Nikujaga

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Nikujaga

Nikujaga (肉じゃが^?) (meaning meat-potato) is a Japanese dish of meat, potatoes and onion stewed in sweetened soy sauce, sometimes with ito konnyaku and vegetables. Thinly sliced beef is the most common meat used, although minced/ground beef is also popular. Pork is often used instead of beef in eastern Japan.

It is a common home-cooked winter dish, served with a bowl of white rice and miso soup. It is also sometimes seen in izakayas. Nikujaga is considered comfort food, and many Japanese claim they crave it if they do not eat it for a long period of time^{[citation needed]}.

Nikujaga was invented by chefs of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 19th Century. The story that Tōgō Heihachirō ordered naval cooks to create a version of the beef stews served in the British Royal Navy was devised as part of an ongoing campaign beginning in 1895 to promote the city of Maizuru, Kyoto, which hosted an Imperial Japanese Navy base where Tōgō was stationed, as the birthplace of nikujaga. ^[1] The municipal government of Kure, Hiroshima, responded in 1897 with a competing claim that Tōgō commissioned the dish while serving as chief of staff of the Kure naval base. ^[2]

[edit] References

^ [1] Asami Nagai, Cities claim signature dishes cooked up in navy galleys, Yomiuri Shimbun, 2000-02-05. Retrieved on 2009-03-24. "As it happens, Togo had studied naval science in Britain from 1871 to 1878, so Shimizu reasoned he must have eaten beef stew occasionally. 'We concocted a story that Togo ordered the cooks to fix something similar to beef stew,' he said."
^ Ibid. "City assembly members believed Togo was stationed at the Kure naval base from May 1890 to December 1891, and theorized that he likely introduced nikujaga to the navy diet at that time to prevent vitamin B deficiency."