What in the world does it mean to make a cold noodle product in a microwave oven?
Sakai could not hide his surprise when he heard about the HIYASHI-CHUKA concept from Okumura, the product development manager.

Sakai is in charge of product development, the realization of the planned product concept. He plays an important role in determining the details of raw material formulations and cooking processes, and then putting them into mass production at the factory.

Even for Sakai, who has been involved in the development of a variety of products over the past 20 years, HIYASHI-CHUKA a was an unknown product.

I had never worked on noodle products before, so I had no idea what makes good noodles and what processes were necessary. I read a lot of literature and visited many restaurants that served HIYASHI-CHUKA to establish the ideal conditions for it.

Sakai's ideal was to create frozen noodles that would have both a, "smooth texture" and a "firm texture," just like fresh noodles from a restaurant.

Sakai took action.

Noodle products are a category for which Nichirei Foods has had few examples of commercialization. However, Nichirei Foods offers a wide range of products for home and commercial use, many of which contain wheat flour.

Spring rolls, gratins, and Imagawa-yaki .......

So Sakai made contact with flour milling companies and others with whom he had relationships. Since this was a confidential project outside the company, we could not tell them we were making HIYASHI-CHUKA, but we proceeded to gather information and discuss noodle-making.

We took what we learned in the field and immediately made prototypes in our test kitchen. The days of researching noodle thickness, length, boiling time, and other factors to create the perfect noodle for HIYASHI-CHUKA continued for more than six months.

A particular challenge was to give the noodles a firm texture.
Firmness is created when the inside of the noodle has less moisture than the outside (surface) of the boiled noodle. The difference in moisture content disappears rapidly immediately after boiling, and as a result, the noodle becomes "stretched".

In this respect, the ability to quick-freeze freshly boiled noodles while maintaining their firm texture is a unique advantage of frozen food. By fine-tuning the flour mixture and the time between boiling and freezing the noodles, we were able to create noodles with a strong texture.

What they learned was not only how to make noodles.

They also visited noodle-making machine manufacturers and learned how the machines work and how the cutting blades used to cut the noodles differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. At first glance, this information may seem a bit too geeky, but Sakai says it was very helpful in setting the production line and running smoothly.

In fact, by changing the noodle-making method based on what he learned, he was able to finally produce noodles that intertwined well with the sauce.

This relentless inquisitiveness was also demonstrated in the consideration of ingredients to decorate the HIYASHI-CHUKA.

Colorful ingredients that are appetizing even in the hot summer months are one of the main attractions of HIYASHI-CHUKA.

When most people hear the word HIYASHI-CHUKA they may think of ham, cucumbers, and tomatoes.
However, for the new release in 2022, the four selections were boiled pork, okra, broiled egg, and red ginger.

Why boiled pork?

Sakai, who was in charge of product design, tells us.

The simmered pork is slightly sweet and salty to balance the sweet and sour sauce.

We repeated many prototypes to create a flavor we are proud of, so that our colleagues once laughed at us and said, "Are you still researching braised pork today?"

Okra was added for color, and red ginger was used to enhance the overall flavor. Each ingredient was carefully selected with the customer in mind.

The commercialization of HIYASHI-CHUKA that can be prepared cold in a microwave oven.

Although there were many hurdles to overcome, Nichirei Foods was greatly motivated by the desire to make HIYASHI-CHUKA noodles easy to enjoy even in the hot summer months.

We developed noodles for which we had little know-how, added the value of microwavable cold noodles, and built a new production line in a short period of time. The HIYASHI-CHUKA was truly a product created by Nichirei Foods with the best efforts of the entire company.

Encouraged by the response of our customers, we continue to make improvements even after its launch.

Nichirei Foods will continue to catch up with changing food styles, trends, and tastes, and deliver new value to our customers.

See also Part 1!