Kamo Nanban Soba

Duck and charred negi in hot buckwheat noodle broth, the Edo soba shop's winter dish

Origin: Tokyo & Japan

From the journey of Spring Onion.

The name carries a piece of history that has entirely detached from its meaning. Nanban (南蛮) means southern barbarian and was the Edo period's term for the Portuguese and, by extension, for foreign things generally. It attached itself to dishes cooked with alliums, because eating quantities of onion was regarded as a foreign habit, picked up from Portuguese and Chinese cooking. The association vanished centuries ago; the word stayed welded to the dish. On a soba shop menu today nanban simply signals that there will be a great deal of negi in the bowl. Duck and negi is one of the fixed pairings of the Japanese winter, and it has the same internal logic as negima on the grill. Duck is fatty; negi is sweet and watery. The duck fat is rendered, the negi is charred in that fat, and both then go into the broth, which is where the exchange completes: the fat rises and sits on the surface of the soup, keeping it hot right to the bottom of the bowl, and the onion's sweetness balances the salt of the kaeshi. The charring is not optional. Negi added raw to the broth is merely an onion in soup. Blistered in the duck fat first, it turns sweet and takes on a smokiness that carries through the whole bowl, and the blackened edges are considered part of the appearance rather than a fault. Buckwheat noodles are cooked and rinsed hard in cold water to remove surface starch, then reheated, which is a step that looks wasteful and is what keeps the broth clear.

Ingredients

Duck

400 g duck breast, skin on, sliced 5 mm thick on the diagonal

Vegetables

6 whole naganegi (thick Japanese long onions), cut into 4 cm lengths

Broth

1.2 litres dashi
80 ml soy sauce
60 ml mirin
2 tbsp sake
1 tbsp caster sugar
0.5 tsp salt, or to taste

Noodles

360 g dried soba noodles

To Serve

1 tsp shichimi togarashi, to serve
2 tbsp spring onion greens, finely sliced, to serve

Method

Lay the duck slices skin down in a cold dry frying pan and set it over a medium heat. Let the fat render out slowly for six to eight minutes.
Lift the duck out whilst still pink in the middle and set aside. Leave the rendered fat in the pan.
Add the negi lengths to the duck fat and cook over a medium-high heat for four to five minutes, turning, until blistered and blackened in patches and soft inside.
In a separate pan, warm the dashi with the soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and salt, and bring to a bare simmer. Taste and adjust.
Add the charred negi to the broth and simmer gently for five minutes.
Cook the soba in a large pan of unsalted boiling water according to the packet, usually four to five minutes, stirring at the start to stop them clumping.
Drain the noodles and rinse them thoroughly under cold running water, rubbing gently with your hands until the water runs clear.
Warm the rinsed noodles through briefly by dipping them in hot water, then divide between four deep warm bowls.
Return the duck to the broth for thirty seconds to finish, then ladle broth, duck, and negi over the noodles. Serve at once with shichimi and sliced greens.

Notes

Naganegi, the thick Japanese long onion, is what the dish is built on. The thickest spring onions available are the nearest substitute; the white part of a slender leek also works but is firmer and needs an extra two minutes of charring. Dashi is the base and a good instant dashi powder is entirely acceptable on a weeknight. Made properly from kombu and katsuobushi it is better. The broth base, sweetened soy let down with dashi, is the standard kakejiru of the soba shop and is worth making in quantity; it keeps a week refrigerated. Kamo seiro is the cold version: the noodles are served cold on a bamboo tray and the hot duck and negi broth comes alongside in a cup for dipping. It is arguably the better dish and is what Tokyo soba specialists are judged on. Chicken thigh substitutes perfectly well and gives tori nanban, which is cheaper and almost as good.

The Gastrographer

Name: Kamo Nanban Soba
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Tokyo & Japan
Ingredients: 400 g duck breast, skin on, sliced 5 mm thick on the diagonal; 6 whole naganegi (thick Japanese long onions), cut into 4 cm lengths; 1.2 litres dashi; 80 ml soy sauce; 60 ml mirin; 2 tbsp sake; 1 tbsp caster sugar; 0.5 tsp salt, or to taste; 360 g dried soba noodles; 1 tsp shichimi togarashi, to serve; 2 tbsp spring onion greens, finely sliced, to serve

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control