Jingisukan (ジンギスカン, Hokkaido lamb grill)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Domed iron Jingisukan nabe (ジンギスカン鍋, grill pan), or a ridged cast-iron grill pan
• •Portable tabletop gas burner, or a steady charcoal grill
• •Long cooking chopsticks or slim tongs
• •Small saucepan for the tare

Instructions

1. 1

   Slice the lamb

   If your lamb is not already sliced, set it in the freezer for 25 to 30 minutes, just until firm at the edges but not hard. Slice across the grain 2 to 3 mm thick. Thin slices are the tenderness here: the meat browns before the muscle fibers tighten, and each piece takes the tare without becoming salty all the way through.

   Ask the butcher for shabu-shabu thickness if you can. That phrase gets you close to the right cut.
2. 2

   Make the tare

   In a small saucepan, bring the sake, mirin, and sugar to a lively simmer for 1 minute, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Take it off the heat and cool until just warm, then stir in the shōyu, grated apple, grated onion, ginger, garlic, and sesame oil. Cooking off the sharp alcohol keeps the sauce round; adding the apple and onion after cooling keeps their fresh sweetness clear.

3. 3

   Marinate briefly

   Set aside 1/4 cup of tare in a clean bowl for serving. Toss the lamb with the remaining tare and marinate 30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator. Longer is not better here; soy tightens the surface and the grated fruit starts to dull the cut. You want seasoned lamb, not cured lamb.

   The reserved tare must never touch raw meat. If you need more sauce later, boil used marinade hard for 2 minutes before it goes near the table.
4. 4

   Prepare vegetables

   Slice the onions into thick crescents, cut the kabocha into thin wedges, trim the shiitake, and cut the pepper into wide strips. Pat the bean sprouts dry. Kabocha needs a thin cut because it takes longer than the other vegetables, and dry surfaces brown cleanly instead of flooding the pan.

5. 5

   Heat the pan

   Set a domed iron Jingisukan nabe over medium-high heat on a portable burner, or heat a ridged cast-iron grill pan. Brush the surface with a thin film of oil. It is ready when a piece of onion sizzles at once and leaves a pale mark after a minute. The pan must be hot before the lamb arrives, because warm iron makes the sauce leak out before the meat browns.

   The crown is for meat and the lower rim is for vegetables. The shape is doing work, not showing off.
6. 6

   Start the vegetables

   Lay the onions, kabocha, pepper, and shiitake around the lower slope of the pan, keeping the crown clear. Let the kabocha cut faces touch the iron. After 2 minutes, add the bean sprouts in three loose mounds. The vegetables belong below because lamb fat and tare run down and season them; if they sit on the crown, they scorch before they soften.

7. 7

   Grill the lamb

   Shake excess tare from the lamb and lay the slices over the crown in a single layer. Grill 30 to 45 seconds on the first side, then turn and cook another 20 to 30 seconds, until the edges are browned and the center has no raw shine. Don't press the meat. Pressing squeezes out the juice and gives you a dry slice with a proud grill mark, which is not a bargain.

   Cook in small batches. Crowding turns the grill wet, and then everyone is politely chewing boiled lamb.
8. 8

   Serve in batches

   Move cooked lamb onto the vegetables or straight to each person's rice bowl, and dip lightly in the reserved tare if you like. Keep adding lamb in small batches and refresh the vegetables around the rim as they soften. At the end, toss the last vegetables through the glossy juices gathered below and serve them over rice. They have done the quiet work of catching everything.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for lamb shoulder or leg sliced 2 to 3 mm thick. The cut is as important as the tare, because thin lamb browns quickly and stays tender.
• •Mutton is closer to the older Hokkaido table, lamb is gentler and easier to find. Both are honmono if the meat is fresh and clean-smelling. If it smells sour or tired, change the dish. Nothing hidden.
• •The dome is not decoration. It browns the meat up top and feeds the vegetables below. A cast-iron grill pan works at home, but keep meat in the center and vegetables around the edges.
• •Marinate briefly. Thirty minutes gives flavor; overnight makes the slices salty and soft at the edges. A thin cut listens quickly.
• •Set out rice before you light the burner. Jingisukan is eaten as it cooks, and waiting politely for rice while lamb cools is a small tragedy with no literary merit.

Advance Preparation

• •The tare can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept refrigerated. Stir it before using because the grated apple and onion settle.
• •The lamb can be sliced earlier the same day and kept covered in the refrigerator. Marinate it 30 to 60 minutes before cooking, not overnight.
• •The vegetables can be cut 4 hours ahead. Keep bean sprouts wrapped in a towel so they go onto the pan dry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 565g)