Unagi Don (Grilled Eel Rice Bowl)

Method

1. Make the tare sauce by combining soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then reduce heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the sauce reduces by about half and becomes syrupy. It should coat the back of a spoon. This is the same tare (glaze) used at unagi restaurants across Japan — the simplicity of the ingredients belies the depth of flavor that reduction creates.

2. Prepare the unagi. If using frozen pre-cooked fillets (the most common form outside Japan), thaw in the refrigerator overnight or in cold water for 30 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels. Pre-cooked unagi has already been steamed and grilled once — you're finishing it with a glaze, not cooking it from raw.

3. Preheat the broiler to high and position the rack 6 inches from the element. Place the unagi fillets skin-side down on a foil-lined sheet pan. Brush generously with the tare sauce — a thick, even coat on the flesh side.

4. Broil for 3-4 minutes until the tare caramelizes and the edges begin to char slightly. Remove, brush with another layer of tare, and broil for 1-2 more minutes. The double-glaze technique builds layers of lacquered, caramelized sauce — each layer adds depth. Watch carefully; the sugar in the tare burns quickly under a broiler.

5. Assemble the don. Fill two bowls with hot steamed rice. Drizzle a tablespoon of tare over the rice — this seasons the rice and creates a flavor bridge between the plain grain and the rich eel. Slice each unagi fillet into 4-5 pieces and arrange over the rice.

6. Finish with sesame seeds, sansho pepper, and pickled ginger. Sansho pepper adds a citrusy, numbing tingle that's traditional with unagi — it cuts through the richness of the eel and the sweet tare. In Japan, unagi don is the quintessential summer dish, eaten on the Day of the Ox (doyo no ushi no hi) to build stamina against the summer heat.

Equipment

• Small saucepan Recommended: Cuisinart Chef's Classic 3-Quart Saucepan
• Rimmed sheet pan with foil Recommended: Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Half Sheet Pan
• Pastry brush Recommended: OXO Good Grips Silicone Pastry Brush

Chef Notes

• The most important thing: Buy pre-cooked unagi from a Japanese grocery store (frozen section). Cooking eel from raw requires specialized skills — the traditional Japanese method involves skewering, steaming, then grilling over charcoal. Pre-cooked fillets give you 90% of the result with 10% of the effort.
• The tare sauce is the same base used for teriyaki — soy, mirin, sake, sugar. The difference is the reduction: teriyaki is a glaze, tare is a thick, syrupy lacquer.
• Make extra tare and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. It's excellent on grilled chicken, salmon, and tofu.
• Japanese short-grain rice is essential — its sticky texture holds the tare and supports the eel. Long-grain rice doesn't work here.
• Unagi is a summer delicacy in Japan. The tradition of eating eel in summer dates back to the Edo period (1603-1868).

Common Substitutions

Ingredient	Substitution	Notes
Unagi (eel)	Salmon fillet, skin-on	Broil with the same tare glaze — different fish, same technique
Sake	Dry sherry or omit	Sake adds depth but the sauce works without it
Sansho pepper	Black pepper + lemon zest	Approximates the citrusy tingle
Japanese short-grain rice	Calrose or sushi rice	Both are sticky enough to work

What You're Practicing

Unagi don teaches the Japanese glazing technique — building layers of tare through multiple applications under high heat. Each layer caramelizes on top of the previous one, creating a lacquered finish with complex, concentrated flavor. This same multi-glaze approach applies to teriyaki, yakitori, and any Japanese grilled preparation. Visit Techniques for more on Japanese grilling and glazing.

The don (rice bowl) format itself is a fundamental Japanese meal structure — a protein over seasoned rice, finished with condiments. Once you understand this template, you can build infinite variations: katsu don, oyako don, gyudon, tekka don. The rice bowl is Japan's answer to the sandwich.