The Story of Nikujaga
If you’ve eaten some home-cooked meals in Japan, chances are you’ve come across nikujaga, a dish of meet, potatoes, and other vegetables stewed in soy sauce.
Nikujaga is said to have originated in the kitchens of Japan’s Imperial Navy sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, but its exact origins are not entirely clear. Two port towns have claimed to be the birthplace of the dish: Maizuru in Kyoto prefecture and Kure in Hiroshima prefecture.
Here is a news report that visits the Nikujaga Festival in Maizuru. It introduces the legends surrounding the dish’s creation and explains how the Maizuru recipe and Kure recipe are different:
The creation of Nikujaga is attributed to Admiral Togo Heihachiro, the illustrious hero of the Russo-Japanese War. As a young man, Togo had spent years studying naval science in Great Britain, where he learned to love European food. That food probably included beef stew. Togo was stationed at the Maizuru naval base in 1901 to 1903. During that time, he is said to have ordered the base’s chefs to make beef stew.
In those days, ingredients like wine and butter were not widely available in large quantities, so the chefs had to improvise using domestic ingredients such as soy sauce and sesame oil. The result was something very much like today’s nikujaga.
Kure residents pretty much agree with the basic legend, only changing the date and setting. They claim that Togo was stationed at the Kure naval base ten years before he was at Maizuru, so the order to create the dish was first issued in their town.
Maizuru’s local recipe for nikujaga is based on a naval cook book from the 1930′s. Here is the basic recipe:
- Heat sesame oil in a pan (takes about 3 minutes)
- Add beef. Cook it in the oil for 4 minutes
- Add sugar. Mix and cook for 3 minutes
- Add soy sauce. Mix and cook for 4 minutes
- Add potatoes, carrots, peas, konnyaku, water. Cook for 17 minutes.
- Add onions. Cook for 3 minutes.
For the last 15 years, Maizuru has promoted itself as the birthplace of nikujaga. Local stores get in on the theme by selling products like nikujaga-filled bread and korokke.
The recipe for Kure-style nikujaga is very similar to the recipe used in Maizuru. However, Kure is more strict about following the original Imperial Navy’s recipe. Kure chefs scoff at the idea of including peas and carrots, as those vegetables were never mentioned in the old naval recipe books and probably weren’t very popular in the Meiji Era. The resulting dish also has a more soup-like appearance.
Although people from Maizuru and Kure disagree about the historical origins of nikujaga, both towns are cooperating in their efforts. As you can see from the video, Maizuru was happy to allow Kure to set up tents at its Nikujaga festival, and visitors enjoyed eating both variations of the dish.
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