That is GORGEOUS! I’ve been wanting to try, then make, that dish for quite some time now, but never managed either. How did you find the preparation?
Pretty simple actually. I am fortunate enough to have three different Japanese markets all within two miles of me. So weird right? (Not to mention Korean and Chinese markets) So getting very specific ingredients is no problem. However without that, it is still very simple to make. Although the most difficult ingredients to come by are the toppings if you don’t have a Japanese market near you. You really want tonkotsu or okonomi sauce and kewpie on top to get the signature taste. (If you’ve had Okonomiyaki on the teppan in Osaka, it is still better that way)
For the base prep all it takes it a lot of shredded cabbage, some flour, egg, and a some water if you want to go minimalist. Normally instead of water you would use a dashi which is a Japanese staple home cooking broth that is made separately, but you don’t need it.
Mix everything up, add your meat (the staple being bork belly) and throw it on the stove-top for 5 minutes. Flip. Ditto. Done. Add toppings. Maybe took me about an hour start to finish. Most of it felt like cutting cabbage. That is the real work for this dish.
So in reality I actually wanted to make it as soon as I found out how simple it was. And I did.
Very very cool! Yeah, I have most or all of that already, and have made daishi from scratch for miso before, so that’s not even an issue. Still got the package of kombu! I may well give it a shot the next time I do Japanese cuisine for myself and the gf :)
So I’ve done his recipe and Kenji’s from Serious Eats, the latter much more recently. I came away unimpressed. I think his ratios of bacon-to-meat-to-onions are way off, if nothing else; it was super salty and oniony when I made it both times, despite reducing the bacon, salt, and onion noticeably the second time around.
If you like the rotisserie-spun “meatloaf”-style of Americanized Greek joints (as compared to the “pile o meat” style popular in Greece itself and many other mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures), this isn’t a bad start, though. Not exactly the same, but unless you’ve got a rotisserie spit at home (and trust me, I’ve looked; decent ones are like $800 at the local restaurant supply joint and the size of a fuckin horse), it’s about as close as you’re getting.
I’d add some breadcrumbs to tighten up the texture a little, keep an eye on salt and veggies in the mix, and make sure to food process it really well to get that very smooth grain like shown in your picture. The chop-blend-shape-bake-slice-broil cooking process is a huge fucking chore, though. I’m really not sure that it’s worth it when you can just pay someone to make it for you.
And that’s coming from a guy who from-scratch makes like 5lbs of biryani for Xmas every year.
Yeah it’s just weird. In going on 10 years of being into this whole cooking thing I think gyros are the first dish I’ve run into and wanted to make that I wasn’t able to successfully at home. I’ve made all sorts of complicated dishes, crazy doughs, etc. This is just some slices of meat on some pita bread and it’s friggin’ impossible. THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE.
CraigM
4447
Yeah, gyros are something I love to eat, but at this point it has become synonymous with the Kronos style manufacture that trying to make some at home would be foolish. It’s like trying to make your own sausage or something. Sure you could, but the effort to ‘improvement over store bought pre made’ is so skewed to make it pointless. I’d rather spend the effort elsewhere. And, besides, half the magic is in the cucumber sauce.
I mean, at heart, it’s a meatloaf. Kenji and Alton have grasped that. The precise makeup of said meeatloaf is gonna vary by restaurant and regional subculture, so I can allow that their recipes just don’t hit the same spice/meat blend that my favorite local joints do. But I think it’s a dish where cooking implement really matters. Being able to carve down long vertical slices as the outside continuously gets crisped up by high-powered, fairly direct heat is just vital to the formula.
Maybe if you do it like they do in New York, where they slice the meat off and throw it on a griddle and sizzle it for a little bit to get that maillard going on.
You can make an adequate katsu sauce substitute by mixing ketchup and Worcestershire.
Timex
4452
What makes kewpie mayonnaise special?
nKoan
4453
its got some extra spices in it. It’s a little thinner, a little tangier and a little sweeter.
I usually sub mayo with a little bit of rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar and water (if needed) to thin it out a little. It’s not the same but it’s close enough for me.
Traditional store bought stuff has hon dashi (Japanese fish stock) and MSG in it for an extra kick of umami.
nKoan
4456
Hmmm… kinda but not quite the same. The MSG and hon dashi add a lot too, which makes it more palatable than Miracle Whip.
Also miracle whip is lowfat chemically synthesized demi mayonnaise, and therefore terrible
Timex
4458
I agree. It wasn’t making me want to try the kewpie stuff.
Kewpie is good. The spicy mayo they slather on everything at most decent sushi joints will be made w/ Kewpie.
Basically anything that’s been made “diet” or “lowfat” or “nonfat” is not real food and should never be used.
And the worst part is that with a lot of those foods, they add more carbs to try and make it taste less than awful. Excess carbs in the diet get converted into fat. Carbohydrates are the real evil, not fats.
