Beef Hot Pot

Inspired by Ivan Orkin - New York, NY

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Hot Pot is a dish I only recently discovered in Asian cuisine but it could just as easily be a number of things I already know quite well. Grab some vegetables, noodles, and meat and stir everything together in a delicious broth. Sound familiar? The kicker here is a combination I’ve come to crave from Ivan Orkin’s book: soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar. Put those together and there’s nothing quite like it.

Parts of this recipe were adapted by Ivan Orkin’s recipe for “Beef Hot Pot (Sukiyaki)” in his cookbook, “The Gaijin Cookbook”. Ivan also own a ramen shop in New York City called Ivan Ramen. In my opinion, it’s the best ramen in the city.

INGREDIENTS

BEEF HOT POT (Serves 4 to 6):

  • ½ cup soy sauce

  • ½ cup sake

  • ½ cup mirin

  • ¼ cup sugar

  • ¼ cup hot chili oil (optional)

  • 3 TBS canola oil

  • 1 bunch of green onions, chopped into 2-inch piecs

  • 8 oz napa cabbage, chopped into 2 inch strips

  • 5 oz (1 package) enoki mushrooms

  • 14 oz extra firm tofu, drained and cut into 1 inch cubes

  • 12 oz fresh ramen noodles

  • 1 ½ lbs thinly sliced beef

  • 5 oz dandelion greens

  • Egg yoke (for serving - optional)

GO FOR IT

BEEF HOT POT:

  1. In a bowl, whisk together 2 ¼ cups water with the soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and chili oil (if using), then set aside

  2. Heat 3 TBS of oil in a dutch oven, large pot (or hot pot if you have one)over medium-high heat

  3. Add green onions and tofu sauté until onions are soft and tofu begins to brown (about 3 minutes)

  4. Add cabbage, mushrooms, and noodles, then top with soy sauce mix

  5. Bring to a simmer, then cover pot and cook for 10 minutes

  6. After 10 minutes, add in your dandelion greens and stir until wilted (might take a couple minutes)

  7. Add in beef and stir around and allow to cook til ready (if you sliced thin, it shouldn’t be more than a few minutes)

  8. In a bowl, add a egg yoke before pouring hot pot on top, then serve hot

NOTES:

This is quite simple as you can see so don’t feel limited to these ingredients. If you can’t find enoki mushrooms, try something much easier to find like shiitake or oyster. Or add different vegetables altogether.

I love this without the chili oil but added it because I was craving a kick of heat. That’s why I made it optional. Also, if you don’t have either sake or mirin you can sub them out of each other since mirin is essentially a sweet cooking sake. However, without it, you will not get the flavor profile that makes this so delicious.

Fresh ramen is far superior to that packaged stuff and not too difficult to find. However, one thing that happened to me is that after letting leftovers sit, the noodles soaked up all the liquid and so the next day I no longer had a stew. That didn’t make them any less incredible but I am just letting you know this dish is traditionally served fresh and finished immediately If you want to save some I would suggest adding in the noodles individually to your bowls or using a different noodle (Ivan Orkin also suggests shirataki noodles).