牛丼

Dear Gentle Reader,

A few nights ago, I was making 肉じゃが (nikujaga).  Somewhere along the way I noticed that the flavor and texture at that very stage was similar to a dish called 牛丼 (gyudon).  I've had it several times while traveling with my father in Asia.  There is a Japanese fast food chain call Yoshinoya that specializes in it.  It has several branches outside of its home country, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and southern California where I spent some time.

So, tonight, I decided to recreate this dish from memory by altering the 肉じゃが recipe.  It may not be authentic, but hey! no complaints from my taste bud.

The main players (minus cooking oil - 'cause I forgot)

• 2 TBSP Cooking Oil
• 2 Cups Dashi
• 2 TBSP Soy Sauce
• 2 TBSP Mirin
• 1 TBSP Sake
• 1/2 TBSP Sugar
• 1 large White Onion
• 1 LBS Thinly Sliced Beef (marbling = yummy flavor)

Step 1: Cut the onion

Slice them, not dice them

Neat Trick: if you chew on something, in my case it was salt-water taffy, while working with onion, you don't get teary!

Step 1.5: Break up the onion layers

"Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers." - Shrek

Step 2: Heat up the oil (on medium-high) and toss in the de-layered onions

Stir it around so the oil coats the onion.

Step 3: Quickly add the beef slices... slices, not lumps

Quickly... I said "QUICKLY"!

Intermediate Step A: Make dashi. So if you're like me and fresh dashi isn't available and you have no desire to slave over the stove to make your own from scratch, then do the next best thing: get the powdered-pallet instant dashi, add to water, nuke for 2:30 minutes, remove and stir.

Reminds me of goldfish food... memo to shelf: don't put instant bottle it next to Fubuki's food and check label before using...

Step 4: Brown the beef (on medium to medium-high heat)

Is the onion softer and slightly translucent? Yes. Is the beef cooked? Yes. Good, move on.

Step 5.1: In goes the liquid Dashi

 Step 5.2: In goes the Sake

Step 5.3: In goes the Mirin

 

 

Step 5.4: In goes the Sugar

Step 5.5: In goes the Soy Sauce

No better shot, sorry.  Camera battery was out of juice when I started, I was happy it made it this far.

Step 6: Let it stew/simmer on medium-high, stir occasionally. Then the liquid will start to evaporate. As the liquid is evaporating, stir more often, the goal is to let the liquids go but keep the meats juicy. Turn the heat off when the liquids are almost all gone.  The residual heat should take care of the rest. 

Intermediate Step B: Grate some ginger

I hope that fresh ginger is suppose to have that slight blue tint and that it's not mold 'cause it's going in!

Step 7: Bust out the rice, weigh it down with the beefy goodness

 Step 8: Take a moment... plate up... let the eyes feast... and Enjoy!

Fresh green grapes to cleanse the pallet.

Okay, some additional comments and notes:

1. Really doesn't matter what order you add all the little step 5s in, just get it in.
2. This dish is on the "heavier" side, especially if you use a fattier meat.  My thought: maybe that's why it's often times served with 紅生姜 (beni shoga), the shockingly pink pickled ginger.
3. Since I don't have any 紅生姜 on hand (not that I like them), freshly grated ginger to the rescue! It was a wasabi inspiration moment.
4. Don't be shocked if you see someone crack a fresh egg over their bowl of 牛丼, mix it up, then slurp up their meal.  My thought: guess it's like a version of 卵かけご飯 (tamago kake gohan), personally that gooey-rawness creeps me out. But hey, 十人十色 (junintoiro).
5. I don't like freshly grated ginger either, it was just for the photo. It didn't go to waste though.  It's currently in a bag with other ingredients marinating the chicken, waiting to be turn into 鶏の唐揚げ (tori no karaage).

Ingenuously,
Tappy 

P.S. Whops, re-shoot.  Forgot the beverage!

Had to re-bowl.  Started chowing down before I realized I'd forgotten about the drink. HA!