♬Ton ton ton (sound of cutting soba)
I wonder how many people can tell the difference between the sound of cutting regular soba noodles, and cutting the famously tough “Nakata” soba?
Hegi Soba is famous in the Snow Country of Niigata, but despite its fame, you might have difficulty finding a Hegi Soba restaurant that hand-makes their noodles. Therein lies the beauty of “Shinbashi”- their soba is completely handmade from scratch, right down to the soba flour. So many aspects of this restaurant are special, we really don’t even know where to start!
But we are actually here to talk about the “Simmered Herring”.
From the Edo Period to the Meiji Era, cargo ships supported the distribution of goods across the Japan Sea from Hokkaido to Shimonoseki, then down to Osaka via the Inland Sea. Herring from Hokkaido were dried and delivered throughout Japan this way, and the Snow Country was no exception, as well-preserved dried herring made it all the way to the depths of the mountains.
While herring soba can be enjoyed throughout Japan, in reality 99% of it is sold ready-made. However, the secret to the dried herring at Shinbashi lies in the preparation-they place the dried herring back in water to simmer for 3 days.
This simmered herring dish holds the philosophy of the restaurant in it. Shinbashi spares no effort, and takes a long time to prepare the dish. All that hard work makes the taste what it is. So you should order the simmered herring, and then order the soba-this is how to taste the “philosophy” of Shinbashi.
Address：488-1 Daiji Yuzawa, Yuzawa Machi, Minami Ounuma
Phone Number：025-784-2309
Price Range：¥2,000〜
URL：http://www.soba-shinbashi.net
──Why do they go through such trouble to make their own goods,
An interview with Mr. Tamura from Shinbashi↓
-Just what is Migaki Nishin?
It’s really the herring eggs which are most valuable. After they have laid their eggs, herring are dirt cheap at the markets. Herring are also difficult to keep fresh. That’s how the culture of drying of them came about. Snow Country isn’t by the ocean, but you have heard of Kitamae-bune? Snow Country is known for its fabrics, and those were carried down the Shinano river. They we put on the Kitamae-bune and once they arrived, the boat was filled with dried fish and and sent back up the Shinano river. That is how the Nishin originally came to Snow Country.
-What do you think makes this dish “A-Class Gourmet?”
It takes a total of five days to boil the vegetables. We let the herring sit in rice water to get rid of the sell and remoisturize it. Then we “boil it in water,” by which I mean we let it simmer over low heat for 3 days straight. 2 days just isn’t enough. If even if you use a pressure cooker the skin doesn’t fall off the same way. If you boil it for 4 days, it breaks about. Three days are the perfect amount of time for getting the skin off, and getting the flavor with just the right amount of sharpness.
-That’s true, it’s not fatty at all.
We spare no efforts when we are preparing our food. It’s easy to buy soba in powder form somewhere and just run it through a machine. But our goal is to create something which can’t be experienced anywhere else so we mill and knead the wheat ourselves. Herring is the same, it is used by soba shops all over the country, but 90% of that is ready-made. In our shop, we spend 5 days making our herring as we said earlier, but we have to preserve space for that to happen, which can be quite difficult. If you think about shops in the city, it is even more difficult because the ratio of kitchen space and customer seating 30:70. There is no way they would have space to cook the herring from scratch like we do. But since we are located in the countryside, our seating space and kitchen space are almost the same size. Since we have no issues with time, or space, we have the luxury of producing this dish. We are utilizing simple things like this to help us create food which can only be experienced here. That is the is the reason why our herring is a tried and true representative of Shinbashi.
By the way, where do you get your herring from?
From Hokkaido. By the way, did you know that what Okinawa and Hokkaido produce and consume are the opposite? For example, in Hokkaido, they produce a large amount of Kombu seaweed, but it is consumed most in Okinawa. In Okinawa, they produce a large amount of sugar, but it is consumed most in Hokkaido. The most important produce to the people in those lands are things that are produced elsewhere. Many people ask me why we make herring in Snow Country, but it’s because the people of this area really treasure seafood. My father is 70 now, but the first time he ever ate Tuna sashimi was 30 years ago. The Snow Country was so closed off to the rest of civilization that we have only recently been able to get access to seafood.
Mr. Tamura, you moved back from Tokyo 12 years ago, but did you go to Tokyo to study soba making?
No, I was actually working at a traditional Japanese Washoku restaurant.
Did you come home because you wanted to take over the family business?
Actually I had no intention of doing so.
-Is that so?
I didn’t want to take over the family business which is precisely why I started studying Washoku. But one day, my dad injured his leg. I just came back for a weekend to help out with the restaurant and I realized that my dad was doing such an important job. The town of Yuzawa at the time was seeing a period of economic growth during the bubble period. Many smaller soba shops started to use mechanical soba makers and grew bigger and bigger, but my dad kept on making soba from scratch. He continued to spend 5 days making the herring as well. The first time I was able to see my family business as an actual profession, I realized that we had something that couldn’t be replicated in Tokyo and was truly shocked. That’s when I started to think that I might want to take over the family business.
Were there any changes after you took over the business?
