Main course · Japan, sweet soy

Sukiyaki

Sukiyaki is a Japanese tabletop dish of thinly sliced, usually marbled beef cooked in a shallow iron pan with sweet soy, leeks, tofu, mushrooms and noodles, then dipped in beaten raw egg. Sliced 1.5–2 mm thin, its fat melts in seconds; the egg cools each piece and softens the seasoning.

Also known as: Lẩu sukiyaki · すき焼きLast reviewed 21 Oct 20265 sources

Cooked at the table, dipped in egg

Sukiyaki is cooked at the table, in a heavy, shallow cast-iron pan (sukiyaki-nabe) set over a portable burner. Diners add beef and vegetables a little at a time, take them out as soon as they are done and dip each piece in a bowl of beaten raw egg, which cools the food, softens the salty-sweet seasoning and gives a silky coating.

The beef is the centre of the dish. It is sliced very thin, about 1.5–2 mm (1/16 in), from tender, marbled cuts such as ribeye (rib-rōsu), chuck roll (kata-rōsu) or sirloin. In Japan, high-grade wagyu is the prestige choice; the thin slicing lets its fat melt in seconds.

Twelve centuries without beef

For about twelve centuries, eating the meat of cattle and other domestic animals was restricted in Japan by Buddhist-influenced edicts and custom, starting with an imperial order of 675. The restrictions eased in the 1860s, when foreign residents in treaty ports such as Yokohama created a demand for beef, and in January 1872 the Meiji Emperor was publicly reported to eat beef, a gesture presented as part of the country's modernization.

In the following years, beef-pot restaurants serving gyūnabe — beef simmered with leeks in soy sauce and miso or sugar — became fashionable in Tokyo and Yokohama; Kanagaki Robun's satirical sketches Aguranabe (1871–1872) portray their customers. In the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) a similar dish of beef seared in a pan was called sukiyaki. After the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923, Kansai-style restaurants spread in Tokyo and the name sukiyaki came to cover both.

The meaning of the name is disputed. A common explanation links it to suki, the iron blade of a spade or plough, on which meat or fish was supposedly grilled; another to sukimi, thinly sliced meat. Neither is firmly documented.

Ingredients

Method

1. Kantō style: simmer the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar for 1 minute to make the warishita (seasoning broth); some cooks add 50–100 ml / ¼–⅓ cup of dashi or water. Let it cool.
2. Arrange the beef on one platter and the vegetables, tofu and shirataki on another. Keep the beef cold until the moment of cooking.
3. Heat the pan over medium-high heat and rub it with the suet until it is coated with fat. Brown a few pieces of leek.
4. Lay in a few slices of beef, pour over enough warishita to cover the bottom of the pan (about 5 mm / ¼ in), and cook the beef for 30–60 seconds, until it is no longer red. Eat it first, dipped in the beaten egg.
5. Add the tofu, mushrooms, cabbage and shirataki in separate groups; many cooks keep the shirataki away from the beef, on the belief that the calcium used to set konjac toughens meat. Simmer until tender, adding beef slice by slice.
6. Kansai style: melt the suet, lay the beef directly in the hot pan, sprinkle it with sugar and pour soy sauce over it, so that the meat sears in a caramelizing glaze; then add the vegetables, and adjust with sake or water instead of a prepared broth.
7. Top up with warishita, or with water when the pan becomes too salty, and keep the heat moderate so that the liquid simmers rather than boils hard.

The raw egg

Dipping in raw egg is a Japanese habit that relies on the country's egg-safety system. Since the late 1990s, after outbreaks of Salmonella Enteritidis, Japanese rules have required that the date on egg packs indicate the period during which the eggs can be eaten raw, and eggs are washed, graded and kept refrigerated through distribution. Outbreaks remain rare there, but the risk is not zero anywhere.

Where eggs are not produced and labelled for raw consumption, the usual advice is to use pasteurized eggs, or to omit the dip. As with any raw-egg dish, pregnant women, young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are advised to avoid it.

Pork, udon and shabu-shabu

Regional and household versions differ in vegetables (onion, potato starch noodles, wheat gluten fu) and in the balance of sugar and soy. Pork sukiyaki is common in some areas. A final course often uses the remaining broth: udon noodles added to the pan, or a rice porridge finished with egg. A one-person version, gyū-suki, is served in set meals; beef cooked the same way over rice approaches gyudon. The lighter, broth-based cousin is shabu-shabu, in which slices are swished in boiling kombu stock.

Rice, guests and New Year

Sukiyaki is served with plain steamed rice, and is a meal for gatherings, guests and New Year rather than an everyday dish. The beef is eaten first while it is at its best. Common mistakes: slicing the beef too thick, overcooking it until grey and dry, boiling the seasoning hard so it reduces into a salty syrup, crowding the pan with all the ingredients at once, and using eggs that are not suitable for raw consumption.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

5

1. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 2004.
2. Japan Meat Grading Association. Beef Carcass Grading Standard. Tokyo, 1988 (rev. 2014). www.jmga.or.jp
3. Cwiertka, Katarzyna J. Modern Japanese Cuisine: Food, Power and National Identity. London: Reaktion Books, 2006.
4. Tsuji, Shizuo. Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1980.
5. Ishige, Naomichi. The History and Culture of Japanese Food. London: Kegan Paul, 2001.

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