For chewy Japanese noodles, borrow an Italian pasta cooking technique

This image released by Milk Street shows a recipe for Yakiudon with Pickled Ginger. (AP)

Japanese udon noodles are all about the chew, but it’s hard to replicate the texture with what’s available in American markets.

Fresh udon is hard to come by. So for this recipe from our book “Milk Street Tuesday Nights,” which limits recipes to 45 minutes or less, we needed a solution for more widely available dry udon.