Gyudon

HOT MEAT OVER RICE. Simple and awesome.

Gyudon = "gyu donburi." "Gyu" means "beef," and "donburi" means "delicious hot stuff on rice." Simple!

Quite a bit lighter and more suitable for warmer weather than its cousin oyakodon. (chicken and eggs)

For two servings you will need:

Beef, not ground, about six to ten ounces depending on how much of a carnivore you are. I used one of the cute $4 tenderloin filets they have at Kroger. Heavier or meatier eaters might want a little more than that. Cheap cuts--flank steak, skirt steak, chuck, whatever--are OK. I'm sure what I did was a little like dipping black truffles in beer batter, deep-frying them in a Fry Daddy full of Wesson oil, and serving them up with ranch dressing right out of the bottle. Don't do like I do and use filets or sirloins or whatever unless they happen to be dirt cheap. But if you do use a filet that comes with bacon on it, you can throw the bacon in too.
Soy sauce or tamari
Mirin (Kikkoman is fine)
Garlic, a clove or two, minced
Onion, a good handful, sliced as thin as you possibly can
Beef broth (or water and beef soup base)
Worcestershire sauce
Hot rice
Green onion for garnish

Get a wok good and hot and drizzle in just a wee bit of sesame oil or other oil of your choice. Throw your slab of meat in and sear it on both sides. If you're using a bacon-wrapped filet, leave the bacon on for now.You're not actually wanting to cook the meat done now. Just get it good and brown on both sides--and, more importantly, get some good meaty juicy goodness into your wok.

Remove the meat and set it aside for a minute. To the meatgoop in the wok, add a cup or so of water or beef broth. Stir up all the meat juice and little browned bits into the broth, and add a couple teaspoons of soy sauce/tamari and a splash of mirin.

If you are using a bacon-wrapped filet, remove your bacon now. Slice your seared-but-still-rare meat into thin strips. Put it in a Baggie with soy sauce/tamari, mirin, Worcestershire sauce, and a little bit of the minced garlic. Put it in the fridge. If you have a piece of bacon, put it in the microwave for a bit if you want to crisp it up first. Otherwise, just chop it up and throw it right into the broth in the wok.

Start your rice cooker, if you haven't already.

Add your sliced onion and the rest of the garlic to the broth in the wok. Bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat and let it simmer while the rice cooks. Ideally, when the dish is done, your onions will have no crunch at all left.

When the rice cooker pops or beeps or does whatever it does to tell you it's done (or in about fifteen minutes, whichever comes first), take your seared and now marinated meat out of the fridge. Plop it into your simmering broth. Let it cook to whatever state you consider "done."

Scoop a serving of hot rice into a bowl. Fish half the meat out of the broth and put it on the rice. If you want a thicker sauce, add a little cornstarch/water mixture to the broth. Otherwise, just spoon as much as you want into your bowl of rice and meat. Sprinkle a little green onion on top for garnish and EAT.

Like most stew-like dishes (including donburi), it's even better the next day. Make a two-serving batch, eat half for dinner, and pack the other half for tomorrow's lunch. IT IS AWESOME.

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