Aaron Kruk
Senior
Wrestling
What type of food do you make and when did you start making it? How did you get interested in doing this?
The restaurant I work at is called Yume Ga Arukara (which means "because I have a dream” in Japanese). It is an udon shop, a type of springy noodle, and very well known throughout Cambridge and even on a national level. I was introduced to the restaurant's sister shop, Yume Wo Katare, a ramen shop down the street, by older friends of mine when I was a freshman. These guys would occasionally take me there and buy me a bowl—some of them even wound up working for the shops. So, this past summer while eating at the udon shop, I decided I'd apply to start working, ideally wanting to be trained to be a noodle chef. Things worked out and I started in June, training over the summer under the head chef there, Tomohiro Shinoda, who is one of the best up-and-coming chefs in the states.
Can you describe the process of making the noodles?
Making udon starts with a simple mixture of flour and salt water. Every batch is made slightly different, changing one variable between the salt water concentration, water to flour content, or temperature the batch sits at, to consistently tweak and improve the recipe. This is mixed in a special udon machine which was brought in from Japan. The dough at this point is called a “crumble”. This sits overnight usually until it is ready to be folded and stepped on (one of the noodle chefs will bag the crumble a few times, step on it to knead it, then fold it). The dough then becomes what is called a “brick” and sits again. Eventually the bricks are cut into thirds and stretched into sheets on the udon machine—this involves a heavy amount of corn starch to ensure no sticking. From here the sheets will sit until they are ready to be stretched again into the final thickness of the noodles (around 4.1 mm) and cut. The cut noodles are always fresh, never made before a shift, and cooked immediately before serving. The cooking process is the most difficult, which involves throwing the freshly cut noodles into a pot of constantly boiling water that frequently needs to be changed due to buildup of corn starch (this requires us have a second large pot of water boiling and refilling at all times to constantly have clean, boiling water for the noodle pot). The noodles may take anywhere from 15-25 minutes to cook, but have a very narrow window for just right (15-20 seconds). So, the noodle chef will have to constantly stir, pull out and feel the consistency of the noodles to determine if they are ready. The head chef, Tomo, can tell the difference between noodles that were pulled 5 seconds apart from each other (I've tested him). Once these noodles are done, they are pulled from the pot and immediately shocked in cool water to stop cooking. We serve both hot and cold noodles, cold being the specialty, so from here the noodles are either put on ice to chill or put into soup for a hot dish. Toppings and broth are applied along with beef and the dish is ready to be served.
Can you talk about your apprenticeship? What's involved, how long does it take, what indicates that you've finished successfully?
You start out simply washing dishes. While this seems trivial, each job in the shop is essential to a properly run shift. We constantly have a line that may be longer than 45 minutes so clear sinks are integral to the process. From here you learn the flow of a shift, how our order system works, timing of everything and how to keep things in order. After this, I learned to decorate bowls with all toppings after the noodles are cooked and shocked. This took about two to three weeks, never even touching the noodles. After mastering this process, I began to learn how to cook and test noodles for readiness. This is easily the most difficult part, I'd have to feel noodles for hours on end during shifts, getting checked and tested by the head noodle chef. It probably took me close to a month to master this process and I still constantly have to improve and train to keep this skill. After this, I learned how to shock and plate noodles, how to handle them once done cooking so they maintain their proper consistency. You also learn at this point how to control the flow of the shop, as everything depends on the noodle chef and his timing between cooking, cutting and serving. Finally, I started working with the dough, learning how to stretch and cut on the machine. This part may not be as difficult as cooking, but is more sensitive due to how the entire flow and timing of a shift rests on properly cut noodles. I finished this and now am proficient at all steps of the noodle making process, able to handle the entirety of chefs duties by myself during a shift.
Is this something you'd like to pursue career wise or a hobby? Does it relate to your concentration?
I don't plan on pursuing this as a career, but the philosophy of the shop overlaps well with my beliefs and attitudes as a wrestler. Every single shift the team working, between 3-5 people, set goals for themselves to improve on during the shift which we reflect upon when done. The entire culture of the shop is to improve ourselves and the restaurant every single day—never stagnant. The same attitude is one which is held by myself and my team at Harvard. When we come in, we do so with a goal in mind, to improve ourselves, our bodies and our minds. It is incredible hard work, both physically and mentally taxing, but work that builds you up as a person. This is what really drew me to it and how I value it in my life.
