The “godfather of shabu shabu” is the former owner of “Eirakucho Suehiro Honten”, a restaurant in Osaka. Beef steak was the star dish on the menu, but two years were spent making meat dishes with a lighter flavor than steak and allowing guests to consume good quality protein more effectively. In 1952, Suehiro, a restaurant in Osaka (which still exists today), officially changed the name from mizudaki to shabu shabu, since this was the house specialty. The name is reproduced in the sounds that occur when meat is agitated in the broth while cooking quickly.
Shabu shabu literally translates to swish swish. Shabu shabu is a popular hot dish from Japan that consists of thinly sliced meat and bite-sized vegetables cooked in hot, steaming broth. Eating in hot pots has been popular in Japan for thousands of years, ever since the first use of clay pottery, but shabu shabu itself first originated in the mid-20th century. The main difference between shabu shabu and other types of Japanese hot pots is that, instead of simmering all ingredients before serving, shabu shabu is cooked bite by bite throughout the meal, similar to fondue.
The photo of Pixtashabu-shabu is a Japanese stew dish that is said to have originated in Chinese stew cuisine. The current form of shabu-shabu in Japan was developed in 1952 at Eiraku-cho Suehiro Honten, a restaurant in Osaka. Suehiro's then-president introduced sukiyaki because it wasn't possible to sell yakiniku (grilled meat) during the summer, and shabu-shabu, which is often considered a winter dish, is actually a typical summer dish. Shabu shabu is the perfect meal to enjoy a wide variety of vegetables, and vegan and vegetarian diners can even choose to forgo meat and opt for an entirely plant-based meal.
The dish gets its name from the Japanese onomatopoeia “shabu shabu”, which means “swish swish”, which describes the slight movement of meat in the broth over low heat. The column-shaped protrusion in the center of the special shabu-shabu pots is a remnant of a feature originally used to place charcoal to heat the pot. Shabu shabu can be prepared with all kinds of ingredients, which vary depending on the region in which you are located. Vegetables are mostly simmered in shabu-shabu recipes, but some vegetables, such as daikon radishes, carrots and lettuce, are delicious when treated like meat and mixed quickly in the pot.
Most commonly, meat (beef, pork or chicken) is used for shabu-shabu, but recently there have also been increasing variations with vegetables or fish. The ancestor of Shoya YOSHIDA's shabu-shabu, gyuniku no susugi nabe, is served at the Takumi Kappo restaurant in the city of Tottori. Halal Wagyu Shabushabu Nagomi is a shabu-shabu restaurant in Asakusa that offers several dishes of Japanese meat varieties, as well as shabu-shabu with vegetables only. Shabu-shabu is a lot like the original Chinese version compared to other Japanese dishes (nabemono), such as sukiyaki.
Hot vegetables Shabu-shabu Shibuya 1st store 1-22-9 Jinnan, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0041 Sunkus Building B2F.
