Kamo nanban
[file:Kamo nanban soba by jetalone in Harumi, Tokyo.jpg|thumb|Kamo nanban]
Kamo nanban is a Japanese noodle dish made with seasonal soba or udon noodles in a hot dashi soup of Duck as food or chicken meat, as well as leeks or Welsh onions. On its own, "nanban soba" or simply "nanban" might be used, referring to the onions in the dish.
When chicken meat is used instead, it is then called tori nanban or kashiwa nanban.
Overview
Kamo nanban is a type of "kake soba" and is normally found on the menu of soba restaurants. It is more expensive compared to other soba dishes like tempura soba and tempura seiro soba.It has been reported that fatty duck meat is most delicious in the winter season. It is also served with seasonal soba, which is particularly suited to colder days.
Etymology
The use of duck and scallions is the origin of the name. It is said that scallions were named after the Nanman, who arrived in Japan during the Edo period and enjoyed eating them to maintain their health. The bulb onion used widely in European cuisine was difficult to come by in Japan until the Meiji period, and so scallions were used instead.From another perspective, it may have been called nanban due to being a new dish. In the essay Kiyūshōran, literary and cultural scholar Kitamura Nobuyo states that "Things of custom unusual to the past tend to be called 'nanban'".
In the Kinki region, kamo nanban is called kamo nanba, where "nanba" is a shifted-sound version of "nanban". Also, in Osaka, Welsh onions have been called "nanba" since the Edo period, with Nanba having been a famous producer of Welsh onions, but the actual connection is unknown.
At restaurants which offer both soba and udon, kamo nanban soba may be written to differentiate from kamo nanban udon, an udon dish with the same flavourings.
History
Bukkake soba, eaten with a hot soup based on soy sauce and flaked bonito, became widespread in the middle of the Edo period. The addition of duck and Welsh onions in the manner of kamo nanban is considered to have been started by the Sasaya restaurant in the Shibakuro-chō area of Nihonbashi. Kamo nanban using about five one-inch pieces of Welsh onion, cut vertically and fried, then boiled with duck, is said to have met the tastes of the time and thrived.Also in Morisadamankō, a work with detail of the Mores of the closing days of the Tokugawa shogunate, Kamo nanban is introduced as "Duck with onions. A specialty of winter."
The consumption of domestic ducks in Japan came about at the end of the Meiji era, before which kamo nanban solely used wild ducks.
Ingredients
Domestic ducks and wild ducks are used. Because natural wild ducks are difficult to come by, most soba restaurants use cultivated birds. The juicier thigh meat and soft breast meat are used.In the Taishō period, there were instances of rabbit meat being used. In "I am a cat", there is the expression "the ingredient of kamo nanban is like as chicken; the lodge's beef hotpot is like as horse meat".
For onions, long Welsh onions which suit duck are used. In some instances, they are only warmed briefly in soup before being added, but frying or roasting in sesame oil is considered to be correct. Cutting into 5 cm round slices is common.
For seasoning, chilli pepper or yuzu are used.
Instant noodles
In 2003, the 'Acecook' Company released the first kamo nanban instant "cup noodle" as one of their large-portion "super cup" instant noodles.In 2009, Nissin Foods' released a duck stock soba version of their "don hyōei" product.
In the 9th episode of the TV drama series "Kurosagi", the kamo nanban cup noodle eaten by the main character was an original version of the show.