is a dish popular in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

as a Western-style dish or '' yōshoku''. It usually contains

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

s, and button mushrooms, in a thick

demi-glace Demi-glace (, 'half glaze') is a rich brown sauce in French cuisine used by itself or as a base for other sauces. The term comes from the French word ''glace'', which, when used in reference to a sauce, means "icing" or "glaze." It is traditio ...

sauce which often contains

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties. The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple gr ...

and

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are ...

. This sauce is served atop or alongside steamed

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

. The sauce is sometimes topped with a drizzle of fresh

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

. Recipe variants sometimes include

soy sauce Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or '' As ...

and

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and in ...

. The dish originates from the former mining town of Ikuno,

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

, Japan. There was a French engineer who worked for the mine in 1868 and improved it. ''Hayashi'' rice demonstrates a Western influence with the use of demi-glace and often red wine, but is unknown in Western countries. In fact, it contains ingredients popular in Japan: slices of beef (Hyōgo Prefecture is also famous for its Kobe beef), rice and demi-glace sauce (among others). It can be compared to another popular dish, the Japanese-style hamburger steak with demi-glace sauce. Another variation is the ''omuhayashi'', a combination of ''

omurice Omurice or is a Japanese dishOmuraisu (also known ...

'' and ''hayashi'' rice. It also resembles a Japanese curry and usually appears on menus alongside curry. There is some debate regarding the origin of the name of this dish: * One belief is that the name was given by , the first president of publishing company . * Another theory is that the name was produced by a cook named Hayashi who often served this dish for staff meals at the restaurant. * Perhaps the most common explanation is that the name (ハヤシ; "''hayashi''"; "hashed") is simply derived from the English phrase "

hashed beef Hash is a culinary dish consisting of chopped meat, potatoes, and fried onions. The name is derived from , meaning "to chop". It originated as a way to use up leftovers. In the U.S. by the 1860s, a cheap restaurant was called a "hash house" o ...

". ''Hayashi'' rice is one of Japan's most popular Western-style dishes. Thanks to the widespread availability of ''hayashi'' rice mix (normally sold as

roux Roux () is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and c ...

blocks) and prepared demiglace sauce (normally canned) at Japanese supermarkets, this dish is common household fare. Like Japanese curry, it is usually eaten with a spoon. ''Hayashi'' rice was an important dish in mystery writer

Keigo Higashino is a Japanese author chiefly known for his mystery novels. He served as the 13th President of Mystery Writers of Japan from 2009 to 2013. Higashino has won major Japanese awards for his books, almost twenty of which have been turned into films a ...

's novel ''

Ryūsei no Kizuna is a detective novel by Keigo Higashino. It was serialized in Weekly Gendai from 16 September 2006 to 15 September 2007 and was published into one ''tankōbon'' volume by Kodansha on 5 March 2008. The novel was published in paperback format by ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayashi Rice Beef dishes Japanese rice dishes Japanese fusion cuisine Japanese beef dishes

See also

References