Kamo nanban is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

noodle Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures and made into a variety of shapes. The most common noo ...

dish made with seasonal

soba Soba ( or , "buckwheat") are Japanese noodles made primarily from buckwheat flour, with a small amount of wheat flour mixed in. It has an ashen brown color, and a slightly grainy texture. The noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sau ...

udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a soup as with a mild broth called made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. It is usual ...

noodles in a hot

dashi is a family of stocks used in Japanese cuisine. ''Dashi'' forms the base for miso soup, clear broth soup, noodle broth soup, and many simmering liquids to accentuate the savory flavor known as umami. ''Dashi'' is also mixed into the flour b ...

soup of or chicken meat, as well as

leek A leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek (synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of Leaf sheath, leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a "s ...

s or Welsh onions.岩田義人（信州生まれ、食品会社勤務後、蕎麦屋を経営）
��鴨南ばん】「季節蕎麦。代表的な種物の一つ。鴨なんばんは馬喰町橋づめの笹屋など始めなり」と、『嬉遊笑覧』に記されている。『江戸見草』で、「鴨南ばん」の値段は最も高い。」 On its own, or simply "nanban" might be used, referring to the onions in the dish. When chicken meat is used instead, it is then called or .

Overview

Kamo nanban is a type of and is normally found on the menu of soba restaurants. It is more expensive compared to other soba dishes like

tempura is a typical Japanese dish that usually consists of seafood and vegetables that have been coated in a thin batter and deep-fried. Tempura originated in the 16th century, when Portuguese Jesuits brought the Western-style cooking method of ...

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 The Man, commonly known as the Nanman or Southern Man (, ''lit. Southern Barbarians''), were ancient indigenous peoples who lived in inland South and Southwest China, mainly around the Yangtze River valley. In ancient Chinese sources, the term N ...

, who arrived in Japan during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

and enjoyed eating them to maintain their health. The

bulb onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified ...

used widely in

European cuisine European cuisine (also known as Continental cuisine) comprises the cuisines originating from the various countries of Europe. The cuisines of European countries are diverse, although some common characteristics distinguish them from those of oth ...

was difficult to come by in Japan until the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, and so scallions were used instead. From another perspective, it may have been called nanban due to being a new dish. In the essay , literary and cultural scholar states that "Things of custom unusual to the past tend to be called 'nanban'". In the

Kinki The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolit ...

region, kamo nanban is called , where "nanba" is a shifted-sound version of "nanban". Also, in Osaka, Welsh onions have been called "nanba" since the Edo period, with having been a famous producer of Welsh onions, but the actual connection is unknown. At restaurants which offer both soba and

, may be written to differentiate from , an udon dish with the same flavourings.

History

, eaten with a hot soup based on

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

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 restaurant in the Shibakuro-chō area of

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan, which sprung up around the bridge of the same name that has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The curre ...

. 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 , a work with detail of the

Mores Mores (, sometimes ; , plural form of singular , meaning "manner, custom, usage, or habit") are social norms that are widely observed within a particular society or culture. Mores determine what is considered morally acceptable or unacceptable ...

of the closing days of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, 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 The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

, 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 Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated form ...

being used. In "

I am a cat is a satirical novel written in 1905–1906 by Natsume Sōseki about Japanese society during the Meiji period (1868–1912), particularly the uneasy mix of Western culture and Japanese traditions. Sōseki's title, ''Wagahai wa Neko de Aru'', ...

", there is the expression . 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 Frying is the cooking of food in cooking oil, 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 evenly cooked, using tongs or a spatula, whilst sautéed ...

roasting Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizat ...

sesame oil Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. ...

is considered to be correct. Cutting into 5 cm round slices is common. For seasoning,

chilli pepper Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to add pungency ( ...

yuzu Yuzu (''Citrus'' × ''junos'', from Japanese language, Japanese or ; ) is a citrus fruit and plant in the family Rutaceae of China, Chinese origin. Yuzu has been cultivated mainly in East Asia, though it has also recently been grown in New Z ...

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 is a Japanese food company. Founded in 1948 by Momofuku Ando in Izumiōtsu, Osaka, it owns Nissin Food Products, Nissin Chilled Foods, Nissin Frozen Foods, and Myojo Foods. It is known for development of the world's first marketed brand of i ...

' 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.

Related dishes

Kamo nuki

Kamo nanban "without duck". It is enjoyed as a snack dish with alcohol. The duck meat's fragrance adds a characteristic flavour; alcohol is recommended to match the smell and flavor of broiled duck,

umami Umami ( from ), or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes. It is characteristic of broths and cooked meats. People taste umami through taste receptors that typically respond to glutamates and nucleotides, which are widely present in me ...

of the dashi, and the high-grade fat of the duck.

Kamo seiro

Cold, cooked soba eaten with a dipping sauce of duck meat and Welsh onions. It is said to have been conceived in 1963 at the

Ginza Ginza ( ; ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo ...

Chōji-an restaurant

Kamo nanban udon

Warm

with duck and Welsh onions.

Tori nanban

Similar soba dish using chicken instead of duck. Also called kashiwa udon. "Chicken nanban" is an entirely different non-noodle dish with chicken cutlets and onions.

References

{{reflist, 30em Duck dishes Japanese noodle dishes