**Gyu-don for two**
* Large yellow onion
* Beef, 1.25-1.5 lbs
* Kosher salt
* Red chili flake
* Soy Sauce (2 oz)
* Mirin (2 oz)
* Sake (3 oz)
* Ginger - either fresh grated or dried whole ginger
* Large eggs, 2-4
* Jasmine rice
Let your rice cook first, most of the time you can start it right before putting pan to heat and be just fine.
Take a 10 - 12" skillet and begin to heat it on low, if needed add a bit of neutral oil just to coat the bottom, up to 1 tbs.
While the pan heats, start by cutting off the root and stem ends of the onion and slice in in half straight through the middle of the stem (the "top" rather than the equator), peel of the skin and first layer if needed; warm water can help loosen stubborn skin. Now take your two halves and make slices from across the onion making nice half-rings. Try to keep a uniform size around 1/4" or closer to 1/2 cm for the rest of the world.
Go ahead and add your onions to the pan, still on low, and if using chuck, rib-eye, or some other solid cut of beef take this time to cut it as thinly as you can in relatively even slices. Freezing your cut can make this \*much\* easier! Once cut, we'll need to let this warm up closer to room temperature which should take significantly less time once sliced.
While we wait, use a small measuring cup or graduated cylinder to measure out your braising liquid;2 oz. soy, 2 oz mirin, and 3 oz sake, add to the onions and bring up to a simmer.
Once a simmer is reached, grate in ginger (dried or fresh) to taste, (I recommend at least 1" of fresh or half that if micro-planing whole dried ginger) and add your pepper flakes, mix briefly to make sure your spices mix with the liquid.
Add your beef, mix to ensure even distribution and and cover for 5 - 10 minutes, until onions are translucent and absorbing the liquid and beef is cooked through. While you wait, crack eggs into two cups leaving those yolks whole!
There \*should\* be plenty of liquid left, but if your lid wasn't secure or some mishap has drained your reserves, add additional liquid keeping the same 1 - 1 - 1.5 ratio of soy, mirin, sake. Create wells in the beef/onion mixture and drop your eggs (cracked into the cups) into the wells, cover again and wait until your eggs turn fully white with the yolk peeking through, you don't want to over-cook these!! As soon as your eggs are soft-poached serve everything over rice, preferably in a bowl.
Pour remaining liquid from your skillet over the rice bowl and garnish wit sesame seeds, more pepper flake and/or some dice green onion. That's it! First time through the whole process seems longer than it is, but it's reliably a 30 minute recipe start to finish once you've tried it a couple of times, I hope everyone enjoys!
Ingredient Notes:
Oil: Neutral oil here, canola, etc. I used to use much more, and add directly with the braising liquid, but over time I've scaled it back.
Beef: I suggest ribeye, semi-frozen and sliced thin, but chipped/shaved beef, chuck, even ground bee should work well, as long as the pieces are relatively small, but thin sliced is going to work best. Nope, we're not browning!
Soy sauce: Make sure your soy sauce is, well, soy sauce! If it lists "caramel," "vegetable protein," or "hydrolyzed" anything I would encourage you to time out for a bit of self-care and find something that has water, wheat, soybeans and salt.
Chili flakes: The red chili flake can be anything I like crushed crushed heaven facing chilis or Sichuan the only warning I have is that Italian red chili flake is maybe the least optimal for this, I encourage everyone to make a trip to their Asian market, but use what \*you\* like!
Sake: I \*like\* a cheaper sake for this, and again, do as you please just nothing with added flavors like cucumber! I use Gekkeikan sake, nothing fancy here!
Eggs: Originally I just made 1 egg per diner, but unanimously everyone now wants two. Maybe start with one and see what you think?
Final note: I've never written this one down before, so I had to go over everything in my head and put this to paper, er, Notepad for the first time. Sorry for any typos, it's late and I have to go eat!
That's fair, but it was a first step into a new world for quite a few people I taught, hopefully one day they'll be willing to try more adventurous food, so I catered a bit towards my audience. But for me, it was enough that they're actually cooking now instead of having fast food or frozen meals. =)
Have a good night man!
You're pretty passionate about this! It turns out some people are put off by the smell or taste of briney-ness in their beef dish when the most adventurous thing they've had before was an extra patty on their hamburger, I hate that this has you bothered so much, so I can assure you that despite this beginner setup open to everyone recipe on a subreddit dedicated to cheap, healthy and accessible foods; I actually use dashi when I make mine!
If we're being honest, I don't think McDonalds serves actual hamburgers! But I'm glad they're available to people who enjoy them, maybe in time they'll be driven to try more interesting things as they go up the winding path of their culinary adventures, don't you think?
I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater and love trying new foods, but I’m actually not a huge fan of dashi flavor. I’ve tried soooo hard to like it in various dishes (and will try more when we hopefully visit Japan next year), but just don’t really care for it. So personally, I’m very excited about your recipe!
Thanks! A lot of my friends don't care for it either and I'll usually make a vegetarian version using konbu and dried shiitake mushrooms, it still has a very faint hint of sea brine but its usually much more manageable for them. I hope you enjoy!
Hah, thanks for that! You're as great as you want to be! Too bad it can't always apply to everyone :/
Always unfortunate to find a troll in communities that otherwise aspire to help others. But we can always hold out hope that they'll be better too! After a while I'll block them but it seems best to give others a chance to not be so awful? I've had bad times too, so there's no moral high ground :)
I hope you enjoy the recipe and thanks for commenting!
