SOBA

From wikipedia:

Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat. It is synonymous with a type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour, and in Japan can refer to any thin noodle (unlike thick wheat noodles, known as udon). Soba noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup. 

It takes three months for buckwheat to be ready for harvest, so it can be harvested four times a year, mainly in spring, summer, and autumn. In Japan, buckwheat is produced mainly in Hokkaido. Soba that is made with newly harvested buckwheat is called "shin-soba". It is sweeter and more flavorful than regular soba. 

In Japan, soba noodles are served in a variety of settings: they are a popular inexpensive fast food at railway stations throughout Japan, but are also served by expensive specialty restaurants. Markets sell dried noodles[ and men-tsuyu, or instant noodle broth, to make home preparation easy. Some establishments, especially cheaper and more casual ones, may serve both soba and udon as they are often served in a similar manner.

We were lucky to be invited over for SOBA!  We made udon a number of years ago, which was a similar experience but soba is made with buckwheat flour instead of tapioca.  It was explained that if you are an expert soba chef you would make a 100% buckwheat mix (Juwari soba -100% buckwheat).  This is difficult to prepare.  Often semi-professional soba chefs make 80/20 (Ni-Hachi soba- 80% buckwheat and 20% flour)  if you are a beginner you should maybe do a 50/50 mix to start.  Use 40% mineral water (hence the digital scale in the photo).  So 60% flour(s) and 40% water by weight.  Add the water slowly.  It should go from flour, to crumbles, to dough.  You do not want it to be a wet dough but the dough ball should suck up all of the powered flour in the bowl.  Think thick dense pizza dough. 

Satoru's mother gifted a five pound bag of Buckwheat flour from Satoru's prefecture (which happens to be famous for their soba).  He also has a large noodle knife (Soba Kiri or sometimes it is called a Menkiri bocho) that was bestowed onto him as a child.  These two items are not crucial but added to authenticity of the evening.  I also might add that he actually sanded and re-finished his table for the sole purpose of rolling our soba! 

When we arrived Satoru was in full regalia.  He had his apron and headband on and was ready to go.  After carefully measuring out the flour(s) and then slowing adding water, the dough was kneaded into a ball.  After which, using long rolling pins (the longest being around three feet!), he rolled out the dough.  This was a little tricky because you need a huge table and it really takes some skill to roll it out square.  

After the dough was rolled out the large square was folded and cut using the noodle knife. Make sure to flour between the fold and the cutting board. The only reference I have for soba is the crappy dried kind from the store so it was very hard for me to gauge the thickness that it is supposed to be rolled and then cut.  I guess this cutting technique comes from years of eating soba?  I imagine to a certain degree it might be personal preference but for cooking purposes it probably shouldn't be that thick.  Satoru's knife is specially beveled to cut and push the dough for quick cutting.  He admitted that he should be a lot faster at cutting but he doesn't make soba everyday.  I also imagine that switching from cutting an Udon noodle to Soba noodle must take a lot of concentration. Also, it is a huge knife! Watch those fingers! 

While the noodles were being made Atsuko prepared vegetables for tempura.  There was squash blossom flowers, eggplant, onion and burdock.  The burdock was boiled in the the soup base and then fried.  All delicious. She also grated diakon, chopped chives, cut seaweed strips, shredded ginger and prepared the broth (tsuyu). While we were waiting we snacked on pickled garlic scapes and cucumber strips with miso mayo. 

Doing some research the style soba we were eating is called Mori soba (cold soba served on a bamboo basket/tray)  Adding all of the accoutrements would be called Hiyashi soba.  We added the "toppings"  to the cold tsuyu which was pre-poured into individual large mugs.  The noodles were served cold, family style on a large bamboo platter with a tray underneath (to strain away any water left and to help the noodles cool).  You grab noodles from the center platter, dip them into the broth and them slurp them up.  In the summer soba is normally served cold but in the winter hot. The slurping enhances the flavor and helps cool the hot soba.  

When you are close to being full you will most likely have a small amount of broth left in your mug.  Traditionally you would add some of the water that you boiled your noodles in to the mug and then drink it.  This is called Soba-Yu.  

It is hard to beat fresh noodles made from scratch.  I slept very well last night with a full belly. 

