Jingisukan Recipe: Hokkaido Genghis Khan Lamb BBQ
Cuisine: Japanese
Region: 北海道
Servings: 4人分
Jingisukan Recipe: Hokkaido Genghis Khan Lamb BBQ is a home-style meat dish. Ingredients and step-by-step instructions are below, with notes for home cooking.
Ingredients
- Lamb (thinly sliced shoulder) 500 g
- Onion 1
- Bean sprouts 200 g
- Green bell peppers 2
- Kabocha squash 150 g
- Japanese eggplants 2
- Corn on the cob 1 ear
- Beef suet (or lard) 1 piece (1 tbsp)
- Sauce: soy sauce 4 tbsp
- Sauce: sake 2 tbsp
- Sauce: rice vinegar 1 tbsp
- Sauce: sugar 2 tsp
- Sauce: apple, grated 1/2
- Sauce: garlic, grated 1 clove
- Sauce: ginger, grated 20 g
- Sauce: toasted white sesame seeds 1 tbsp
- Sauce: ichimi chili pepper a pinch
Steps
- Sauce: bring the soy sauce, sake, vinegar and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan, turn off the heat and add the apple, garlic and ginger. Once cool, stir in the sesame seeds and chili pepper. Letting it rest for about half a day mellows the flavor.
- Cut the onion into 1 cm rounds, the bell peppers lengthwise into quarters, the kabocha into 7 mm wedges and the eggplants into 1 cm diagonal slices. Cut the corn into 3 cm rounds. Picking off the stringy tails of the bean sprouts gives them a nicer texture.
- Take the lamb out of the fridge and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
- Heat a jingisukan grill pan (or a hot plate or frying pan) over medium heat, place the suet on the raised center and rub the fat over the whole surface.
- Arrange the vegetables in a ring around the edge and spread the lamb over the center to grill. The fat and juices dripping from the meat run down into the vegetables around it.
- The lamb is ready when it changes color and the edges curl slightly. It toughens if overcooked, so dip pieces in the sauce and eat them as soon as they are done. Dip the vegetables as they soften, too.
- Once the meat is gone, try stir-frying the leftover bean sprouts in the pan with a little of the sauce.
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Notes
Besides the "atozuke" style of dipping the grilled meat in sauce, there is the "ajitsuke" style, where the meat is marinated in the sauce for 30 minutes to overnight and then grilled with the vegetables. If you marinate, double the amount of sauce.
Lamb (under one year old) is tender and mild, while mutton (two years or older) has a stronger aroma and deeper flavor. If it's your first time, start with lamb.
No jingisukan pan? Grill the meat in the center of a hot plate with the vegetables around it for the same experience.
To finish, Hokkaido families often pan-fry udon noodles in the leftover sauce and meat juices.
Origin and history
Jingisukan, named after Genghis Khan, is one of Hokkaido's signature local dishes: lamb grilled with vegetables on a distinctive dome-shaped iron pan. The meat juices run down the grooves of the pan into the vegetables around the edge, soaking them with flavor.
Hokkaido's taste for lamb and mutton dates back to the Taisho era (1912 to 1926). When World War I made wool imports difficult, Japan launched a national push to raise sheep. After World War II, as imported wool and synthetic fibers spread and demand for domestic wool fell, Hokkaido's sheep shifted from wool to meat production, and jingisukan took root as the way to enjoy it.
There are several theories about the name and origin; one says it was created in the early Showa era (late 1920s to 1930s) for Japanese palates, inspired by Chinese grilled mutton dishes. Two traditions have developed, dipping the grilled meat in sauce and grilling meat that has been marinated in it, and the dish is now a must at cherry blossom parties, outings and family gatherings.