Sukiyaki

The Japanese nabe pot that I bought online arrived a few days ago and I bin itch'n to  try it out. Plus I've been craving sukiyaki and I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a lot more of this type of thing.

The quality of beef is of utmost importance. It must be tender, sliced thinly, and very well loaded with fat. It need not be Wagyu but it must be top quality, and if not, then just forget about making sukiyaki.  Unless you are me and substitute bison, because that is what I had. Bison is the exact opposite of what is called for in sukiyaki because it lacks the fat needed to produce the broth. No bother, I used olive oil instead and added cartoned beef broth to compensate, and not a bad compensation either, if I may say. In the end, do whatever you want. Just don't do it when you are entertaining Japanese nationals -- they will see right through your silly childish little tricks.

The bison steaks were marinated overnight with a serious dry rub and kept vacuum sealed. They were seared in oil right in the nabe pot then removed and sliced. I could have sliced more thinly but I am being a little bit oafish today.

The steak is removed from the pot and cut.  Alternately, it is just as easy to slice the steak partially frozen which makes it much easier to get extra thin slices, then sear it in the pot. Whichever you choose, you will want to remove it to soften garlic in the oil that is either rendered by your choice of fatty steak, or in the oilive oil as in this instance, if you choose to include garlic which is not at all necessary.

When the garlic is softened but not browned, if you are using garlic, the pan is deglazed with saki and before it completely evaporates soy is added with mirin and a cup or so of broth, enough liquid to lift the fond off the bottom of the pan to contribute its flavor to the body of the broth. Original recipes call for refined sugar. Here I am using mirin instead. 

Originally, these two liquids, saki and shoyu (soy) are the chief flavor agents that combine with the fat and fond of the top quality beef along with water to form the broth that is sweetened with sugar.  But here, the broth is added straight from the carton and the sweetness comes from mirin instead of sugar. All the other ingredients contribute flavor too, especially the onions and mushrooms, but not as much as these things right here. You can see how commercial beef stock and seared bison would be a little bit stronger flavored than beef and water even if that beef were a well-marbled tender cut. That's my position and I'm stick'n with it. 

The rest is a matter of preparing the vegetables and setting them in the pot in their own separate pile. This is part of the charm of sukiyaki, in my opinion, each element has its own place so that when you're eating it you can go digging around and pick out exactly what you are going for.

Three types of mushrooms, an enoki type, shitaki, and baby portobellos.
 













Ramen is not the proper type of noodle for this but it is all the grocery store had that I went to. Usually a thin rice cellophane noodle and a thicker buckwheat noodle are both included. But the Ramen wasn't altogether bad. Of course the flavor packet was discarded. It's useless, if not actually hazardous.