The first 8 years required a lot of patience. To our customers, just the succession from father to son was such a huge change and they felt a bit put off by it all. I didn’t understand this at the time, and as I continued to change things to my way, nothing seemed to go the way I wanted it to. That’s why I try not to make any sudden changes that would affect our regular customers. But if I don't strive to at least 1% better day to day, then I think my reputation wouldn’t hold up, so I try to provide at least 1% better quality so that it doesn’t feel like anything has changed at all.
Speaking about change, there have been a lot of foreign customers lately right?
About half of our customers recently are from abroad. It was about 5 years ago when I first realized there were starting to be more foreign customers, and many of them ordered the “Udon Shop Meal.” Nowadays, almost 90 percent of the foreign guests order the soba. So, for the foreign customers as well, I have to serve something that can only be served here. So even if there is some famous soba chef abroad who cooks using the finest Japanese ingredients, there is no way they could take the water from Japan with them. Water is unique to the location, so there is no way we could all produce the same thing. That is why I place so much importance on the environment. I think it gives me the opportunity to make something that is better than anything else.
-Rather than aiming to expand internationally, you would rather stay here as a way to reach the world huh?
When you are working with flour and wine, water from France which is full of calcium and minerals is best, but in order to make soba noodles, the softer the water, the better. The natural water that flows around these parts is best for making soba. In the end, traditional food is best made out of what is available around them.
-The “hegi soba” in Shinbashi’s case starts with how it looks right?
Most people picture the “hegi soba” to be soba that has been cut at a length that can be eaten in one bite and piled up in a circular pattern. In order to make it curve like that, you have to place the boiled soba in cold water and twist it into a ring while submerged. Even if you soak Soba made in machines in water, it doesn’t absorb water in the same way that hand-made noodles do. Hand-made noodles absorb water quickly, so they will quickly lose flavor if submerged like that.
-So that’s why you arrange soba flat on a dish.
We use coarse buckwheat flour that we make ourselves in house. When you bite into this coarse flour, it releases a fresh flavor and aroma. We want you to experience this first hand.
-So instead of the traditional style of slurping soba, it’s better for us to bite straight into it?
That’s why we make our noodles a medium thickness. When you make the noodles thinner, you just slurp them right up.
-You can tell the intentions of the chef by just looking at how the noodles are cut.
Actually, when I first started I thought that thin noodles were better. I wanted to show people how good my technique was through that. But as I continued to do it, I realized it didn’t work very well with our soba. I also came to understand that it is actually the most difficult to make noodles that have a medium thickness. It may seem unexpected, but it is actually quite simple to make thin noodles. If you figure out the rhythm, it’s not hard to make. But it’s difficult to get the medium thickness unless you understand the right feeling of cutting the noodles on top of that rhythm. If it is as thick as Udon noodles, it’s also easy. Not too thick, not too thin. Moderate thickness is the most difficult thing of all to obtain.
-Could you tell us a little bit more about the sound you let us hear in the beginning of this clip.
I have made loads of soba using many tons of buckwheat flour over the years and there isn’t once when I have made exactly the same soba as before. Even if you feel really satisfied when you finished making the soba, by the next day, it’s just another fleeting moment. But all you can do is keep trying until you figure out something better. I really got hooked to an annoying line of work didn’t I? (laughs) If I think of it from a business perspective, I know it would be more effective if I got a machine to do it for me. But since I’ve become known in the world of hand-made soba, I don’t want to take the easy way out and regret it later.
Why do you choose to continue to live in such a snow ridden area instead of moving someplace that’s easier to live in?
It must be because of how moving the changing of the seasons is. Thought we are known as the Snow Country, we the heavy snow is usually from January to February. That period of time can be difficult, but when winter ends and the plants begin to bud, there is a strong sense of vitality that arises. When summer comes and the crops and blessed with nature's grace, the beautiful Autumnal leaves follow. That’s why I can feel bear the long winters. And due to how developed the dried foods and pickled foods are in the area, you could also say that the Snow Country is full of people who truly have found something they enjoy. Those who didn’t have already chosen to leave this area.
Those who can find enjoyment in anything are the kind of people who chose to live in Snow Country. And then they built the culture here.
Yuzawa was originally an old inn town. There are not many families that are still around from the beginning generations. Even those currently living here, are mostly people who have moved here from elsewhere. I’m originally from there as well, but since the original city was an inn town, there is no resistance against outsiders. So that positive and adventurous spirit is something that runs in the blood of the Yuzawa people.
Maybe it is because the people who are here are all people who can find enjoyment in anything.
There are many people who enjoy seeing the budding nature after a cold winter, but for me, it’s the opposite. When the dried leaves on a mountain are covered with a blanket of snow, that is when I feel I’m glad that I live here. When I see the mountains covered in snow, I think about the pure and fresh water that we will be able to drink this year.
As he peers upon the mountain range of Tanigawa, this is what Mr. Tamura says.
“Water is the source of everything. 70% of the human body is water, and half of Soba and Rice is water as well. No matter what it is you are trying to make, if the water you use isn’t good, the end product would also be no good. The reason why we are able to create the food we do is thanks to the nature and water that we have been provided.”
While you think you may think you wouldn’t be able to see this mountain range from here, if you go to the parking lot of the Yuzawa Takahara ropeway, you can see the range from there. If you take the ropeway even father up, you are greeted by a panoramic view of the scenery.
