So it appears that Japanese white sauce is hotly debated internet topic. Its apparently an American invention for Japanese steak houses. It also goes by the names "shrimp sauce" and "yum yum sauce."
Many of the recipes I was reading called for ketchup or tomato paste along with a sizable dose of paprika. This was definitely not going to recreate the sauce that is served at our two local Japanese steak houses as the sauce is white and not pink at all. After reading lots of recipes, and thinking not any of them were quite it, I just took the plunge and decided to combine the parts of different ones that seemed right.
1 cup REAL* mayonnaise
2 TBS Butter melted
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp honey
dash of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup lemon juice
Many of the recipes that I read were calling for Hellman's Mayo specifically or Japanese Mayo. I wasn't going to run out and buy name brand when IMO real mayo is real mayo...its eggs, oil, vinegar, sugar and salt folks. Heaven help me if I went looking for Japanese mayo at my little local southern grocery store. We're cooking on a budget so store brand mayo was just FINE.
Some recipes called for water AND lemon juice or vinegar. In experimenting I decided it would be best to save the water for last because it was just a thinner.I nixed the vinegar because I think the overly mayo flavor some people were talking about was probably actually the vinegar flavor from the mayo. No reason to add more and make it worse.
I mixed everything together but the lemon juice and it was definitely too mayo-ish still. Adding the lemon kept the tang while getting rid of the overly mayo flavor. The lemon juice also thinned it to the consistency that I was looking for without needing water. You could add water if is still thicker than your liking.
Everyone also was writing about how the sauce just HAD to sit overnight to taste right. Nah! This stuff tasted right to me fresh out of the bowl and just a good the next day too.
