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1
Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a full, rolling boil. Add the udon noodles. Maintain a continuous boil throughout the cooking period — 60 to 90 minutes — replenishing with boiling water as needed to keep the noodles fully submerged. The noodles are ready when a strand yields immediately to the lightest bite pressure, with no resistance whatsoever, the texture approaching that of soft set pudding.
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2
While the noodles cook, prepare the tare. Combine the tamari and mirin in a small saucepan over low heat. If using katsuobushi, add it now, steep for two minutes off the heat, then strain. Warm the tare gently — do not boil. The tare is ready when it smells intensely of concentrated soy and sweet mirin together, with no raw alcohol note from the mirin.
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3
Spoon approximately one to two tablespoons of warm tare into the bottom of each serving bowl before the noodles are lifted. The quantity is deliberately small — the tamari is highly concentrated and is proportioned for the full noodle mass, not consumed as a broth.
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4
Drain the noodles briefly — do not rinse. Transfer immediately to the prepared bowls, placing the hot noodles directly over the tare. Allow the noodles to rest in the bowl for a moment before serving, so the tare begins to coat the strands. The surface of the noodles should appear glossy where the dark tare rises.
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5
Place toppings over the noodles: sliced negi, rounds of kamaboko, tenkasu, and grated ginger. Mix at the table before eating, pulling the tare up from the bowl's base to coat the noodles evenly. The finished bowl should taste deeply savoury and umami-assertive, with no single topping dominating.