Sukiyaki

Sukiyaki is a Japanese hot pot of thinly sliced beef and vegetables cooked in a sweetened soy and sake broth at the table. It is served with raw egg for dipping.

What it really is

Sukiyaki is built on thin slices of beef, usually sirloin or rib, cooked in a shallow iron pan with soy sauce, sugar, mirin and sake. The pan is set over a portable burner at the table. Cooks add tofu, shirataki noodles, napa cabbage, green onion, shiitake mushrooms and chrysanthemum greens in layers, and simmer them in the sweet broth. Each piece is lifted out and dipped into a bowl of beaten raw egg before eating.

The dish is often described as a version of a pot-cooked meal from the Meiji period, when beef eating spread in Japan. It is distinct from shabu-shabu, where thin beef is swished briefly in plain stock and dipped in a sesame or ponzu sauce. Sukiyaki is cooked in a seasoned, sweet broth and eaten with egg, and its beef is usually pre-seared in the pan with sugar before the broth is added.

How it's served

• Served at the table in a shallow iron pan on a portable burner, with the cook dividing the ingredients into portions.
• Each diner takes a piece of beef and vegetables from the pan and dips it into a small bowl of beaten raw egg.
• Plain white rice is eaten alongside to balance the sweet broth.
• The broth is topped up with more sauce and ingredients as the meal goes on, and the dish is often finished with noodles or rice cooked in the remaining broth.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the beef cut and the hot pot style, for example "Sukiyaki: thinly sliced beef, tofu, napa cabbage, shiitake, egg dip".
• Flag allergens: soy, wheat (from soy sauce), and eggs. Mention that the broth contains sake and mirin.
• State whether the beef is sirloin or rib and whether the dish is served with raw egg, since some guests will not eat raw egg.
• Common variants: vegetarian sukiyaki using tofu and mushrooms in a kombu or vegetable broth, and a version with pork or chicken in place of beef.