Beef Sukiyaki
Hot-pot beef cooked at the table in a sweet soy broth, with tofu, greens, mushrooms and noodles. Diners dip each piece in a beaten raw egg before eating. Communal, celebratory, very Japanese.
Overview
A wide shallow pot is brushed with beef fat, the warishita sauce (soy-mirin-sake-sugar) is poured in, then thinly sliced beef and a colourful array of vegetables, tofu and shirataki noodles are added in batches as people eat. Each piece dips in raw egg yolk before going in the mouth. A portable hob at the table is traditional but not required.
Ingredients
Warishita sauce
- 200 ml soy sauce
- 200 ml mirin
- 100 ml sake
- 4 tablespoons caster sugar
- 200 ml dashi
To cook
- 600 g thinly sliced beef rib-eye (or sirloin, paper-thin)
- 1 small piece beef suet (or 1 tablespoon vegetable oil)
- 4 spring onions (cut into 4 cm pieces)
- 200 g shiitake (or chestnut mushrooms, sliced)
- 100 g enoki mushrooms (separated)
- 200 g firm tofu (cut into 2 cm cubes)
- ½ Chinese cabbage (cut into 4 cm pieces)
- 1 bunch chrysanthemum greens (or spinach), trimmed
- 200 g shirataki noodles (rinsed)
To serve
- 4 raw egg yolks (in individual bowls)
- Cooked Japanese short-grain rice
Method
Stage 1 - Mix the sauce
- Whisk all the warishita ingredients together. Set aside.
Stage 2 - Set up the pot
- Heat a wide shallow cast-iron pan or sukiyaki pot over medium-high heat.
- Rub the bottom with the suet (or wipe with oil).
- Brown a few slices of beef briefly in the fat to start.
Stage 3 - Build the simmer
- Pour in about a third of the warishita sauce.
- Arrange a portion of vegetables, tofu and noodles in the pan in groups (don't mix them).
- Lay slices of beef on top of the vegetables.
- Simmer 2-3 minutes until the beef is just cooked.
Stage 4 - Serve
- Each diner picks pieces from the pan, dips in their bowl of beaten raw egg yolk, and eats over a bowl of rice.
- Top up the pot with more sauce, vegetables and beef as the level drops.
Notes
- Raw egg dip: Use the freshest eggs you can find. Pasteurised eggs if you're nervous; the dip is what makes sukiyaki sukiyaki.
- Don't crowd the pan: Sukiyaki cooks at the table over time, not all at once. Add as you eat.
- Chrysanthemum greens: Hard to find outside Japanese grocers; spinach is the closest substitute (add late so it just wilts).
Storage
- Eat immediately at the table; the dish is the experience. Leftovers can be reheated but lose their character.
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