Hashed beef rice or Hayashi rice (ハヤシライス) is a dish popular in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 as a Western-style dish. It usually contains beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

, onion

Onion

The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

s, and button mushroom

Button mushroom

Agaricus bisporus—known variously as the common mushroom, button mushroom, white mushroom, table mushroom, champignon mushroom, crimini mushroom, Swiss brown mushroom, Roman brown mushroom, Italian brown, Italian mushroom, cultivated mushroom, or when mature, the Portobello mushroom—is an edible...

s, in a thick demi-glace

Demi-glace

Demi-glace is a rich brown sauce in French cuisine used by itself or as a base for other sauces. The term comes from the French word glace, which used in reference to a sauce means icing or glaze...

 sauce which often contains red wine and tomato sauce

Tomato sauce

A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...

. This sauce is served atop or alongside steamed rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

. The sauce is sometimes topped with a drizzle of fresh cream

Cream

Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators"...

. It resembles Japanese curry

Japanese curry

is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. It is commonly served in three main forms: , karē udon and karē-pan . Curry rice is most commonly referred to simply as ....

 and usually appears on menus alongside curry.

There is some debate regarding the origin of the name of this dish. One belief is that the name was given by the first president of Maruzen (丸善), Yuteki Hayashi (早矢仕 有的 Hayashi Yūteki). Another theory is that a cook named Hayashi at the restaurant Ueno Seiyōken (上野精養軒), who often served this dish for staff meals, thought of the name. Perhaps the most common explanation is that the name is simply derived from the English phrase "hashed beef".

Hayashi rice is one of Japan's most popular Western-style dishes. Thanks to hayashi rice mix (normally sold as roux

Roux

Roux is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat, traditionally butter. It is the thickening agent of three of the mother sauces of classical French cooking: sauce béchamel, sauce velouté and sauce espagnole. Clarified butter, vegetable oils, or lard are commonly used fats. It is used as a...

 blocks) and prepared demiglace sauce (normally canned), which are commonly available at Japanese supermarkets, this dish is common household fare. Like Japanese curry, it is usually eaten with a spoon.

Hayashi rice was an important dish in mystery writer Keigo Higashino

Keigo Higashino

is a Japanese author chiefly known for his mystery novels.-Biography:Born in Osaka, he started writing novels while still working as an engineer at Nippon Denso Co.　. He won the Edogawa Rampo Award, which is awarded annually to the finest mystery work, in 1985 for the novel Hōkago at age 27...

's novel Ryūsei no Kizuna

Ryusei no Kizuna

is a novel by the famous mystery writer Keigo Higashino and also a Japanese television drama adapted from the novel. The novel was released on March 5, 2008, after being serialized in Weekly Gendai from September 16, 2006 until September 15, 2007...

.