DIY Benihana Recipes You Can Make at Home (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret ingredient to restaurant fried rice? ›

Though you might not be able to pinpoint the sweet inclusion while digging into a take-out box and piling spoonsful of fluffy rice into your mouth, the addition of sugar is a common culinary technique practiced by restaurants.

Japanese restaurants like Benihana and Shogun typically serve a type of short-grain rice known as "Calrose rice" or simply "Japanese rice." Calrose rice is a medium- to short-grain rice variety that is commonly used in Japanese cuisine.

To give your dish that signature fried rice taste, you'll need to drizzle in sesame oil and soy sauce, but feel free to use as much or as little as you wish. You can even mix in things like garlic powder, ginger root, or Sriracha sauce and chili pepper for a bit of a kick.

In fact, the use of classic Chinese sauces is exactly what makes takeout fried rice so incredibly moreish. Key amongst these is soy sauce. By adding soy sauce during cooking chefs are adding both salt and umami to the fried rice which, unsurprisingly, greatly improves the dish's overall flavor.

What sauce do hibachi chefs use on rice? If you've been to a hibachi restaurant, you've no doubt seen the unlabeled plastic squirt bottles they use to season all the food. These bottles contain a variety of oils and a soy sauce or soy sauce blend that gives hibachi food its distinct flavor.

In hibachi, a theatrical take on Japanese teppanyaki cooking, sake is used both to flavor the food and set it on fire during routines such as "the volcano."

Normally, minced garlic is sautéed in butter or oil to flavor the oil. Benihana uses a compound butter where roasted garlic, sweet, whipped butter, freshly ground black pepper, soy sauce and lemon juice is mashed up with whipped butter.

Once the rice is mature, each grain is harvested and carefully dried to maintain an ideal moisture level. This ensures perfect, tender and fluffy Benihana rice once it's cooked by our master teppanyaki chefs. At Benihana, creating classic flavors that guests crave means using quality ingredients for each recipe.

Full of Flavor. Every cut of meat we use is lean, tender and full of flavor, making it ideal for grilling. Hand-Cut on Premises. We hand-cut each piece of chicken and steak so we can inspect each cut prior to serving our guests and ensure we are providing the best piece possible.

In the United States, teppanyaki (more commonly known simply as hibachi) was made famous by the Benihana restaurant chain, which opened its first restaurant in New York in 1964. Though Benihana cooks their food teppanyaki-style, they also serve dishes such as hibachi steak and chicken.

Why does hibachi rice taste different? ›

Butter – Hibachi fried rice recipe gets most of its flavor from the butter; therefore, a lot of butter is added. Butter gives it a nice savory flavor that makes it irresistible.

The answer: high heat, expert tosses, and something known as 'wok hei. ' As J. Kenji López-Alt writes for Serious Eats, expert cooking with a wok (and the gas range it requires) is one of the main reasons that fried rice from a Chinese restaurant tastes so much better than what you can make at home.

The golden yellow color comes from the egg yolk. The method of making golden fried rice is different from classic fried rice. The egg is mixed with rice directly before stir-frying. If you want your golden fried rice to be more “yellow”, you can add more egg yolks.

Peanut oil: This is a popular choice due to its high smoke point (important for stir-frying) and its slightly nutty flavor that complements many Chinese dishes. Lard: Traditionally used for its richness and savory taste, lard is still used in some restaurants, especially for simple dishes where it adds depth of flavor.

1) Use cold rice: You've gotta plan ahead and use thoroughly-chilled cooked rice. A fresh batch of warm (or even lukewarm) rice will not fry well when it hits the hot pan, and will result in soggy and sticky clumps — no good. So leftover refrigerated rice is ideal!