Trying to understand shabu shabu [Moved from LA]

[bite bite]

Have only tried it once at a restaurant around the NuArt. Enjoyed the hands-on aspect but taste-wise the meal was kind of of boring -- do-it-yourself-boiled meat-and-veg. Basically got a pot of boiling water with a bit of oil and maybe some scallions and a plate of meat and veg on the side to put in. A couple sauces on the side added a bit of flavor but not much. Sure the food was freshly boiled as I did it myself -- but is there more to it?

This is not a shabu-bashing post. The food obviously has a lot of fans so thinking there's something I'm missing. Just want to figure out what. Please help.

[bite bite]

Okay, thanks to the input on this post I was encouraged to try Shabu Shabu again and truly enjoyed. Thank you all for such thoughtful descriptions. I actually didn't do true Shabu as I opted for a seafood instead and it was very tastey. Some of it was shifting my thinking for looking for strong flavors -- and focussing instead on the freshness of the ingredients. The "broth" was still very water-like at least at the place I went to -- water with a piece of kelp-type beg in it. Regardless, the seafood was delicious this way -- but also had a whole new appreciation for the the humble cabbage. Also, I think this time around I was a lot more mindful of just giving the ingredients a quick dunk rather than leaving them to boil. Even if it's not authentic -- I also followed the suggestion of using the rice bowl to kind of soak up some of the broth between swishing and dunking in sauce and found it helpful in keeping the sauce from getting too watery.

I did have one quick question if anyone is still looking at this post: Are you supposed to do anything with the broth at the end? Looked very lovely and soupy by the end of the meal -- but we weren't given spoons and I didn't think to ask the server if this was standard practice or not...

[koreankorean]

When I eat shabu shabu at home, I usually put a little bit of udon noodles in the broth, sprinkle salt and pepper to taste and drink the broth. Of course you have to filter out the oil/grease part by using a ladle/spoon and scooping out the fat.

At certain Korean places, they will make you rice jook (congee) using the broth and additional ingredients (spices etc). It's really good and a lot of people say that's their favorite part of the meal.. =)

At Japanese places, the veggie plate includes the udon noodles and you're supposed to save them until the end and make udon. =)

[justagthing]

most shabu places that i go to offer noodles at the end as well to make your noodle soup with, usually offer a couple different types of noodles as well.

[Sam Fujisaka]

There shouldn't be any greasy part if lean meat (or seafood) was used. We just pour some of that over a bit more rice in th rice bowl, and drink/eat the result by raising bowl to mouth and using chopsticks to aid the process.

[Sam Fujisaka]

As mentioned, shabu-shabu uses a seasoned broth (plus kombu), not plain water. Meat is cooked by "splashing" (to make a "shabu shabu" sound) just until it turns a pale pink. Flavors are subtle; and shabu shabu may not be for everyone.

[koreankorean]

shabu shabu is my favorite food and I make this at home 3-4 times a month, except maybe in the summer time, sometimes even 2-3 times a week in the winter!

you really have to enjoy the subtle flavors of thinly sliced beef, and the quality of beef is of utmost importance. as much as i love shabu shabu, most of the restaurants that offer shabu shabu have horrible meat and that's why i prefer to make it at home, with the beef I bought from one specific place (I found that most Japanese markets also have awful shabu shabu meat, so you really have to look for the right market). Until you have the right beef, you will not be able to appreciate the taste of shabu shabu.

also, a lot of people like the peanut sauce but I find it too overwhelming, so I prefer ponzu sauce (soy sauce with lemon juice) with plenty of ground-up radish. a lot of restaurants give you only a tiny portion of the ground-up radish and do not fill up the sauce frequently. that's why this is such a terrific food to eat at home but so rarely done right at restaurants.

[bite bite]

Thanks for this additional clarification. Think the ponzu sauce direction makes sense.

[Midlife]

I was corrected on one of the sauces above in this topic. In case someone might be looking for the specifics, the one sauce is 'sesame'-based, not peanut. I always make the same error, since it's sortof sweet and looks like liquid peanut butter.

I agree that this dish is rarely done right at restaurants and better at home. Not because of the lack of radish, but because a trip to the Asian market makes it very easy and inexpensive to provide twice the variety of ingredients that you get normally.

