[box_light]Teppanyaki is one of the most skillful and eye-popping type of cooking there is. But do we know much about it? It is regarded as an art and it takes many years to master. Here is a crash course to learn more about this Japanese wonder. [/box_light]
[box_dark]What is Teppanyaki?[/box_dark]
Teppanyaki is a style of Japanese cuisine that uses a thick iron plate to cook food. The word teppanyaki is derived from “teppan”, which means iron plate, and “yaki”, which means grilled or pan-fried.
Teppanyaki Grill
In Japan, teppanyaki refers to dishes cooked using an iron plate, including steak, shrimp, okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake), yakisoba (fried noodles), and monjayaki(pan fried batter).
Japanese-style teppanyaki uses ingredients like noodles, cabbage with sliced meat or seafood. In Japan, many teppanyaki restaurants feature Kobe beef.
Well, most modern teppans are propane-heated surface grills; they are mostly placed in front of guests so as to enable the chef to perform and cook at the same time (they have very cool moves).
Whatever you do, don’t confuse teppanyaki with the Hibachi barbecue grill, which has a charcoal/ gas flame and is made with an open design.
[box_dark]How did it start??[/box_dark]
The originator of the teppanyaki-style steakhouse is the Japanese restaurant chain “Misono”, which introduced the concept of cooking Western-influenced food on a teppan in Japan in 1945.
They soon found the cuisine was less popular with the Japanese than it was with foreigners (LOL), who enjoyed both watching the skilled maneuvers of the chefs preparing the food as well as the cuisine itself, which is somewhat more familiar than more traditional Japanese dishes.
[box_dark]It’s Popularity[/box_dark]
Teppanyaki is very popular the United States. There are many restaurants that offer this type of cuisine and are mostly referred to as “Japanese Steakhouses”. It has a modified approach to the traditional teppanyaki style and produces classic American dishes with a Japanese twist, as well as Japanese classics with an American twist.
Typical ingredients used for Western-style teppanyaki are beef, shrimp, scallops, lobster, chicken and assorted vegetables.
Teppanyaki was made famous by the Benihana restaurant chain, which opened its first restaurant in New York in 1964. Benihana and other chains of teppanyaki steakhouses continue to place an emphasis on the chef performing a show for the diners, continuing to introduce new variations and tricks. The chef can juggle utensils, flip a shrimp tail into their shirt pocket, catch an egg in their hat, toss an egg up in the air and split it with a spatula, flip flattened shrimp pieces into the diners’ mouths, or arrange onion rings into fire- shooting volcanoes.
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