Shabu-shabu is a Japanese hot pot dish in which sliced beef cut into bite-sized pieces is dipped in boiling dashi soup in a tabletop pot for about 5 seconds, and then dipped in a Tare sauce in a small bowl.
Generally, the Tare sauce is “Ponzu”, which is a mixture of soy sauce, brewed vinegar, and sugar with citrus juice, and “Gomadare,” which is a mixture of grated sesame, soy saurce and dashi soup.
As a hot pot dish using beef, it is as popular as sukiyaki. There is also a shabu-shabu specialty restaurant.
What is Shabu-Shabu and can I eat it?
Materials of Shabu-Shabu
Beef, vegetables, mushrooms
Tare
- Ponzu: soy source, sugars, citrus juice, brewed vinegar, salt, seasonings
- Gomadare: sesame, soy sauce, brewed vinegar, salt, sugar, sesame oil
| Low-gluten | Low FODMAPs | |||
| with Beef |
| Restaurant |
Shabu-Shabu has a fixed order to put the ingredients in the pot
When you order shabu-shabu, you will be served a hot pot with dashi soup, thinly sliced beef, cut vegetables and mushrooms. When the dashi soup is boiling, put these ingredients in a pot and cook them for eating.
If you go out to eat with your family and friends, only one pot will be prepared.
Beef, vegetables, etc. are also prepared in one plate. Each person puts this in a pot at his or her own pace, cooks it, and eats it. Such styles may be less common abroad, but may be similar to barbecue.
The order in which the ingredients are cooked is generally fixed. First of all, add the beef. Dashi soup is often made from kelp soup, but at first it has almost no taste. By adding beef here, the fat dissolves in the soup and the soup becomes more delicious.
Each person puts the beef between chopsticks and puts it in the soup, but do not let it go from the chopsticks. Keep the meat sandwiched between chopsticks and let the meat swim in the soup for 3-5 seconds until the color of the meat changes. The sound at this time is the origin of the name “Shabu-shabu”.
After eating the beef, the next step is vegetables and mushrooms.
First of all, add Chinese cabbage, carrots and shiitake mushrooms, which take a long time to cook. This is where one person puts everything on the plate. After boiling, add tofu, green onions, mizuna and other ingredients that will be cooked in a short time.
When everything is boiled, it’s done, so please reduce the heat here. Each person takes vegetables and mushrooms and eat with the sauce.
And finally, add udon or rice to the soup and eat it. This is called “Shime”. Udon is a wheat noodle peculiar to Japan, which is thicker than ramen and pasta, but soft. It is also recommended to add rice and cook it with soup.
Shabu-shabu is a relatively new Japanese dish, only about 80 years old. Shabu-shabu refers to shabu-shabu made from beef, but there are also shabu-shabu made from pork or seafood such as octopus, yellowtail, Thailand, and snow crab.
Try to eat Shabu-Shabu!
How much ?
$20～80
Where can I eat Shabu-Shabu?
Shabu-Shabu specialty restaurants and Japanese restaurants
Precautions when eating Shabu-Shabu
For people with celiac disease and gluten-free
Wheat may be used as a raw material for the soy sauce used in Tare sauce.
However it is estimated that the amount of gluten contained in the dish is very small because the protein contained in soy sauce is decomposed in the brewing process and not remains, and the amount of Tare sauce used is not large.
“Gomadare” uses less soy sauce than “Ponzu”.
For Muslims
Soy sauce, the raw material for Tare sauce, contains 2% alcohol. However, the alcohol evaporates in the process of making sauce and does not remain.
Japanese writer’s comment for Shabu-Shabu
I think shabu-shabu is the best way to taste the deliciousness of Japanese beef, but it may seem unsatisfactory for Westerners who are accustomed to eating steak.
However, you can eat a lot of vegetables, so it’s a very healthy dish. Please try the shabu-shabu or sukiyaki made with Wagyu beef.
By the way, overseas, shabu-shabu may be thought to be expensive. Even in Japan, in a luxury restaurant, it costs more than $ 50.
But there are also cheap restaurants in Japan. For example, during the time limit, you can eat as much beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, udon, rice, sushi, curry, and dessert as you like, and the price is very low at around $ 21.
However, the beef used here is not from Japan. Beef is also expensive, so they serve pork, vegetables, sushi, and desserts together. If you want to eat shabu-shabu cheaply, please try it.
Shabu-Shabu Onyasai
A shabu-shabu specialty restayrant. There are about 400 stores in Japan. For the all-you-can-eat course, you can order the ingredients specified in the course within 90 minutes. The time limit is 120 minutes.
Syabuyo
A shabu-shabu specialty restaurant. There are about 270 stores in Japan. The menu is different for lunch and dinner. There is also a time limit.
Yuzuan
An all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu and sushi restaurant. There are about 100 stores in Japan. Shabu-shabu and sushi are included in the set. There is also a time limit.
