How to Handmake Udon

choi

Nancy Singleton Hachisu, Japan's Secret Udon Mecca. BBC, Nov 6, 2019 (Nov 5 in US).
www.bbc.com/travel/story/20191105-japans-secret-udon-mecca

Note:
(a) The Japanese surname Hachisu is 八須. Both hachi and su are Chinese pronunciations of the respective kanji 八須

农家的料理人. In Highlighting Japan, July 2015: published by Public Relations Office, Government of Japan
https://www.gov-online.go.jp/eng ... 7/201507_10_ch.html
(Nancy Singleton "八须女士 [which is her Japanese name] 最初是在1988年从加利福利亚来到日本的，很快，她便得到了一位高高大大温柔体贴，且颇具牛仔风情的日本男子的青睐，这位被八须女士爱称为 '罗德里格 [Roderick (male given name)]' 的男性日后便成了她的丈夫，他便是农业家 '八须理明。' * * * 八须女士与她的3个孩子")
(i) Except this article from Highlighting Japan (which uses simplified Chinese), all other characters in this posting are kanji.
(ii) The couple has lived in an organic farm in Saitama Prefecture 埼玉県 — a northern neighbor of Tokyo.

(b) "I took the 05:27 train from Okayama one cool morning, though by the time I got off at Kaminocho Station just 25 minutes later, the air was already thick and sultry, foretelling another typically sweltering August day in Japan."
(i) Okayama (岡山県) 岡山市
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okayama"
(ii) Kaminochō Station (上の町駅 Kaminochō-eki) is a train station in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan"  en.wikipedia.org for that station.

Kurashiki 倉敷市
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurashiki
(iii) sultry (adj): "very hot and humid : SWELTERING"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sultry

(c)  "Matsuka Seimen 松家製麺所 [address: 倉敷市児島上の町2丁目1063-3] is not a restaurant. It is a third-generation noodle-making factory run by the Matsuka family. * * * [who have been] supplying local grocers with fresh udom * * * Matsuka Seimen's motto is: 'Eating fresh noodles in the morning is important so you can have a good day.' * * * owner Youichi Matsuka 松家 陽一 [another system of transliteration is Yōichi; either way it is a long vowel of o] busy forming and cooking noodles while his wife, Keiko 敬子 * * * Their son, Taichi [松家] 太一 [Chinese pronunciation for 太 can be either ta-i or ta] * * *At [the beginning], it was only Keiko and Youichi running the noodle-making operation, so they came up with the concept of 'My donburi,' where customers could bring their own bowl (donburi) and the couple would serve them their fresh udon with some simple condiments.  Today, the Matsukas provide bowls, but customers wash them after eating. * * * [condiments include] taberu ['taberu' is 'table' in Japan] rayu (made with roughly cut sautéed onion, chopped garlic, dried red chillies and sesame seeds) * * * chopped scallions (negi) * * * Soy sauce, noodle dipping soup, ponzu (citrus soy), katsuobushi 鰹節 (smoked, dried skipjack tuna) and tenkasu (deep-fried tempura batter bits) are also provided and set up along a narrow table stretching down the hallway where people queue for their udon. * * * His [Yōichi's] father had an udon factory * * * But as the second son, Youichi was not designated to take over the family business. * * * Youichi's older brother, Kazumasa, took over the family udon operation * * * Taichi's sister or Kazumasu * * * Unlike soba and ramen, which are typically eaten in broths that require more elaborate preparation, udon [half of which is covered or immersed in SIMPLE broth] is often eaten with a simple list of condiments, which made it easier for the Matsukas to serve on site."
(i) "Matsuka Seimen's motto is: 'Eating fresh noodles in the morning is important so you can have a good day.' "

"松家の朝," under the heading of "松家製麺とは" (in English: About us). 松家製麺, undated
www.matsukaseimen.com/about
("朝一番にできたてのうどんを食べて、元気に一日をすごして欲しいという想いから「朝うどん」を始めました")

The motto in English comes from (is translated from): 朝一番にできたてのうどんを食べて、元気に一日をすごして欲しい.

