''Yakisoba'' ( ja, 焼きそば ), "fried noodle", is a Japanese noodle stir-fried dish. Usually,

soba Soba ( or , "buckwheat") is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat. The noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or hot in a noodle soup. The variety ''Nagano soba'' includes wheat flour. In Japan, soba noodles can be found i ...

noodles are made from buckwheat flour, but soba in yakisoba are Chinese noodles (Chuuka soba) made from wheat flour, typically flavored with a condiment similar to Worcestershire sauce. The dish first appeared in food stalls in Japan around the 1930s.

Preparation

Yakisoba is prepared by

frying Frying is the cooking of food in oil or another fat. Similar to sautéing, pan-fried foods are generally turned over once or twice during cooking to make sure that the food is well-made, using tongs or a spatula, while sautéed foods are cooked ...

ramen-style wheat noodles (also called "Chinese noodles" 中華麺) with bite-sized pork and finely chopped vegetables like cabbage, onions, bean sprouts, and carrots. It is then flavored with yakisoba sauce, salt, and pepper. It can be served with a variety of garnishes, such as '' aonori'' (seaweed powder), ''

beni shōga is a type of ''tsukemono'' (Japanese pickle). It is made from thin strips of ginger pickled in umezu (), the vinegary pickling solution used to make umeboshi. The red color is traditionally derived from red perilla (''Perilla frutescens'' var. ...

'' (shredded pickled ginger), ''

katsuobushi is simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'', sometimes referred to as bonito). It is also known as bonito flakes. ''Katsuobushi'' or similarly prepared fish is also known as . Shaved ''katsuobushi'' and dried ke ...

'' (

bonito Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned predatory fish in the family Scombridae – a family it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish. Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of ...

fish flakes), or Japanese-style mayonnaise.

Serving

Yakisoba is most familiarly served on a plate either as a main dish or a side dish. A more novel way of serving yakisoba in Japan is to pile the noodles into a bun sliced down the middle in the style of a hot dog, and garnish the top with mayonnaise and shreds of red pickled ginger. Called

yakisoba-pan Yakisoba-pan (焼きそばパン) is a popular Japanese food in which yakisoba is sandwiched between an oblong white bread roll resembling an American hotdog bun known as ''koppe-pan''. This high-carbohydrate food item is essentially a sandwich w ...

(''pan'' meaning "bread"), it is commonly available at ''konbini'' (

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

s) and school canteens. Sometimes, udon is used as a replacement for the Chinese-style soba and called ''

yakiudon is a Japanese stir-fried dish consisting of thick, smooth, white udon noodles mixed with a soy-based sauce, meat (usually pork), and vegetables. It is similar to yakisoba, which involves a similar stir-frying technique using ramen-style wheat ...

''. This variation originates in

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuku ...

or Kokura, in Fukuoka Prefecture. In Okinawa, yakisoba is popular with locals as well as US service members stationed on the island. After the 1945 hostilities with Japan ended on Okinawa, the US military command supplied American food products to the displaced and malnourished islanders. Yakisoba was prepared with alternative packaged ingredients such as spaghetti,

spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...

, ketchup, any available vegetable (usually canned), and mayonnaise. Mess halls and other on-base eateries often serve yakisoba. Along with typical Okinawan meats such as pork or chicken, fried spam, chopped hot dogs, and sliced ham are still popular postwar additions to yakisoba eaten by islanders today, along with common local vegetables such as cabbage and carrots.Okinawa-style yakisoba is generally made with Okinawa soba, a wheat noodle much thicker than what is commonly used for yakisoba in the rest of Japan, and flavored with pre-packaged yakisoba sauce.

Gallery

File:Yakisoba.jpg, Yakisoba File:Sauce fried noodles of Gyoza-no-Manshu.jpg, ''Yakisoba'' File:Ohta yakisoba.jpg, ''Ōta-yakisoba'' File:富士宮やきそば (27454468067).jpg, ''Fujinomiya-Yakisoba'' File:Nagahama-itarian.jpg, ''Italian-yakisoba (Shiga)'' File:Sobameshi (8697338872).jpg, ''Sobameshi'' File:2014-12-23 Himeji-chanpon yaki (姫路ちゃんぽん焼き).jpg, Himeji-chanpon yaki File:Shio yakisoba by jetalone in Kiba, Tokyo.jpg, Shio yakisoba File:Seafood yakisoba by woinary in Osaka Intl Airport.jpg, Ankake yakisoba File:Yakisobapan_001.jpg,

Yakisoba-pan Yakisoba-pan (焼きそばパン) is a popular Japanese food in which yakisoba is sandwiched between an oblong white bread roll resembling an American hotdog bun known as ''koppe-pan''. This high-carbohydrate food item is essentially a sandwich w ...

References

{{Authority control Fried noodles Japanese noodle dishes

Preparation

Serving

Gallery

See also

References