Stamina Don vs Buta Don vs Yakiniku Don: Donburi Dishes

As I wrote before in this post, “Yakiniku Don (焼肉丼)” is a popular donburi (rice bowl) dish in Japan consisting of a bowl of rice topped with grilled or pan-fried meat.

The meat used for Yakiniku Don is usually thinly sliced beef or pork that is not greasy, but instead, small chunks of chopped beef or pork may be prepared.

After grilling, the cooked meat is dressed with the sauce generally called “Yakiniku no Tare (焼肉のタレ)” and placed onto a hot bowl of white rice.

Yakiniku Don using Wagyu Beef

The Yakiniku no Tare sauce is typically made from soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, sesame oil, ground white sesame seeds, and grated garlic and ginger, and is available in many varieties at supermarkets in Japan.

Buta Don vs Stamina Don

If Yakiniku Don is made with pork, the donburi dish can be called “Buta Don (豚丼)” as in its name “Buta (豚)” means “pig” in Japanese.

And “Stamina Don (スタミナ丼)” is actually a variant of Buta Don, but how does the donburi dish differ from Buta Don?

This time, I researched the difference, so let me share the result.

Buta Don (豚丼)

Buta Don using Sliced Pork

First, Buta Don actually comes in 2 types; the Yakiniku Don version explained above, and the Gyudon version. 

The Yakiniku Don type of Buta Don is also known as “Tokachi Butadon (十勝豚丼)” or “Obihiro Butadon (帯広豚丼)”, which is much more common than the latter type and made in households. 

This type is said to have been created in 1933 by “Pancho (ぱんちょう)” (Google Map), a restaurant located in Obihiro City in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido, so was given the name Tokachi (Obihiro) Butadon.

Meanwhile, the latter Gyudon type of Buta Don is offered by Gyudon restaurant chains such as Sukiya and Yoshinoya and cooked almost the same way as the Gyudon beef bowl using pork.

By the way, for Obihiro-style Butadon, thin pork belly slices are often prepared.

Stamina Don (スタミナ丼)

Stamina Don using Pork Slices and Garlic topped with Raw Eggs

On the other hand, like Stamina Ramen, Stamina Don is usually more garlicky using more grated garlic and, unlike regular Buta Don, has raw hen’s eggs on top.

By the way, as with Buta Don, Stamina Don can also be easily made using a store-bought Yakiniku no Tare sauce.

(Reference Page: Wikipedia 豚丼 )

Tomo

Hi, I'm Tomo, a Japanese blogger living in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. For the purpose of enriching your life, I would like to introduce things about Japan on this blog, especially unique Japanese products, cooking recipes, cultures, and facts and trivia.

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