Tadashi Ono, Japanese Hot Pot Expert, Describes the Real Shabu Shabu

While researching this week's review of Chinese-American shabu shabu restaurants in the Richmond and Sunset, I called Tadashi Ono, the chef of Matsuri in New York and coauthor of Japanese Hot Pots. I wanted to get a sense of how exactly San Francisco shabu shabu diverges from traditional Japanese preparation.

The Japanese have been eating beef only since Buddhist proscriptions against eating red meat were abolished in the mid-19th century, so shabu shabu doesn't date back to time immemorial.

In fact, says Ono, it dates back to just after World War II, when the Japanese imported it from China.

"I think it was based on Beijing- and Mongolian-style hot pot," Ono says. "The method of cooking was brought by Chinese cooks who came back to Japan with army surgeons who'd stayed in China during the war. The Chinese normally use lamb, but since the Japanese are not familiar with lamb, we adapted it to beef."