A cast-iron sukiyaki pan laid out with sliced beef, grilled tofu, shiitake and enoki mushrooms, leek, shirataki noodles and leafy greens — the hot pot that means winter in a Japanese household. Every ingredient is drawn as its own clear shape, which makes this an easy sheet for adults and seniors and a good one for care-home activities. Download the PDF and print it — no registration needed.
🎨 Sukiyaki Hot Pot — Color Sample
🖊 Sukiyaki Hot Pot — the plain line art is page 2 of the PDF
🗣 Conversation Starters — for care activities and family time
Do you remember eating sukiyaki in winter?
Kanto style or Kansai style — which sukiyaki do you prefer?
Do you remember gathering around a sukiyaki pan at New Year or on a celebration day?
Which ingredient do you most look forward to in sukiyaki?
How far back does sukiyaki go?
Its immediate ancestor is gyunabe, the beef pot of the late Edo years, which spread quickly once beef eating was officially encouraged after the Meiji Restoration. The name is usually explained as coming from suki, a farming spade said to have been used as a griddle for the meat — the most common account, though not a settled one. Through the Meiji and Taisho eras the dish travelled across the country as a symbol of the new Western-facing age.
What is the difference between Kanto and Kansai sukiyaki?
In the Kanto style, warishita — a broth of dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sugar mixed in advance — goes into the pan first and everything simmers in it. In the Kansai style the beef is seared in the pan and the soy sauce and sugar are added straight on top of it. Both are eaten dipped in beaten raw egg, and the Kansai version often finishes the sweeter and saltier of the two.
Why is sukiyaki dipped in raw egg?
The beaten egg cools each hot mouthful to a comfortable temperature and rounds off the sweet-salty broth. Eggs sold in Japan are produced, graded and dated with raw eating in mind, which is why the habit is unremarkable here. In most other countries eggs are not handled for that purpose, so the custom surprises visitors — and it is not one to copy with eggs bought elsewhere.
