Kitsune Udon (きつねうどん) is Udon noodles in hot Dashi soup topped with Aburaage that has been cooked in a sweet and salty sauce. Although you don’t often see Kitsune Udon in Japanese restaurants in the US, it is one of the most popular dishes and a staple menu item at Udon restaurants in Japan.
Kitsune is “fox” in Japanese, but don’t worry, we don’t use fox meat in the dish. Some people think the dish may have been named because of a folk tale that Aburaage is a fox’s favorite food. Others think it is called Kitsune because of the brown color that is similar to a fox. In fact, we often use “Kitsune Iro” (fox color) to describe a brown color in cooking.