Sukiyaki

Beef seared in beef fat then braised shallow in sweet soy, dipped in raw egg to eat.

Beef, Fish, Egg, Tofu. Not vegetarian — contains beef, fish.

Ingredients

warishita

100 ml soy sauce
100 ml mirin
80 ml sake
40 g sugar
100 ml dashi

the pot

600 g beef sirloin, sliced paper thin
1 piece beef fat, or 1 tablespoon oil
6 spring onions, in diagonal lengths
300 g Chinese cabbage
200 g shirataki noodles, rinsed
6 shiitake mushrooms
300 g firm tofu, in slabs
4 eggs, raw, to dip

Method

SEARED IN BEEF FAT FIRST, NOT SIMMERED FROM COLD. Rub the hot pan with a piece of beef fat, lay two or three slices flat, and let them colour before any liquid goes in. That browning is the whole backbone; everything after it is braising.
SHALLOW LIQUID. The warishita comes a centimetre up the pan, not over the food. This is a braise at the table, not a soup -- the shabu-shabu on this site is the one with a full pot of broth.
Warishita mixed in advance and kept in a jug. Made in the pan it never balances and you cannot taste it against hot beef.
KEEP THE SHIRATAKI AWAY FROM THE BEEF. The calcium hydroxide they are set with toughens meat it sits against. Rinse them well and keep them to one side of the pan.
Sear the first beef, pour in a little warishita, and let it bubble and reduce around it.
Vegetables and tofu added in groups around the edge, each keeping its own place rather than being stirred in.
Top up with warishita as it reduces, and with a splash of dashi if it gets too strong -- it concentrates fast and goes oversweet by the third round.
CRACK A RAW EGG INTO EACH BOWL and beat it loosely. Hot beef is dipped into it before eating: it cools the mouthful and the yolk coats it. Not optional, and not a garnish.
Cook and eat in rounds rather than filling the pan once. The pot gets better as it goes.
Finish with udon or rice in what is left.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes