An accompaniment to sake as hassun

Shabu-shabu is a Japanese dish where pieces of meat are quickly dipped into water at high temperature to cook, then eaten straight away. For the shabu-shabu served at Kyoto Kitcho, however, they set kombu dashi at 60°C, as this is the optimum temperature for the umami in the beef to be drawn out. With this temperature the meat in the dish is tender and juicy and light pink in colour; it is at such a point that one could neither say it was cooked, nor that it was raw. With five dipping sauces - fresh cream, ponzu, tosazu vinegar jelly, sesame seed and manganji togarashi - a great variation in taste can be enjoyed. The dish is completed with the very highest grade matsutake mushrooms, a quintessential autumn product, whose beautiful, strong fragrance has been admired for many years in Japan.