TURDUCKEN

Soooooooo. This would be the third turducken I have had the privilege of being part of.  I have to admit that the first was probably the best. The second was the worst and the third somewhere in between. 

So just define a turducken..... A turducken is a dish consisting of a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which is in turn stuffed into a de-boned turkey. The dish is a form of engastration, which is a recipe method in which one animal is stuffed inside the gastric passage of another.  The stuffing part is a misnomer.  It is more like wrapping.

Some people are just completely grossed out by this.  When had friends-giving and announced we were doing the turducken a number of guests immediately canceled.  I have to admit, then when done properly it is magical. I have to admit that I probably enjoyed it the most considering I was the only one that went back for seconds...and thirds and turducken sandwiches all that week. 

Some history:

Back in 2007 a large number of us got together to raise the dead.....er create the frankenbird.... We had a party and decided to make a turducken. That version we de-boned ourselves. I believe that it weighed 48 pounds and smoked for over two days. All the while we partied and passed out then partied then passed out then woke up and ate every last bite. In 2008 we actually got a lead on where we could buy one. We placed the order with our local butcher. The first sign that it was going to be bad was that it came frozen in a box. It was also box shaped. Not even going to talk about. Worst $30 we ever spent. 

So fast forward to last thanksgiving. Oh man. What a feast. This one probably weighed somewhere in the range of 35 pounds. This is how it was made. 

Step 1: We actually have a great butcher. So good that they will de-bone anything while you are waiting. We picked out our birds from the case. I think the duck ended up being organic. We handed it over to the man in white behind the counter and about 30 minutes later we had two bags. One with the insides and one with the outsides.  We used a large sheet pan to lay it all out.  Have them leave on the wings and the legs of the Turkey (they chopped ours off because I forgot to tell them).

Step two:  Prepare your stuffing.  So there are different variations on all of this.  Some people stuff it with Rice others with oysters.  I prefer sage sausage stuffing.  This also pads the layers and in my opinion keeps the birds from drying out.   We happened to have two loaves of the dutch oven bread made a couple of days prior.  I cut the loaves into cubes and actually broiled them on low for a while to dry them out even further.  So just a quick recipe for our stuffing.....We browned sage sausage in a cast iron skillet.  Drained the meat.  Brought about 1 cup of chicken stock to a boil.  Added the grease from the sausage.  Pour the hot chicken stock grease mix into a large stainless bowl and tossed in the dried bread cubes and meat.  After tossing for a bit I covered it with a dish towel to ensure that the moisture was captured and all the dried bread cubes became moist.  

 

Step three:  Get your supplies.  Being the resident expert turducken maker that I am I knew that we needed three things, a suturing needle, a pair of medium sized clean needle nose pliers and 100% cotton butchers string.  The suturing needle you can get from the drugs store.   The butchers string you can get anywhere and the pliers...well you can get them at the hardware store.  I cleaned ours off with rubbing alcohol.  

Step four:  Lay out your first layer...the Turkey.  Take some of your stuffing and make a nice layer for your next bird which is the duck, make another layer of stuffing and and then place your chicken down.  You could now introduce the hard boiled egg in the middle but we thought it was a little over the top. 

  

Step five:  This is it... the surgery.  I had a buddy hold it shut while I started at one end and sewed, and sewed, and sewed it shut.  About halfway through it started getting really tough (this is where the pliers come in).  A couple times we would have to use the pliers to pull through the skin. Periodically we had to shove stuffing in or push in some meat.  It was a little tricky.  Try to get tight and closed up completely so the juices wont escape.  

Step six:  .....We decided that it was not up to our level of gluttony so we actually decided to make a bacon weave on the top... yeah bacon.  

Step seven:  I forgot something.  Go back to step five.  When you sew up the birds you should think about sewing in a probe style thermometer.  This is really the only accurate way to cook this thing.  Once you have the thermometer in it is super easy.  Just follow the guidelines for cooking a normal stuffed turkey. The best part about all of this is the no bones.  You can slice through this monster like you are cutting through meat loaf.   

If I remember correctly if cooked for a number of hours at 425 degrees covered in foil then an hour or two outside of the foil.  It was amazing. You are welcome to comment.