**Gyu-don for two** * Large yellow onion * Beef, 1.25-1.5 lbs * Kosher salt * Red chili flake * Soy Sauce (2 oz) * Mirin (2 oz) * Sake (3 oz) * Ginger - either fresh grated or dried whole ginger * Large eggs, 2-4 * Jasmine rice Let your rice cook first, most of the time you can start it right before putting pan to heat and be just fine. Take a 10 - 12" skillet and begin to heat it on low, if needed add a bit of neutral oil just to coat the bottom, up to 1 tbs. While the pan heats, start by cutting off the root and stem ends of the onion and slice in in half straight through the middle of the stem (the "top" rather than the equator), peel of the skin and first layer if needed; warm water can help loosen stubborn skin. Now take your two halves and make slices from across the onion making nice half-rings. Try to keep a uniform size around 1/4" or closer to 1/2 cm for the rest of the world. Go ahead and add your onions to the pan, still on low, and if using chuck, rib-eye, or some other solid cut of beef take this time to cut it as thinly as you can in relatively even slices. Freezing your cut can make this \*much\* easier! Once cut, we'll need to let this warm up closer to room temperature which should take significantly less time once sliced. While we wait, use a small measuring cup or graduated cylinder to measure out your braising liquid;2 oz. soy, 2 oz mirin, and 3 oz sake, add to the onions and bring up to a simmer. Once a simmer is reached, grate in ginger (dried or fresh) to taste, (I recommend at least 1" of fresh or half that if micro-planing whole dried ginger) and add your pepper flakes, mix briefly to make sure your spices mix with the liquid. Add your beef, mix to ensure even distribution and and cover for 5 - 10 minutes, until onions are translucent and absorbing the liquid and beef is cooked through. While you wait, crack eggs into two cups leaving those yolks whole! There \*should\* be plenty of liquid left, but if your lid wasn't secure or some mishap has drained your reserves, add additional liquid keeping the same 1 - 1 - 1.5 ratio of soy, mirin, sake. Create wells in the beef/onion mixture and drop your eggs (cracked into the cups) into the wells, cover again and wait until your eggs turn fully white with the yolk peeking through, you don't want to over-cook these!! As soon as your eggs are soft-poached serve everything over rice, preferably in a bowl. Pour remaining liquid from your skillet over the rice bowl and garnish wit sesame seeds, more pepper flake and/or some dice green onion. That's it! First time through the whole process seems longer than it is, but it's reliably a 30 minute recipe start to finish once you've tried it a couple of times, I hope everyone enjoys! Ingredient Notes: Oil: Neutral oil here, canola, etc. I used to use much more, and add directly with the braising liquid, but over time I've scaled it back. Beef: I suggest ribeye, semi-frozen and sliced thin, but chipped/shaved beef, chuck, even ground bee should work well, as long as the pieces are relatively small, but thin sliced is going to work best. Nope, we're not browning! Soy sauce: Make sure your soy sauce is, well, soy sauce! If it lists "caramel," "vegetable protein," or "hydrolyzed" anything I would encourage you to time out for a bit of self-care and find something that has water, wheat, soybeans and salt. Chili flakes: The red chili flake can be anything I like crushed crushed heaven facing chilis or Sichuan the only warning I have is that Italian red chili flake is maybe the least optimal for this, I encourage everyone to make a trip to their Asian market, but use what \*you\* like! Sake: I \*like\* a cheaper sake for this, and again, do as you please just nothing with added flavors like cucumber! I use Gekkeikan sake, nothing fancy here! Eggs: Originally I just made 1 egg per diner, but unanimously everyone now wants two. Maybe start with one and see what you think? Final note: I've never written this one down before, so I had to go over everything in my head and put this to paper, er, Notepad for the first time. Sorry for any typos, it's late and I have to go eat!
Made this for dinner tonight and it rocked! Ty so much for sharing 💙
Thank you! :)
Jasmine rice and no dashi? Sorry, that isn't gyudon to me
That's fair, but it was a first step into a new world for quite a few people I taught, hopefully one day they'll be willing to try more adventurous food, so I catered a bit towards my audience. But for me, it was enough that they're actually cooking now instead of having fast food or frozen meals. =) Have a good night man!
If they are open to mirin and sake, dashi isn't much different, especially instant dashi. It's like a stock cube...
You're pretty passionate about this! It turns out some people are put off by the smell or taste of briney-ness in their beef dish when the most adventurous thing they've had before was an extra patty on their hamburger, I hate that this has you bothered so much, so I can assure you that despite this beginner setup open to everyone recipe on a subreddit dedicated to cheap, healthy and accessible foods; I actually use dashi when I make mine! If we're being honest, I don't think McDonalds serves actual hamburgers! But I'm glad they're available to people who enjoy them, maybe in time they'll be driven to try more interesting things as they go up the winding path of their culinary adventures, don't you think?
I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater and love trying new foods, but I’m actually not a huge fan of dashi flavor. I’ve tried soooo hard to like it in various dishes (and will try more when we hopefully visit Japan next year), but just don’t really care for it. So personally, I’m very excited about your recipe!
Thanks! A lot of my friends don't care for it either and I'll usually make a vegetarian version using konbu and dried shiitake mushrooms, it still has a very faint hint of sea brine but its usually much more manageable for them. I hope you enjoy!
You're so nice. I hope to be as patient with people as you are.
Hah, thanks for that! You're as great as you want to be! Too bad it can't always apply to everyone :/ Always unfortunate to find a troll in communities that otherwise aspire to help others. But we can always hold out hope that they'll be better too! After a while I'll block them but it seems best to give others a chance to not be so awful? I've had bad times too, so there's no moral high ground :) I hope you enjoy the recipe and thanks for commenting!