Japanese Sukiyaki Style and the Table Ritual: Sweet Soy and Raw Egg

Ingredients

• For the warishita
• 160 ml mirin
• 40 ml sake
• 40 ml soy sauce
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 600 g wagyu beef, sliced 2–3 mm thin across the grain
• 1 piece beef suet or wagyu fat, for greasing the pan (Kansai method)
• 2 tbsp sugar, for direct pan-searing stage (Kansai method)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce, for direct pan-searing stage (Kansai method)
• 200 g shirataki noodles, drained and briefly blanched
• 300 g firm tofu, cut into 4 cm cubes
• 2 stalks negi (Japanese long onion), cut on the diagonal into 4 cm lengths
• 100 g chrysanthemum greens (shungiku), stems trimmed
• 80 g wheat gluten (fu), reconstituted if dried
• 100 g burdock root (gobo), shaved or sliced thin, soaked in cold water
• 200 g napa cabbage (hakusai), cut into rough 5 cm pieces; added last
• For dipping
• 4 eggs, one per diner, brought to room temperature

Method

1. 1
   Prepare the warishita by combining 160 ml mirin, 40 ml sake, 40 ml soy sauce, and 2 tablespoons sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring until the sugar fully dissolves and the liquid is glossy. Remove from heat. The sauce is ready when it coats the back of a spoon in a thin, even film.
2. 2
   Crack one egg per diner into individual small bowls. Beat lightly. Allow the bowls to sit at room temperature — cold egg shocks the hot beef and alters the dipping texture. The egg should be fluid and uniform in colour with no streaks of white remaining.
3. 3
   Set a heavy iron pan over medium-high heat at the table. Rub the pan surface thoroughly with the piece of beef suet or wagyu fat until the base glistens. The pan is ready when a drop of the fat sizzles immediately on contact.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies. Following the Kansai method, lay three or four slices of wagyu directly onto the dry, fat-greased pan. Scatter a small amount of sugar over the meat and add a splash of soy sauce. Sear for approximately 20 seconds per side — do not crowd the pan and do not move the beef prematurely. The surface must caramelise into a lacquered, mahogany crust before the meat is turned. The fat will begin to melt and pool; the sugar and soy will char slightly at the edges. The smell is of caramelised fat and dark soy simultaneously.
5. 5
   Once the first beef slices are seared, add a ladleful of warishita to the pan. The sauce will deglaze the caramelised residue, pulling it into the broth. Skim any foam that rises from the surface of the liquid to maintain clarity. The broth should remain a clear amber, not cloudy.
6. 6
   Add the firm vegetables first — gobo and negi — arranging them in sections around the pan. Allow them to simmer in the warishita until the negi softens slightly at the edges and turns translucent, and the gobo is just tender when pressed with chopsticks. Add additional warishita as needed to keep all ingredients partially submerged.
7. 7
   Add the shirataki noodles, tofu, fu, and chrysanthemum greens to the pan in separate clusters. Simmer briefly — the greens will wilt within one to two minutes; the tofu and shirataki require three to four minutes to absorb the broth. The tofu is ready when it has coloured slightly at its edges and smells of sweet soy.
8. 8
   Add the hakusai last. The cabbage releases moisture as it softens, adjusting the broth to its final consistency. When the hakusai is just tender but retains a faint resistance at its stem — neither raw nor collapsed — the pan is at its correct balance. Taste the broth: it should be intensely sweet, glossy, and rich with dissolved wagyu fat.
9. 9
   Each diner lifts a piece of beef or vegetable directly from the pan and passes it through the beaten egg in their bowl before eating. The cool egg yolk coats the hot caramelised bite, moderating the sweetness and adding a layer of fat richness. Continue adding successive rounds of beef and vegetables to the pan in the same sequence — firm ingredients first, delicate last — replenishing warishita as the broth reduces.