Miyagi

Shockingly brown!? Curiously unusual noodle for Yakisoba

Ishinomaki Yakisoba

Ishinomaki City, located along the east coast of Miyagi Prefecture, is not only famous for its fisheries industry, but also for being the only place to make Yakisoba stir-fried noodles using brown noodle. The unique noodle is said to have been created around 1950 by locals who wanted to develop non-sticky noodle when fried. They kneaded the dough using medium gluten flour, steamed it and washed it with water before steaming it again – this was how the special noodle was born. The “double-steamed” noodle, savoury and spongy, is easy to absorb and capture the deep flavour of fish broth added to steam and season the noodle. It is also said that the noodle becomes brown because Kansui, an alkaline water to decide the texture and colour of noodles, somehow changes during the double-steaming process.