Introduction

Kamo means duck in japanese.

Nanban literally means “southern barbarian” in japanese. It was used to describe Portuguese/Spanish traders and their foreign culture and foods coming from the south. In today's culinary scene, nanban refers to a foreign style of cooking that uses lots of negi (green onion) sometimes with a little bit of chili. For me, whenever I see nanban, I just expect the dish to have lots of charred negi.

Soba is a japanese buckwheat noodle. Most soba noodles that are purchased from the store are cut with wheat flour, starches, or stabilizers. As expected, the Japanese obsess over soba, and the real "flex" is when a chef boasts about making a 100% only buckwheat soba noodle. I want to clarify, soba noodles that are cut with other ingredients does not equal "bad". The noodles I am using in this recipe are cut with yam, and they are from a friend who got them in Tokyo (the brand is Asahiyama, I will add the link here).

Duck Soba, Why?

I grew up in Torrance, California, one of the largest Japanese populations outside of Japan. My love for soba was birthed at an Izakaya called Inaba (that still operates today and I highly recommend going). My love for kamo nanban began at a restaurant called Oumi Sasaya (that sadly, changed ownership and eventually closed down).

This dish is just nostalgia for me, and the clean savory broth is what soothes my soul. Even without duck breast, just the duck fat laced with green onions in the broth is all I need.

But H... I Don't Have Dry Aged Duck

Still try this dish with regular duck breast. Ideally dry it out in the fridge for at least one night, you can salt (just the meat side) too overnight. I would then score the skin-side, slowly render the fat, and save the duck fat that renders out. This dish is still phenomenal without dry-aged duck.

But H... What are all these Japanese Ingredients?

I'm using the Japanese names for them all, but everything is actually very easy to find. Essentially:

Shoyu = Soy Sauce

Usukuchi Shoyu = Light Soy Sauce, has more salt than regular soy sauce, but lighter in color. You can look for "Soup Soy Sauce" at an Asian Grocer

Koikuchi Shoyu = Dark Soy Sauce, about 80% of Japanese soy sauce is Koikuchi, and it's what most of us understand as "soy sauce". I look for "Nama Shoyu" which means soy sauce that isn't pasteurized.

Mirin = Sweet Rice Wine, but don't be fooled because there are different types of mirin. Most people buy Aji-Mirin, which is actually isn't mirin, but a condiment made to taste like it. Hon-Mirin is actually true-mirin and is usually made with shochu. And just mirin is made with sake. Long story short, stop buying aji-mirin and try to buy mirin or hon-mirin.