Hayashi rice

Hayashi rice

Hashed beef rice or Hayashi rice (ハヤシライス) is a dish popular in Japan as a Western-style dish. It usually contains beef, onions, and button mushrooms, in a thick demi-glace sauce which often contains red wine and tomato sauce. This sauce is served atop or alongside steamed rice. The sauce is sometimes topped with a drizzle of fresh cream. It resembles Japanese curry and usually appears on menus alongside curry.

There is some debate regarding the origin of the name of this dish. One belief^{[citation needed]} is that the name was given by the first president of Maruzen (丸善), Yuteki Hayashi (早矢仕 有的 Hayashi Yūteki). Another theory^{[citation needed]} is that a cook named Hayashi at the restaurant Ueno Seiyōken (上野精養軒), who often served this dish for staff meals, thought of the name. Perhaps the most common explanation is that the name is simply derived from the English phrase "hashed beef".

Hayashi rice is one of Japan's most popular Western-style dishes. Thanks to hayashi rice mix (normally sold as roux blocks) and prepared demiglace sauce (normally canned), which are commonly available at Japanese supermarkets, this dish is common household fare. Like Japanese curry, it is usually eaten with a spoon.

Hayashi rice was an important dish in mystery writer Keigo Higashino's novel Ryūsei no Kizuna.

See also

• Beef bourguignon