Japanese Food Tips

Shabu-shabu and sukiyaki are not only representative Japanese one-pot dishes, but also representative of Japanese beef dishes. The beef used in the dishes is sliced in a certain way. It seems to be unusual to find sliced meat sold worldwide. However, it is normally sold in Japanese supermarkets and butchers. Also, the thickness of meat used for shabu-shabu and sukiyaki is slightly different. This shows how methodical Japanese are. Although it seems that there is no strict definition, the thickness for shabu-shabu is usually less than 2.0 mm, while the thickness for sukiyaki is usually between about 1.8 and 2.5 mm. Why is the thickness of the meat different? Shabu-shabu and sukiyaki have different cooking methods. In the case of shabu-shabu, because the sliced meat is dipped into the boiling broth and taken out quickly, the meat must be done at once. Therefore, it must be thin. In the case of sukiyaki, because the meat is sauteed or boiled, it is almost always thicker than the meat used in shabu-shabu. Please check out our shabu-shabu and sukiyaki recipes if you like. If you have the opportunity to eat shabu-shabu or sukiyaki, it might be fun to compare the thickness of the meat. However, there are restaurants that offer the same thickness, so in that case it would be difficult.