{"id":177816,"title":"Gyusuji nikomi – beef tendon and daikon stew","modified":"2026-09-28T08:56:57+02:00","plain":"Beef tendons slowly simmered with daikon and konnyaku in a sweet-savory broth of sake, soy sauce and mirin.\n\n\n\nOutside, the sky is gray, and in the kitchen a pot has been simmering since early afternoon. The air smells of soy sauce and ginger, and the beef tendon has finally become wobbly, what the Japanese call puru-puru. \n\n\n\nThe daikon has soaked up the broth right to its core, the sauce clings to the konnyaku, and a pinch of shichimi livens everything up. What you need most is patience: the pot does the rest.\n\n\n\nIn the mood for another beef stew with soy sauce? Try nikujaga\n\n\n\nWhat is gyusuji nikomi?\n\n\n\nGyusuji nikomi is a Japanese beef tendon stew. The tendons are blanched, washed, then simmered with daikon and konnyaku in a broth of sake, sugar, soy sauce and mirin. \n\n\n\nDuring cooking, the collagen in the tendon turns into gelatin and gives the broth body. Some regional versions, such as Osaka\u2019s doteyaki, are seasoned with miso, while this one sticks to soy sauce.\n\n\n\nThe name reads like a label: gyu means \u201cbeef,\u201d suji means \u201ctendon,\u201d and nikomi means \u201csimmered dish.\u201d So it is, quite simply, simmered beef tendon.\n\n\n\nFrom Kobe\u2019s slaughterhouses to Tokyo\u2019s bar counters\n\n\n\nBeef tendon stew comes from Kansai, the region encompassing Kobe and Osaka, where eating beef took hold as soon as the bans on meat were lifted in the 19th century. In 1919, a slaughterhouse opened in Kobe\u2019s Nagata district. \n\n\n\nThe tendons were cheap cuts that nobody wanted, and locals bought them for next to nothing before simmering them for hours in light soy sauce.\n\n\n\nThis gave rise to sujikon, a contraction of gyusuji and konnyaku, also known as bokkake, from the verb bukkakeru, \u201cto pour over.\u201d It is indeed poured over rice, udon or an okonomiyaki. In Osaka, a close cousin became a fixture in the standing bars of the Shinsekai district: doteyaki, simmered in white miso.\n\n\n\nIn Kansai, beef also stars in a celebrated dish cooked at the table: sukiyaki\n\n\n\nAfter the war, the dish took root in Tokyo. In Asakusa, a street of open-air izakayas, nicknamed Nikomi-dori and later Hoppy Street, serves large pots of tendon and offal stews alongside shochu mixed with Hoppy, a beer-flavored drink invented in 1948. \n\n\n\nTendon, long regarded as slaughterhouse waste, became a comforting staple of everyday Japanese cooking.\n\n\n\nThe main ingredients in gyusuji nikomi\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBeef tendon is the heart of the dish. Raw, it is tough and fibrous; after long, gentle cooking, it becomes soft, glossy and gelatinous. The daikon, cut into quarter-round slices, absorbs the broth and turns translucent. The konnyaku, a firm konjac-based gel, is torn by hand, and its uneven edges hold the sauce better.\n\n\n\nThe ginger, thinly sliced with its skin on, and the green part of the Japanese leek flavor the initial cooking liquid and tone down the tendon\u2019s odor, then are removed. The seasonings come next: sake, sugar, soy sauce and mirin, for the sweet-savory balance of Japanese stews. The base is water, and the tendon itself provides the umami that would otherwise come from dashi.\n\n\n\nWhen serving, a little Kujo green onion, or scallion, and a pinch of ichimi or shichimi togarashi add freshness and heat.\n\n\n\nKey techniques for a good gyusuji nikomi\n\n\n\nHave extra tendons? Once simmered, they make a lovely addition to a Japanese curry\n\n\n\nIt all starts with blanching, or yudekoboshi: the tendons are boiled, drained and washed, for a clear broth without any strong odor. \n\n\n\nThen keep the heat very low, cooking for about 3 hours in total, until the tendon wobbles and can be cut with a spoon. The result you are looking for: a glossy broth, meltingly tender daikon and tendon that yields without resistance. Serve piping hot, with a bowl of Japanese rice to make it a complete meal.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tGyusuji nikomi\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t500 g beef tendons (gyusuji)500 g daikon200 g konnyaku2 teaspoons sugar (for coating the daikon)15 g ginger (fresh)1 Japanese leek (naga-negi) (green part only)1000 ml waterichimi or shichimi togarashi (to taste)kujo green onion, or thin scallions (finely sliced, for garnish)Assaisonnement A100 ml sake30 g sugar100 ml light soy sauce60 ml mirin\t\n\t\n\t\tPr\u00e9paration des l\u00e9gumesthinly slice the ginger, leaving the skin on.Peel the daikon and cut it into 1.5 cm quarter-round slices (ich\u014d-giri);coat the pieces with the sugar and rub it in.Tear the konnyaku into bite-sized pieces by hand, rub it with a little salt, then briefly blanch it in hot water.CuissonPlace the beef tendons in a saucepan with plenty of water and bring to a boil.Boil for about 10 minutes, skimming off any scum, then drain.Wash the tendons thoroughly under running water to remove fat, scum and odors, then cut them into large pieces.Rinse the saucepan, then add the water, tendons, ginger and green part of the leek. Bring to a boil, skim off any scum and cook for 5 minutes.Cover and gently simmer the tendons for about 1 hour, until they start to soften.Remove the ginger and leek. Bring back to a boil, skim off any scum, cook for 5 minutes, then cover and simmer gently for about 1 more hour, until the tendons are tender and gelatinous (puru-puru). At this point, the basic tendon preparation is complete; it can also be set aside for a curry or soup.add the daikon and konnyaku and cook for 10 minutes.Add all the seasoning A ingredients (sake, sugar, soy sauce, mirin), cover and cook for 5 minutes.Final simmer: cover and simmer gently for about 1 hour, allowing the daikon, konnyaku and tendons to absorb the broth.serve the stew and sprinkle with finely sliced kujo green onion and ichimi or shichimi togarashi to taste.\t\n\t\n\t\tThe tendons only become tender and gelatinous with long, gentle cooking: allow about 3 hours of simmering in total, plus preparation time.\nTearing the konnyaku by hand (rather than cutting it cleanly) gives it rough surfaces that absorb more flavor.\nThe ginger and leek greens are aromatics that help control the odor of the tendons during the initial simmer; remove them before adding the seasonings.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tPlat principal, Soupes et bouillonsJaponaise","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}