, and pre-cooked noodles with a small packet of tare are sold in supermarkets year-round.

It is said that in earlier times people made thick, loosely textured noodles without spending effort on stretching them thin, and ate them with a miso-tamari dressing. As Ise pilgrimages flourished in the Edo period, more shops appeared that could serve noodles kept hot in the pot, simply dressed with tamari, almost at once. The name "Ise udon" was standardized by a trade association in the 1960s (the Showa 40s), a case of an old way of eating with a relatively new name, common among regional dishes. Individual packets around 1968 helped the dish spread rapidly into home kitchens.

This recipe scales the original 20-serving tare down to 4 servings (80 ml tamari, 80 ml mirin, 4 g sugar, 80 ml dashi). Allow 1 portion of noodles and 40–50 ml of sauce per person, and toss to coat. Recreate at home the contrast between the dark, concentrated sauce and the soft, extra-thick noodles.