Have you heard of the Japanese dish gyudon? In this article, we will talk about the most common dish in Japan that is usually the meal for most Japanese people on a daily basis; we will discuss the famous Japanese beef bowl.
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What is Gyudon? What is its History?
Gyudon [ぎゅうどん] or [牛丼] literally means “Beef Bowl”. This dish consists of a bowl of rice topped with thin slices of beef and onion cooked in a slightly sweet sauce.
The delicious sauce of gyudon is made from dashi (seaweed and fish), shoyu, and sake; it can also include shirataki (a type of noodle made from konjac) and tofu. There are different variations of the dish, some with cheese or mayonnaise.
Gyudon emerged during the “Westernization Movement (文明開化 – Meiji Restoration),” when Western customs such as eating beef were adopted and spread throughout the country.
Where can I eat Gyudon?
Gyudon can be found in many Japanese restaurants, and there are some fast-food chains that specialize in the dish. The largest gyudon chains in Japan are Yoshinoya and Sukiya. Another major chain, Matsuya, offers the dish under the name gyumeshi (牛めし).
The dish has also gained other versions with pork called butadon (豚丼) and a version with fish. The most common is still the beef sliced thinly with plenty of onion and sauce. I remember that these fast-food places have unagi, a dish with eel that I think fits into the category.
In Brazil, there are chains of some of the restaurants mentioned above; Sukiya has several stores in Brazil, mostly in the São Paulo region. This dish is also easy to prepare, so even if you don’t live in Japan, you can enjoy it.
The video below shows a bit more about Gyudon:
Recipe – How to Make Gyudon?
There are thousands of ways to prepare Gyudon; you decide the amount of ingredients and seasoning for your recipe, but we will leave one here as an example, accompanied by 2 videos teaching the recipe.
- Cooked Japanese rice (Gohan) (500 to 600g)
- ½ cup of water
- 500g of thinly sliced beef (sirloin)
- ¾ cup of shoyu (soy sauce)
- ¾ cup of mirin sake
- 4 tablespoons of refined sugar
- If possible, add dashi or hondashi to taste
- 1 cup of white wine
- Red pickled ginger (beni shoga) to taste
How to Prepare Gyudon
1 – Wash the rice until the water is almost clear, place it in a pot, add 3 ½ cups of water, let it soak for 30 minutes, cover the pot, bring to high heat, let it start to boil, lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat, let it rest with the pot covered for 15 minutes, using a wooden spatula moistened with water, gently stir the rice from the bottom up until it becomes fluffier, and place a dish towel between the lid and the pot to absorb excess moisture.
2 – In a pan, add 4 tablespoons of water, mirin, shoyu, bring to high heat, let it boil, add onion, lower the heat and cook until soft. Increase the heat again, add the meat, cook for 2 minutes, add the pieces of green onion, mix and remove from heat immediately.
Fill 4 bowls halfway with hot rice, place the meat on top, distribute the remaining sauce over the meat and serve immediately. For more details, see the video from Santana:
We have another video from Tabemashou that shows another detailed way to make Gyudon:
Sources: Wikipedia
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