The できたて is defined in (d). My literal translation of ""朝一番にできたてのうどんを食べて、元気に一日をすごして欲しい" is as follows: (I) desire to spend the day healthy, since I eat the freshest udon noodle in the morning.
(ii) The word donburi is defined in (d). Matsuka Seimen was not the only seimen in Japan that practices 'my donburi;' A few other seimen still do that and even (bringing) my chopsticks 自分の丼, マイ丼; マイ丼＆マイ箸, マイ丼と箸 (were マイ is katakana for my and pronounced ma-i, as Japanese language does not have a diphthong).
(ii) taberu rayu.
(A) The rayu is sometimes written as ra-yu, where the hyphen signifies a long vowel of a.
(B) The ra-yu is defined in (d).
(C) Indeed, ラー油 is shown on the left margin of a white sign hung on the side of 松家製麺.
(iii) negi: "ネギ (葱、学名: Allium fistulosum）は、原産地を中国西部・中央アジアとする植物である。"  ja.wikipedia.org.

my translation of 原産地を中国西部・中央アジアとする: place of origin was western China and Central Asia.
(iv) ponzu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzu
may be either ポン酢 (pronounced ponzu) or ポン酢醤油 (ponzu mixed with soy sauce).

choi

(d) Japanese-Eglish dictionary:
* deki-tate できたて 《出来立て》 (adj): "just made; fresh (from the oven); newly-built (house)"
* donburi/don 丼 【どんぶり(P); どん(丼)】 (n) (1) (どんぶり [donburi] only) porcelain bowl; (2) (abbr[eviation]) (See 丼物 [pronunciation: donburi-mono]) donburi; bowl of meat, fish, etc. served over rice"
(Only in compound words may 丼 be pronounced "don," such as 牛丼 gyū-don: "rice covered with beef and vegetables." Jim Breen online Japanese dictionary.
* ra-yu ("a-" signifies a long vowel) ラー油; 辣油 【ラーユ】 (n): "(Chinese) chili oil"
* tenkasu 天かす; 天滓 【てんかす】 (n): "(See 天ぷら [pronunciation: tempura] ) crunchy bits of deep-fried dough produced as a byproduct of cooking tempura
* utsu 打つ 【うつ】 (v): "to hit; to strike"
* hakurikiko 薄力粉【はくりきこ】 (n): "wheat flour of low viscosity; weak flour" (The haku,  riki and ko are Chinese pronunciations of  respective kanji 薄, 力 and 粉.)
* kyōrikiko 強力粉 【きょうりきこ】 (n): "bread flour; strong flour; hard flour"

(e) "Matsuka Seimen produces between 50kg and 75kg of udon each day. Taichi pours the flour and uchiko starch into the kneading machine and adds water. [methodology of making udon omitted] * * * Youichi belives [sic] that 'noodles are living things.' And as such, Matsuka Seimen changes the ratio of the lower-gluten udon flour (hakurikiko) and the higher-gluten bread flour (kyorikiko), starch and water, as well as the resting time, according to the humidity and ambient air temperature. * * * Keiko takes the order, handles the money (the price is determined by the addition of egg or not) and calls out to her son and husband: 'sho' [小's Chinese pronunciation is shō] (small) or 'dai' (large) [大 has two Chinese pronunciation" dai and tai' the lst two characters in 第一次世界大戦 is pronounced taisen]. Once the noodles are freshly boiled, one of the three Matsukas hands over the bowls to the customers' outstretched hands and they then add the toppings. * * * I opted for the hands-down favourite style of udon: kama tama, udon with a raw egg and optional toppings. * * * I carefully cracked a raw egg on top of the hot noodles, drizzled them with soy sauce and mixed the whole into a creamy mass."
(i) "Taichi pours the flour and uchiko starch into the kneading machine"
(A) The "flour" is wheat flour 小麦粉, to be specific.
(B) I think it should be "flour OR uchiko" because uchiko 打ち粉 IS flour.
(C) The Japanese verb utsu 打つ is defined in (d).
(D) So called 打ち粉 because the correlating verb is 打つ, as in 「打ち粉」を打つ.
(E) All Japanese syllables (五十音) end with a vowel, with the exception that some syllables end with an n. Of that, all verbs end with a u (alone or preceded by a consonant). To convert that verb to a corresponding noun is vy switching u to i. Hence utsu 打つ becomes uchi 打ち (as in 打ち粉).
(ii) "kama tama, udon with a raw egg and optional toppings."
(A) The "kama tama" is 釜玉 — kama and tama is Japanese pronunciations of the respective kanji 釜 and 玉 (an egg is 卵(P[principal]) or 玉子 in Japan, both terms are pronounced tamago.
(B) Kama tama is always used with, or in the context of, udon, to make up the term 釜玉うどん (udon topped with a raw egg — and seasonings).
(iii) The kama 釜 in Japan means
釜
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/釜
(section 2 日本の釜: photo)