Straight From Anime and onto the Dinner Table: Gin no Saji Shows Us How to Make Tamago Kake Gohan

We all saw it made step by step and eaten repeatedly for nearly every meal on the first episode of Gin no Saji and were immediately curious…. A farm fresh raw egg cracked and stirred directly into hot rice and drizzled with soy sauce? Does it actually taste as good as the anime made it look? Can I safely make this at home? Do eggs really come out of a chicken’s anus?

Well, the answer to all of those questions would be “yes!” (….kinda?)

I really like tamago kake gohan (tamago meaning egg, kake means on, and gohan is rice), and my mom makes it every so often to serve with dinner in place of plain white rice. Smooth, rich, and a little salty, tamago kake gohan makes for an easy addition to any meal.

About the recipe:

Tamago kake gohan is a simple, quick, and strangely yummy way to eat your plain white rice. It’s basically a raw egg mixed into hot rice and optionally seasoned with soy sauce. Dice green onions, bonito flakes, roasted sesame seed oil, roasted sesame seeds, and ichimitogarashi are also some possible additions that could be used to dress this dish up even further. There’s no special technique required to make it, except for the ability to stir, and if you own a rice cooker, you won’t even need to turn on the stove.

Since some may have reservations about eating a raw egg, I will be posting two ways to eat this dish: the first is traditional tamago kake gohan, where the raw egg is cracked directly into the hot rice, stirred in, and eaten right away. The second is a less traditional method, in which the egg is whipped up in a large bowl, hot rice is place on top, and the bowl is covered and allowed to sit for several minutes before the egg is stirred into the rice and consumed.

The theory behind this dish is that the egg will cook just a bit when mixed in with the hot rice, much like the way the egg is tempered in pasta carbonara. This technique of tempering the egg will lend a very creamy and rich texture to the rice. Add a little soy sauce for saltiness and added flavour, and this is one dish which will go down very easily….

For the first method, everyone has their preferred way to stir in the egg… Do you make a little well in the centre of the rice and then crack the egg in it? Or, should you whip up the egg separately before adding it to the rice? Soy sauce before or after mixing in the egg? Really it doesn’t matter. Do whatever you feel comfortable with!

This second method replicates the taste and texture of the traditional way of making tamago kake gohan, but by covering the rice before stirring it up, more of the heat from the rice is retained, allowing the egg a better chance to cook. This is my preferred way to make tamago kake gohan, if only because I make my rice ahead of my main meal, so it’s never very hot by the time I’m ready to eat. With this method, I can make the tamago kake gohan right when the rice is done cooking and let it sit while I finish cooking/serving the rest of my meal, allowing everything to stay hot. I’ve eaten this every so often since I was a kid, and I’ve never gotten sick before! (for your reference, I live in North America)

About the ingredients:

Is it safe to eat raw eggs? Well, I won’t say that it is or isn’t, since I don’t want to get in trouble! But, what I will say is that you should read up on the topic and carefully make your own informed decision.

As with anything, you should get your eggs from a reputable source, and the fresher they are, the better. Never use eggs that are damaged, discoloured, or otherwise imperfect. Refrigerate your eggs, and keep your workspace clean. Basically, as with any other cooking, you want to minimize the possibility of any contamination!

The main concern when consuming raw eggs is salmonella. Salmonella can exist on the outside of the shell, as well as inside the egg as well, so simply washing the egg will not prevent you from getting sick. The only thing that will ensure you do not get sick with salmonella is to cook the egg to at least 160 F.

In a rice cooker, the water will get as hot as 212 F (100 C). In theory, if you used freshly cooked rice from a rice cooker (the “warming” feature on a rice cooker heats at only about 150 F, so it must be just cooked rice), it should be hot enough to kill salmonella… that said, it’s not a guarantee since you have to consider the temperature of the egg, how quickly the rice is cooling once it’s removed from the rice cooker, how quickly the egg is stirred into the rice, etc..

So, I’ll leave it to you whether you feel like you should eat a raw egg or not… If you’re still apprehensive, you could also always zap your mixed up tamago kake gohan in the microwave in 10 – 15 second increments, mixing between sessions, until it is heated through. Just be very careful not to cook the egg too much! If you cook it too much, the egg will solidify and you will have a block of egg rice.

For more information about eggs and egg safety, please visit:

• The Egg Safety Center
• Wikipedia article on rice cookers

The recipe:

Tamago kake gohan

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 bowl of hot, cooked rice

Toppings (optional):

• Soy sauce
• Ichimitogarashi
• Bonito flakes
• Green onion, finely chopped
• Roasted sesame seeds
• Roasted sesame seed oil

Directions:

Traditional method:

1. Spoon very hot rice into a bowl.

2. Crack the raw egg onto the rice. Season with soy sauce if desired. Stir egg and rice together until thoroughly mixed. Garnish with toppings (optional).

Serve on its own, or in place of plain rice with your meal.

Modified method:

1. Beat raw egg in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. Season with soy sauce if desired.

2. Place very hot rice on top of the beaten egg. Cover and let sit for 8 – 10 minutes. Uncover and stir egg and rice together until thoroughly mixed. Garnish with toppings (optional).

Serve on its own, or in place of plain rice with your meal.

Source: Gin no Saji episode 1 (traditional method); my mother (modified method)