sukiyaki, in Japanese cuisine, a dish of beef and vegetables prepared in the nabemono (one-pot) style. It is a fairly recent addition to Japanese cuisine. Because Buddhist law forbade the killing of quadrupeds for food, beef came into the Japanese diet only after sustained contact with the West began in the 1860s. Sukiyaki is cooked at the table in a shallow iron pot over charcoal or another portable heat source. Thin slices of beef are browned in oil, and a sauce of stock, soy sauce, and sugar is added. Tofu, shiitake mushrooms, onions, shirataki (a noodlelike food), and vegetables are then added and quickly cooked. Individual morsels may be dipped into beaten raw egg before being eaten.
A variation of sukiyaki, called shabu-shabu, became popular after World War II. Vegetables are placed into a pot of boiling water, and strips of thin beef are swirled in the water (the word shabu-shabu is an onomatopoeia for this swirling action), removed, dipped in a sauce, and eaten. The vegetables are also removed and eaten. As a broth forms, noodles are added, cooked, and eaten; the broth may also be drunk.