Fresh udon noodles are thick, chewy, and delicious. Frozen udon noodles are very nearly as good. But dried udon noodles cooked like spaghetti in boiling water are notoriously sub-par. If dried is all you have access to, don't give up hope! We recently learned of a different kind of cooking technique that might help!
In How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Mark Bittman describes a way of cooking dried udon that we'd never heard of before. He says to add the dried udon noodles to salted boiling water as we've been doing. But when the water comes back to a boil, you add a cup of cold water to the pot. When the water comes back to a boil again, you add another cup of cold water, and so on until the noodles are cooked.
He doesn't describe what this process does that makes the noodles better than straight boiling. We're guessing that constantly lowering the temperature of the water allows the noodles to absorb more water without becoming gummy or over-cooked. We're very curious to give it a try and see if it helps improve the texture of the noodles.
Have any of you tried this method? Or do you do something else?
Related: Good Question: How Can I Cook Healthier Instant Ramen?
(Image: Flickr member avlxyz licensed under Creative Commons)
10 Picnic-Ready Salads to Eat Outside
Recipe: Thai Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Red-and-Pink-Stripe...
Things Fall Apart: Living Alone in a Space After a Breakup
Juan's Garage Turned Modern Guest House
I think this is the traditional Japanese way of cooking Soba! Read it a couple of times but didn't ever try it myself.
These are the usual directions on soba noodles (which I prefer to udon). I cook my noodles this way and they seem to come out great every time.
This does not make sense to me. What is he trying to accomplish?
this is exactly how my mom taught me to cook frozen dumplings!!!
yep this is how you cook even non frozen dumplings or jiaozi in chinese. i thought it was to make sure the filling was cooked all the way thru since it's often raw meat ... but don't know why noodles are that way too.
these are the instructions on the back of my bags of udon and soba. the japanese way!
The reason for the cold water is to cool the temp of the water so that the noodles can cook inside out.