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1
Pour boiling water over the abura-age and allow it to stand for one minute, then drain and press gently. This step removes excess frying oil; abura-age that has not been rinsed will release oil into the broth, producing cloudiness and off-flavour.
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2
Combine the 400 ml dashi, mirin, and soy sauce in a small saucepan. Add the rinsed abura-age in a single layer. Simmer over moderate heat, turning once, until the pieces have absorbed the sweet dashi fully and are caramelised in colour throughout. This is the step on which kitsune udon lives or dies: pale, unseasoned age is a quality failure — the tofu interior must be saturated with the sweet-soy dashi, with no white, unreduced centre remaining. Remove and reserve, keeping warm.
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3
If using commercial tenkasu, spread the scraps in a dry pan over low heat and re-crisp briefly, stirring, until any off-note from delayed packaging is dispelled and the batter smells clean and faintly nutty. Fresh tenkasu used within 24 hours of frying requires no refreshing. The tenkasu should smell of clean fried batter, not rancid oil.
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4
Cook the udon noodles according to their form (fresh or dried) in a generous pot of boiling unsalted water, stirring to prevent sticking. Drain and rinse under hot water. The noodles should feel firm yet fully yielding to a bite — no chalky core.
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5
Cook the soba noodles separately in a generous pot of boiling unsalted water. Drain and rinse briefly under hot water to remove surface starch. The noodles should be tender but retain the slight resistance characteristic of buckwheat.
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6
Bring the kitsune udon broth (1.2 litres dashi, mirin, light soy) to a bare simmer. Taste: the Osaka-style broth should be lighter in colour, sweeter, and more restrained in soy than a Tokyo broth, with konbu clearly present on the palate.
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7
Bring the tanuki soba broth (1.2 litres dashi, mirin, soy) to a bare simmer separately. The broth should taste earthy and more robustly seasoned, as a counterpoint to the soba's own buckwheat character.
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8
To assemble kitsune udon (Osaka convention): divide udon into warmed bowls, ladle over the hot broth, place one piece of sweet-simmered age on top, and finish with rings of spring onion. The age should sit on the surface, caramelised and intact.
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9
To assemble tanuki soba (Tokyo convention): divide soba into warmed bowls, ladle over the hot soba broth, and scatter tenkasu over the surface. The batter scraps will begin to absorb the broth immediately, softening and releasing fat into the liquid — serve without delay, so that the diner experiences both the initial crispness and the subsequent enrichment of the broth as the tenkasu dissolves.