[JudiAU]

I like my shabu shabu meat cooked very rare and when it is, I find it to be a very clean expression of meat-i-ness. The beef flavor comes through very purely, almost the way sashimi transforms fish. It feels light and is very easy to digest. It is almost the opposite of big braised dish.

[pikawicca]

We love shabu shabu in our house, and I fix it frequently during cold weather. Good dipping sauces are the key, as is not over-cooking the food. Make sure to serve up the broth in soup bowls when you're finished cooking -- it's delicious!

[Humbucker]

Shabu shabu and kebabs are two foods that I find incredibly boring and try to avoid when eating out. I love Chinese hot pots where there is a spicy broth that the food is cooked in, but I can boil meat and veggies in plain water any time I want at home for very little money. Similarly, kebabs are usually just relatively plain meat on a stick with a side of rice. Steaks I can understand because there's something more about a huge bloody piece of meat.

[bite bite]

Never had a Chinese Hot Pot. Do these involve cooking your food as you go as well?

[Midlife]

The Hot Pots I've had vary but are essentially similar in that they involve cooking the ingredients in the broth. I've had some that feature some of the most obscure internal organs/parts of animals (usually those that have no flavor of their own) such as intestine, stomach, lung....... things not everyone would handle).

I was once taken to a Hot Pot restaurant in Taipei and the joke on me was that the broth was incredibly firey hot and the organs were all lying there (many jiggling) on the plate, to be cooked in the dark red pot. I was dealing with it as best I could when the hosts begn laughing and had the staff bring out a much more 'normal' alternative for me.

[bite bite]

I have always considered myself pretty adventurous food-wise until I read this post. Intestines. Wow.

[SomeRandomIdiot]

Internal organs seem pretty common for Chinese hot pots. At home I usually have tripe, liver (pig and beef), pancreas, stomach, along with the sliced beef, pork, meatballs( the tendon-y ones, the plain ones), fishballs, sliced fish, shrimp, geoduck, veggies, noodles, tofu cubes.

[bite bite]

Thank you for your inspiring posts. Am encouraged to try again with a more on-point mind-set and a better knowledge of how to eat.

[Midlife]

In defense of one of my favorite dishes......

Most Asian cuisines seem to have a dish similar to shabu-shabu. I've had Mongolian HotPot in Taiwan (nothing remotely flavorless about that one), and another version in Indonesia. In Japan there are a several versions of shabu shabu and a rather wide variety of ingredients. I've had an incredible seafood version, in Osaka, that I will never forget. It's possible that seafood is a better candidate for boiling than meat. A trick with the meat, though, is to keep it in the broth for just a very short time so that it doesn't toughen up (medium rare is best, I think).

The broth IS key. As said, the standard base is kombu, but I've had it with other, more flavorful bases too. I'll ususally flavor it with a beef soup base that isn't as salty as bullion cubes. The sauces I saw almost always in Japan were the ponzu-dark type and a peanut-flavored sauce that is really tasty. A third dipping sauce served in Japan is a beaten raw egg - some may not think it's safe, but I can tell you it's really good. A personal rice bowl is the best way to 'stage' the helpings betwen the pot and mouth - the rice absorbs the drippings and gets really flavorful as well. [Getting the idea that I like this stuff?]

On one trip to Japan I bought a shabu shabu pot and found a table top butane casette burner at an Asian market at home. Every few months I go crazy at the Irvine 99 Ranch Market and pig out on this stuff. I use napa cabbage, green onions, shitakes, inoki mushrooms, bamboo shoots, baby bok choy, sweet potato, silver noodles and/or udon noodles, thin-sliced beef or lamb, sometimes fish cakes (the white one with the pink edge). Shrimp is another alternate. All three sauces are a must, though some guests pass on the egg.

LOVE THIS STUFF!!!!!! This weekend sounds perfect for a shabu shabu fix.

