Let's Get Into DONBURI

Donburi is nothing more than rice with toppings served in a bowl. This simple combination, however, creates more than a one-plus-one effect on the flavor. People really enjoy how the sauce of the toppings mixes with the fluffy Japanese rice and how this contrast of different textures harmonizes in their mouths. To determine why donburi dishes are loved by so many people, we have conducted a survey with 143 Japanese to learn about their favorite types of donburi.

Top 5 rankings

General 1. Katsu-don (30 votes) 2. Oyako-don (18 votes) 3. Ten-don (14 votes) 4. Kaisen-don (12 votes) 5. Una-don (12 votes)
Male voters 1. Katsu-don (21 votes) 2. Oyako-don (9 votes) 3. Una-don (9 votes) 4. Ten-don (7 votes) 5. Kaisen-don (6 votes)		Female voters 1. Katsu-don (9 votes) 2. Oyako-don (9 votes) 3. Ten-don (7 votes) 4. Kaisen-don (6 votes) 5. Uni ikura-don (4 votes)

Katsu-don is Donburi King

Countless donburi dishes exist in Japan, and even in the U.S. we can find many kinds: oyako-don (chicken and egg), gyu-don (simmered, thinly sliced beef), katsu-don (pork cutlets and egg), ten-don (tempura), una-don (grilled eel), kaisen-don (assortment of fresh seafood), and tekka-don (fresh tuna), for example. It is tough for Japanese to answer the question: What is your favorite donburi dish? Here, the responses of 143 survey participants (73 men and 70 women) give us some indication of the most popular donburi dishes among Japanese.

The top three donburi dishes are katsu-don (30 votes), oyako-don (18 votes), and ten-don (14 votes). Katsu-don is especially popular among male voters (21 votes from men and 9 votes from women). On the other hand, oyako-don and ten-don are equally loved by men and women (9 votes from both genders for okayo-don and 7 votes each for ten-don). Also, it is interesting that both katsu-don and oyako-don are types of tamago toji, dishes in which the main ingredients of the toppings rest in omelet-like, seasoned egg curd. The egg adds a mild flavor and also binds the ingredients together. Katsu-don and oyako-don lovers make up one-third of our survey participants.

While men tend to love thick-flavored, dense donburi like katsu-don and una-don, women favor lighter, lower-calorie versions, such those topped with fresh seafood. Nine male voters chose una-don, compared to only three women. Twenty-three female voters preferred some kind of seafood donburi, while only fourteen men did.

Fresh seafood craze

We cannot disregard the fact that fresh seafood donburi has a huge following. Although kaisen-don is fourth in the general ranking, fresh seafood donburi would outnumber even katsu-don if all kinds of fresh seafood donburi were counted together. One reason the votes on fresh seafood donburi are split is that there are a number of different types of seafood used as toppings. Seafood donburi include ikura-don (salmon roe), sake ikura-don (salmon and salmon roe), uni ikura-don (sea urchin and salmon roe), maguro zuke-don (tuna dipped in a thick sauce), magugo yamakake-don (tuna and grated Japanese taro), and negitoro-don (fatty tuna with scallions). The other reason, according to our survey results, is that the freshness and quality of the seafood play a great role in determining the taste of the dishes, so it is harder for our voters to find satisfying fresh seafood donburi than katsu-don and oyako-don, which are both more consistent in terms of taste from place to place. As you would guess, fresh seafood donburi dishes tend to be more expensive, therefore people cannot eat them every day (unlike oyako-don and gyu-don, which can be made easily at home).

Rice Plays Key Role

When discussing donburi, toppings are usually the focus of attention, but rice is equally important. Although you can use any kind of topping you can imagine, it is best to use soft and fluffy Japanese rice. If you use basmati or indica rice, for example, the dish has a different flavor and cannot be considered donburi anymore. Since donburi has been developed to allow toppings and rice to complement one another, many of the toppings are made to be juicy or accompanied by a thick sauce, just like Japanese curry has a certain thickness to create a nice harmony with the rice instead of ruining its texture. The rice is also cooked to be a little harder than usual since it will absorb some moisture from the sauce.

Of course, personal preference plays a role in how much sauce mixes with the rice. Some prefer their donburi tsuyudaku, meaning "with a lot of soupy sauce," and others prefer less sauce but a strong flavor. When you cook donburi by yourself, you can adjust the runniness and flavor of the toppings yourself. In a restaurant, you might be able to request that your donburi be tsuyudaku, just the way you would order extra rice.

Creative Donburi

Although there are many standard donburi toppings, the real beauty of donburi dishes is that you can choose whatever you would like as toppings. You can make mac and cheese–don or buffalo wing–don if you like. Here are a couple of eye-opening donburi ideas provided by some of our survey participants.

Nikogori-don: Make nikogori (a gelatin-containing, simmered dish that condenses after cooling) and place it over rice. The hot rice makes the nikogori melt over the rice.
Spirits-don: Arrange an assortment of seafood marinated in spirits over rice.
Shirako-don: Arrange grilled cod smelt over rice. When you bite into the smelt, it pops, releasing its juicy contents and creating a great combination with rice.
Burrito-don: Cut and open a burrito to take out the rice. Place this rice in a bowl, arrange the burrito toppings, and pour bean sauce over it.
Junk food–don: Sprinkle an assortment of junk food snacks and pour a little green tea over the rice.

As you see, there are no rules for donburi. If you have a leftover meal from last night, why not use it as a topping for your original donburi?

Four types of common donburi dishes

Type 1: Various Ingredients with Egg

This type involves an egg poured over other toppings and rice to give the dish a mild flavor and add a fluffy texture. Any cooked item can be combined with eggs. There is even a donburi without main ingredients: tamago-don simply consists of seasoned soup and egg.
[Popular Items]
Katsu-don, oyako-don, chicken katsu-don (chicken cutlets and egg), una tama-don (eel and egg), ten toji-don (tempura and egg), konoha-don (fried tofu, fish cake, vegetables, and egg), gyu toji-don (thinly sliced beef and egg)

Type 2: Grilled, Sautéed, Stir-fried, and Deep-fried Dishes

This type of donburi tends to be less soupy but is thickly seasoned or has a strong-flavored sauce to go well with white rice. If you want it to be tsuyudaku in a restaurant, request more sauce when you order.
[Popular Items]
Una-don, gyu-don, buta-don, ebi chili–don (spicy shrimp), sauce katsu-don (pork cutlets with thick sauce), miso katsu-don (pork cutlets with miso-based sauce), tori kara-don (fried chicken), mabo-don (tofu in spicy meat sauce)

Type 3: Tempura

Any kind of tempura can be used as the topping of a donburi dish. A special thick sauce, rather than tentsuyu (the thin dipping sauce served with tempura), is typically used for this donburi. After being deep-fried, the tempura is dipped in the thick sauce before being arranged on the rice. More sauce is then poured over the tempura to complete the dish.
[Popular Items]
Ten-don, ebi ten-don (shrimp tempura), yasai ten-don (assortment of vegetable tempura), kakiage-don (tempura using an assortment of chopped ingredients fried together)

Type 4: Fresh Seafood

Sashimi-quality, sliced raw fish are used as toppings for this type of donburi. Some of these toppings are dipped in a special sauce before being arranged on the rice. Technically you can put any item on top, but there are some favorite combinations, such as uni (sea urchin) and ikura (salmon roe) or salmon and ikura. Some rice is seasoned as it would be for chirashizushi (fresh seafood mixed with sushi rice).
[Popular Items]
Kaisen-don, ikura-don, uni ikura-don, sake ikura-don, tekka-don, maguro yamakake-don

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