Negimaki — Japan

Negimaki is a Japanese dish of beef rolled around scallions (negi) and cooked in a teriyaki glaze — a sauce built on soy sauce, sugar and mirin — then sliced into rounds for serving. The dish is reported to have taken shape in the 1960s at the Nippon Restaurant in Manhattan, New York, after the New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne suggested the fish-only restaurant needed a beef dish to draw American diners. Its inventor, Nobuyoshi Kuraoka, is said to have built it as a variant of an existing tuna-based preparation. From there it travelled back into Japanese kitchens as one more way of using teriyaki technique. Thin slices of beef are pounded flatter, seasoned lightly, and wrapped tightly around a few scallion stalks trimmed to the width of the meat. The rolls are seared in a hot pan, then simmered briefly in a teriyaki glaze of soy sauce, sugar, mirin and sake until the sauce reduces to a glossy coating. Once cooled slightly, each roll is sliced into rounds that show the spiral of beef and scallion. This dish is referenced in two countries on AllGastronomy — Japan and the United States — and each version is recorded on its own page with its own location; none of the two is set above the other. The Japan version generally leans on standard teriyaki proportions and a simple scallion filling.