Thinly Sliced Meats – Just One Cookbook Kitchen Pantry

Most of meat dishes in Japanese cooking require thinly sliced beef and pork.  The thickness of these meats are paper thin.  We may not use a big chunk of meat in our cooking but we do use good quality meat for these sliced meats.  Japanese supermarkets sell these paper-thin meat in packages.

However if you don’t have an access to a Japanese supermarket, you can put the meat in the freezer for 1-2 hours (depending on size) so it’s firmer and then cut it into paper thin slices with very sharp chef’s knife.  Read details below.

Thinly Sliced Beef for Shabu Shabu:

Thinly Sliced Beef for Sukiyaki:

Thinly Sliced Pork for Shabu Shabu:

Thinly Sliced Pork for Sukiyaki:

Thinly Sliced Pork Belly:

Thinly Cut Pork or Beef Scraps (“Komagire”):

How To Slice Beef & Pork Thinly:

1. Buy a piece of premium-quality meat (tenderloin, top sirloin, strip loin, rib eye, pork loin or any cut of meat that is slightly more lean and a bit more firm).

2. Wrap the meat in a layer of plastic wrap.

3. Freeze the meat for 1-2 hours, depending on the size of the meat.

4. Take out the meat from the freezer.  With a very sharp knife*, slice the chilled beef against the grain into slices using a gentle sawing motion. When you look at the beef, you will see the fibers of the meat are going in one direction.  You need to cut across in the other direction to ensure the tenderness.

* A dull knife will not slice nicely.