Dan Bites

Here’s my first attempt at making Gyu-don, Japanese simmered thinly sliced beef with onions on rice. It’s surprisingly simple to make, yet full of flavor and easy on the wallet.

The trick is to get the beef sliced as thin as deli meat. You can get it at Mitsuwa, but I’m not sure where else to get good quality meat in this fashion. I’m sure it’s available. I do know that it’s near impossible to get such even thin slices at home with a knife no matter how sharp it is.

So, take put a little oil in a medium-sized pot and cook some ginger and garlic for a minute or two. Then add an onion thinly sliced and sweat it for a few minutes. Add a couple cups of water, a quarter cup each of soy sauce and mirin, a few pinches of sugar and let it come to a simmer. Then add your beef and let it cook until the liquid is reduced by 3/4’s.

All you have to do then is put some white rice in a bowl and top it with some Gyu-don.

I served it with a simple corn soup garnished with Thai basil and a salad that Yuki made. She tossed some mixed greens, julienned carrots, celery, and cucumber (I left the cucumber out of mine, vile phalis!) in a homemade hijiki vinaigrette. All washed down with a cold beer.