Sukiyaki is one of special meal for Japanese.
We eat this meal in a special occasion or to celebrate something.
There are big differences in ways to prepare sukiyaki between
Kansai(Western)and Kanto(Eastern)styles.
In the Kansai-style,we heat beef lard in a pot first,and start adding
beef,onions as if to pan fry and season with brown sugar and soy sauce.
Then add other vegetables and fried tofu.
The ingredients requiring longer time to be cooked are placed first,
and when it starts simmering,add sake or kombu dashi to adjust the
seasoning.
On the other hand,theKanto-style is characterized by preparing
sweet and salty seasoning sauce,called warishita mixed of
soy sauce,mirin,sake,and sugar,to simmer meats and vegetables
together in a pot.
Usually we cook beef sukiyaki,but also chicken sukiyaki
is really nice.
I cook chicken with bamboo shoots(spring) or matsutake
mushroom(autumn) in season.
Last weekend, we invited our friends and prepared
a delicious "sukiyaki of bamboo shoots and chicken".
I boiled fresh bamboo shoots one day before.
We had a great time together.
