Monday I made the Gyudon recipe from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. This is another dish in the rice bowl section, but with beef instead of the chicken as in oyakodon.

The only ingredient that was new, but also I was unsuccessful in finding, was beni-shoga. Kenji describes it as “bright red pickled hot ginger.” Wikipedia specifies that it is “ginger pickled in umezu (梅酢), the vinegary pickling solution used to make umeboshi.” We’ve tried umeboshi before as a filling in onigiri. It is very sour, in a way that I found makes more than a small piece too much, but a few minutes later my mouth is watering and I think “just one more piece.” It was too unusual for the rest of the family so I haven’t gotten it again. Regardless, my local Asian grocer didn’t have beni-shoga, and I didn’t make the trek to the Buford Highway Farmer’s Market to look. I used some sushi ginger I had in the fridge instead.

The dish comes together a lot like oyakodon: the meat is simmered with onions in dashi seasoned with soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar. Instead of drizzling in lightly beaten eggs, Kenji calls for topping with a poached egg. Though, he notes that you can do fried eggs or the egg drizzle if you like. I may drizzle the eggs next time just to save from using another pot. The meat and sauce then tops a bowl of rice, along with scallions, beni-shoga (if you can find it), and togarashi.

My wife and I both agreed that this was tastier than last week’s oyakodon, but I still seemed to enjoy it more. These past few recipes (tamago-kake gohan, oyakodon, gyudon) might end up being dishes I cook on the rare evenings I’m home alone for dinner. They're pretty quick and easy and everyone else would prefer something else anyways.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.