One thing that was difficult to find when living overseas was sliced meat. In Japan, sliced beef and pork are very common and used in various dishes. In this article, I would like to talk about sliced meat.
How we cook sliced meat?
For example, thin slices of beef are used in famous dishes like Sukiyaki and Shabu-Shabu. Other than that, sliced beef and pork are also used in stir-fries, hot pots, salads, and more. This makes it more prevalent than block meat compared to overseas.
Please refer to the below article as well!
How it’s sold in supermarkets
If you go to a supermarket in Japan, you’ll notice that sliced meats are neatly arranged on a tray, with each slice carefully placed. This allows you to easily take each slice of meat as it is and use it for cooking.
In other words, even if sliced meat is packed tightly in a package, it tends to break apart when you try to separate each slice, making it challenging to use for dishes like Sukiyaki or Shabu-Shabu. This attention to detail might be one of the reasons why you don’t see it often overseas.
If you have the chance to visit a Japanese supermarket, take a look at the section with sliced meat. People who don’t know about this might wonder why it’s sold in this particular way, but with this background knowledge, it will make sense.
Trivia
Shabu-Shabu meat is usually sliced slightly thinner than the meat used for Sukiyaki. If you have the opportunity to travel to Japan and try both, it might be interesting to compare them!
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Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen sliced chicken meat. I’m not sure of the reason, but perhaps the size of the meat itself is one factor.
Thanks for reading!
