The Japanese hot pot in which beef is cooked with a sweet soy-based sauce is called sukiyaki. Thinly sliced beef is simmered with vegetables and other ingredients in a shallow iron pot, traditionally alongside soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.
Common additions include tofu, scallions, Chinese cabbage, shungiku greens, shiitake or enoki mushrooms, and shirataki noodles. The cooked ingredients are often dipped into a bowl of raw beaten egg before eating, creating a cool, rich contrast with the hot, savory-sweet food.
Sukiyaki has two principal regional methods. In Kanto-style cooking, a prepared warishita sauce is heated first and the ingredients are simmered in it. In Kansai-style cooking, the beef is browned in the pot before sugar, sake, and soy sauce are added. Sukiyaki developed as a one-pot dish during the Meiji era and is strongly associated with winter meals and year-end bōnenkai gatherings. It differs from shabu-shabu, where meat is swished briefly in a lighter broth.