Thinly sliced sweet-savory beef and onions simmered in dashi, draped over steamed rice — Japan's original fast food.
Gyudon means "beef bowl," and it is exactly that: thin, marbled slices of beef simmered with onion in a sweetened soy-dashi broth, served over mounds of short-grain rice. Simple as it sounds, gyudon is one of Japan's most beloved comfort foods — the kind of meal that a whole national chain (Yoshinoya) built its empire on, and that home cooks have been perfecting in their own kitchens for over a century. The dish has roots in the gyunabe (beef hot pot) that became popular after Japan lifted its ban on beef consumption in 1869 following the Meiji Restoration's embrace of Western eating habits. Street vendors began selling a simplified, single-serving version over rice, and gyudon as we know it was born. Yoshinoya opened its first shop in Tokyo's Nihonbashi market in 1899, and the chain's 24-hour gyudon became the sustenance of late-night workers, students, and anyone needing a fast, filling, affordable meal. The key to great gyudon is the beef. It must be sliced thin — nearly paper-thin — so it cooks in seconds and drinks up the broth without becoming tough. Ribeye or chuck roll cut against the grain to less than 3mm thick is ideal. In Japanese supermarkets, pre-sliced shabu-shabu beef is sold specifically for this purpose. The broth's ratio of soy, mirin, sake, and dashi determines the dish's character: slightly sweet, deeply savory, and light enough to drink from the bowl when the beef is gone.
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