[E Eto]

Shabu shabu is a specific type of hot pot dish (or nabemono) that uses thin slices of beef. If you use other ingredients, there are different names for them: chicken=mizutaki, seafood=yosenabe, tofu=yudofu, monkfish=ankonabe, oysters=kakinabe, etc. And you are correct that the beef should be cooked minimally. In the case of shabu shabu, it's somewhat customary to swish the beef in the broth long enough to say "shabu-shabu-shabu" (4-8 seconds?), then it's done. It's more rare than medium-rare, and exactly the way I like it. The better the meat, the less you should cook it (try Kagaya in Little Tokyo in LA, if you haven't been). Usually you start with the beef and then move on to the vegetables after the broth picks up some flavors from the beef. Also, with shabu-shabu, there are either ponzu, or goma-dare, which is a sesame sauce, not peanuts. Maybe there's a peanut sauce in Chinese-run shabu joints, but it's not something served in Japanese style places.

There's another type of nabemono called sukiyaki, which is flavored with soy sauce and sugar (and/or sake depending on the style of sukiyaki, kanto or kansai). Raw egg is used for dipping for sukiyaki. I've never seen egg used for dipping with shabu shabu though. Also, I'm all for enjoying shabu shabu any way you can, but it's not customary to use your rice bowl for transfering from the nabe. You use a small serving bowl. Also, because rice or noodles is expected at the end of the meal, most Japanese people tend not to have rice with their nabemono. Although I must have rice when I have sukiyaki, but I think that falls outside the realm of standard broth-based nabemono dishes.

And for the original poster, I would suggest trying other types of Japanese hotpot dishes (nabemono) to see if you like them or not. Shabu shabu is just one type. But it is a subtle dish, which relies on the the pure flavors of the ingredients; thus the better the quality of ingredients, the better the results.

[Midlife]

Thanks for the clarification. Much more of the experiences are coming back with your description.

The sauce IS, of course, sesame (the color always make me think of peanuts). Now that you point it out, I can't be sure that the raw egg wasn't served with some version I had, but I'm sure you're right about that as well. I sometimes use it with shabu shabu (for the beef) and enjoy it that way. I've obviously personalized the experience. I don't think my former Japanese hosts would mind. Question though: are these specifics regimented to the traditional way in Japan, or can it be similar to whether you like mustard of ketchup on a hot dog?

[bite bite]

Thank you for the education. Am inspired to try again. Sukiyaki sounds intriguing as well. Putting Kagaya on my to-try list.

[juster]

What does the egg contribute? Is it a flavor thing, or does the texture change when it hits the hot meat, or...?

[bitsubeats]

flavor! raw egg tastes yummy

[Sam Fujisaka]

Very Japanese.

[justagthing]

Korean and Chinese too! I like a raw yolk on my piping fresh hot rice (chinese) yummy!

[bitsubeats]

yep, raw egg and natto or raw egg on bi bim bap or just raw egg on hot rice

[pikawicca]

For your guests who are squeamish about consuming raw eggs, pasteurized eggs (in the shell) are now widely available and completely safe to eat raw.

[whs]

I think this is a cold weather thing--like pot-au-feu or a boiled New England dinner. The meats and vegetables infuse the broth with flavor, and the condiments (for shabu shabu: ponzu sauce; for pot-au-feu: mustard) enhance the poached items. At the end of a shabu shabu meal, noodles are added to the broth and eaten like a ramen/udon. If you're looking for big bang flavors, (and living in LA, you've got Mex, Thai, etc), the subtlety of this kind of dish might be lost.

[leanneabe]

I look at shabu shabu like a Japanese fondue. You're supposed to get a pot of water with kombu (type of seaweed) so it makes a light broth to swish your meats around in it, not just water. It's a little healthier than grilling since there are no oils to keep the meat from sticking to the grill.

I don't know... if you break it down it does sound pretty boring, but we enjoy it. I like the noodles that go in the broth, the sauces to dip the meat into, and the variety of veggies you get. It's also a slower process so you end up eating less that you would with, maybe, Korean BBQ where it feels like there's always something that needs to be put in your mouth.

[Nicole]

My husband and I feel exactly the same way...we just don't get it. Unlike many other cooking methods, boiling seems to take flavor away from meat, rather than adding flavor (that's why you boil meat to make broths--the flavor goes in the water). For the hands-on aspect, I would rather have a little grill.

[PeterL]

You don't boil the meat, you cook it until it's just done. The freshness of the ingredient provides the flavor. I think most of our taste has been ruined by spicy and heavy sauces.

If you like grill, try the Korean version.