Hokkaido Jingisukan Lamb Grill

Quick answer

Total time: 50 min
Level: Medium
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients: 19

About this dish

Jingisukan is a Hokkaido grill cooked on a domed, grooved pan.

Thinly sliced lamb cooks on the raised center while onion, eggplant, pumpkin, potato, green pepper, corn, and bean sprouts surround it, catching the juices that run down the grooves. The cooked meat and vegetables are dipped in a sauce of sake, soy sauce, vinegar, grated fruit, garlic, and ginger. Sheep raising expanded in Hokkaido during the Taisho era when wool imports became difficult, and eating lamb began in that setting; the dish later took root as meat production replaced the focus on wool. It is eaten at home year-round and outdoors at spring blossom gatherings and summer barbecues.

Ingredients (4 servings)

Ingredient	Amount	Unit
thinly sliced lamb with some fat	500	g
onions	2	piece
eggplants	2	piece
kabocha squash	150	g
potatoes	2	piece
green peppers	2	piece
boiled corn on the cob	1	piece
bean sprouts	200	g
sake	2	tbsp
soy sauce	3	tbsp
vinegar	2	tbsp
salt	0.25	tsp
sugar	1	tsp
garlic	1	clove
fresh ginger	20	g
shichimi chili blend	0.25	tsp
apple	0.5	piece
pear	0.5	piece
white sesame seeds	1	tbsp

Instructions

Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.

5 steps

1

Season

Cut 500g thinly sliced lamb with some fat into 8 to 10cm lengths, separate any pieces that cling together, and keep refrigerated.

Do not reuse utensils that touched raw lamb for the vegetables or sauce.
2

Heat

Cut 2 onions into half-moons, 2 eggplants diagonally 1cm thick, 150g kabocha and 2 green peppers into thin wedges, and 2 potatoes into 5mm slices. Quarter 1 boiled corn cob and remove dark skins and root tips from 200g bean sprouts.
3

Season

Mix 2 tablespoons sake, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 0.25 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 0.25 teaspoon shichimi. Finely grate in 1 garlic clove, 20g ginger, 0.5 apple, and 0.5 pear, crush and add 1 tablespoon white sesame, and stir for 2 minutes.
4

Control

Preheat a domed Jingisukan pan over high heat for 3 minutes.

Put a few of the fattiest lamb pieces on the center first, cook for 1 minute, and spread the released fat through the grooves. Arrange the onions, eggplants, kabocha, potatoes, peppers, corn, and bean sprouts around the outer slope.
5

Finish

Place the remaining lamb on the center without overlap and grill for 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Once no red remains inside, the juices run clear, and a chopstick enters the potato and kabocha, remove cooked pieces as they finish and dip them in the prepared sauce. Let the lamb juices continue running down onto the surrounding vegetables.

Practical Cooking Checks

The cues that matter most while cooking.

Key technique: Domed, grooved pan made specifically for Jingisukan
Finish cue: Place the remaining lamb on the center without overlap and grill for 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Avoid this: Do not pile all the lamb on at once; add it to the center in a single layer so the pan stays hot and does not fill with released water.
Storage and reheating: Cut 500g thinly sliced lamb with some fat into 8 to 10cm lengths, separate any pieces that cling together, and keep refrigerated.