"Egg Somen," a Way to Eat Leftover Somen Warm: Mixed Noodles Where the Residual Heat Turns the Egg White Soft-Set

He says it was cold during filming because a staff member who runs hot had cranked up the air conditioning. Ryuji explains that he chose to show a way to eat somen warm because he had already done many cold somen recipes and summer was now in its latter half.

He uses Ibo no Ito, which he had at home, but says other somen brands are fine too. He also mentions that because the whole process is so simple and quick, he spent more time chatting at the start.

First, put only the egg white in a bowl and set the yolk aside in a separate container. The yolk goes on top at the end. The sauce is made directly in this bowl. Ryuji explains the role of each seasoning as follows:

• Mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons: Acts as the oil and adds richness.
• Sesame oil, 1 teaspoon: Adds aroma and fat.
• Soy sauce, 2 teaspoons: The amount can be "roughly" right.
• Oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon: Seasons the dish with umami and richness.
• Grated garlic, a small amount: Optional. About one small clove.
• Ajinomoto: He started to say three shakes, then settled on four.

That's all the ingredients; the rest is just adding the noodles and mixing. Ryuji reflects that lately he had been doing only labor-intensive dishes and things he personally wanted to make, and hadn't done an easy, "cut-corners" recipe like this, a so-called "void recipe," in a while. He also expressed the view that, as cooking goes, he needs to do dishes like this too.

The package boiling time for Ibo no Ito is about a minute and a half, but Ryuji likes his noodles firm, so he pulls them at one minute. He recommends viewers generally boil theirs as the package directs.

When a staff member asked, "Couldn't you do this with udon too?", Ryuji replied that thin noodles taste better. Udon is so thick that the egg white sometimes doesn't cook properly, so somen is best. He explains that the key to this dish is cooking the sauce in which the egg white and mayonnaise are mixed.

Drain the boiled somen and add it to the bowl while still hot, then mix it in. According to Ryuji, because somen is thin, it holds heat well, and running the egg white through these noodles sets it instantly. In the demonstration, the runny egg white firmed up into a soft-set state as he mixed, coating all the noodles.

Ryuji says this only happens with somen. A staff member agreed, saying "with udon it stays slimy," and Ryuji added that with udon the egg white remains raw, so you'd need to heat it in the microwave.

Once mixed, make a well in the center, place the yolk there, and sprinkle with black pepper to finish. Coarsely ground black pepper is best, but simply shaking on store-bought pepper is fine too, he says.

After tasting, Ryuji and the staff commented on how good warm somen is and how rich the flavor is. Ryuji praises the way the mayonnaise clings to the noodles and the texture of the egg white.

You can add chili oil to taste, and Ryuji says he himself prefers it with chili oil. The garlic can be left out, but he says he likes it better with it because it gives the flavor a punch. He also emphasized that it can be made with just one egg and these few ingredients.

Since this is a base flavor, he says adding vegetables, meat, sausage and so on also works. Ryuji says he loves "a hard-hitting, rich, and slightly cheap flavor."

Toward the end, the conversation turned to video length. Ryuji says that since he had recently been making a run of labor-intensive videos, a video that wraps up in about 10 minutes is nice. He says his older videos were usually around 10 minutes, even with skits included.

He recalled that back then, videos over 8 minutes got mid-roll ads, so he aimed for 8 minutes in order to pay his staff's salaries. A staff member also mentioned that there had been videos of around 4 minutes.

Finally, Ryuji said this recipe works in early autumn and winter too. He closed the video by urging viewers to give egg somen, with its rich soft-set egg white, a try.