Editor’s note: The theme of Gohan Lab is to help people make simple, tasty “gohan” (meals).

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Dishes popular among people of all ages are usually marked by a pleasant aroma and enjoyable texture--not to mention a great taste.

In this four-part series on the flavors of popular dishes, we will delve into the key components needed to get just the right flavor that we are aiming for in a dish.

First up is “yakiniku” grilled meat, which goes well with rice. If you simply rely on familiar seasonings and make effective use of your usual frying pan, you can easily create a fragrant and punchy flavor.

Be it beef or pork, a sauce on the sweet side always pairs well with rice. We will use soy sauce as the base and add sugar and sweet mirin sake to enhance its umami. The alcohol content in the sauce will remove the smell of the meat. Garlic, pepper and sesame seeds will make it spicy, rich and also mellow. Their presence will stand out through heating.

When grilling thin slices of meat, heat the frying pan well beforehand and cook the meat quickly. The meat should be cooked before its water content evaporates. If the sauce starts to burn, you cooked it for too long.

The arranged version introduces a Japanese-style bibimbap made by stir-frying ground meat with the same sauce.

AROMA STIMULATES SURVIVAL INSTINCT?

The cooking science aspect of our series analyzing the flavors of popular dishes is supervised by professor Shinichi Ishikawa of Miyagi University. He specializes in molecular cooking science, which incorporates elements of physics and chemistry into the cooking process.

He is the author of a number of books, including a title that translates as, “Happy encounter between cooking and science.”

Ishikawa says he analyzes the tastiness of dishes by “resolving a meal into factors,” as in factorization in mathematics.

When it comes to yakiniku, he focuses on the ingredients that are rich in protein, fat and sugar--in other words, high-calorie nutritional components that humans crave for survival.

“When the aroma of the grilled meat and sauce rises, we perhaps feel that eating them will be advantageous to survival,” says Ishikawa.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

(Supervised by Akiko Watanabe in the cooking aspect and Shinichi Ishikawa in the cookery science aspect)

* Ingredients (Serve two)

3 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 and 1/3 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp sweet mirin sake, 1 Tbsp hot water, 1 Tbsp sesame oil, 1 tsp grated white sesame seed, 1/2 tsp grated garlic, bit of pepper, 300 grams beef for yakiniku, some oil 

About 580 kcal and 2.1 grams salt per portion

1. To make yakiniku sauce (PHOTO A), first mix sugar with hot water so it dissolves. Then add the other ingredients. If made in a clean storage container, it will keep in the fridge for about a week.

2. Since meat slices are thin, they are less likely to lose shape and are easier to handle if taken out of fridge right before cooking. Lay slices that will be cooked one at a time in flat container without overlapping.

3. Using a spoon, thinly coat surface of meat with sauce. Lift each slice with chopsticks and coat the side facing down with sauce (PHOTO B).

4. Pour 1/2 tsp oil in frying pan and turn on heat. When oil is sufficiently heated and becomes runny, turn to medium heat. A nice sizzling sound will rise when the meat is added. Move slices with chopsticks (PHOTO C) as if transferring heat on pan’s surface to meat and let it brown. Turn and brown meat in the same way and remove right away. If burnt deposits appear in the pan while repeating this process, remove them with paper and add bit of oil.

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Akiko Watanabe is a cooking expert specializing in Japanese cuisine.

Shinichi Ishikawa is a professor at Miyagi University specializing in molecular cooking science.

ARRANGED VERSION

Bibimbap with ground meat (Serves two)

Add 100 grams ground beef and 2 Tbsp yakiniku sauce in pan and cook meat over medium heat while mixing. Cut a bunch of “mitsuba” (Japanese parsley) into pieces 3 cm in length, boil for 30 seconds and immerse in water. Tightly squeeze out water, mix mitsuba with bit of salt and 1 tsp sesame oil. Fill a bowl with a serving of warm rice and pour bit of sesame oil over it. Top with appropriate amount of ground meat, mitsuba and sweet-vinegared ginger (“amazu-shoga”) and serve with gochujang (red chili paste) on the side.

COOKERY SCIENCE

The smell of the yakiniku sauce can be quite appetizing. One of the factors involved is the aminocarbonyl (Maillard) reaction, which occurs when the amino acids in seasonings, such as soy sauce and sweet mirin sake, react with sugar. The reaction tends to progress more than when soy sauce or sweet mirin sake is heated on its own. During the reaction, both the aroma and flavor will increase in complexity.

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From The Asahi Shimbun’s Gohan Lab column