To commemorate the rerelease of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, PlayStation Japan opted to put potential opponents into a food coma. To do this, they recreated the Rainy Day Special Beef Bowl from Persona 4 Golden.
First appearing in Persona 4 on PS2 and its Persona 4 Golden expansion on the Vita and later PC, the Rainy Day Special Beef Bowl was available at the Chinese restaurant Aiya in Inaba on days when it rained in-game. Players could pay 3,000 Yen (about $35 USD in 2010 when the game first released) to challenge a bowl containing a “truly staggering amount of meat.”
Completing the challenge required that players effectively max out their Social Skills, but even a failure resulted in significant gains across multiple categories, making it an effective way to spend time on rainy days.
＼ #ゲーム飯 作ってみた！／
今回のレシピ動画は、#P4U2 PS4®版の発売を記念して｢雨の日スペシャル肉丼｣ from『ペルソナ4 ザ・ゴールデン』
＞強大な相手を前に…
ここで…力尽きるしかないのだろうか…※肉丼はこの後スタッフが美味しくいただきました。#ペルソナ #P4G #P25th pic.twitter.com/MP8gLujkBr
— プレイステーション公式 (@PlayStation_jp) March 17, 2022
PlayStation Japan’s Persona 4 Golden beef bowl video attempts to recreate the in-game dish. That being said, unlike Persona 5‘s Leblanc curry, the real-life recipe is a fairly standard one. Interestingly, the recipe calls for pork, rather than beef. In the original game, the Rainy Day Special is a “meat bowl,” rather than a “beef bowl” as it appears in the English localization.
The video calls for chopped garlic and onions, heated, then simmered in a mixture of vegetable soup stock, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, and white wine. The thinly sliced pork is then cooked and placed in the sauce to simmer. Some of the sauce is then removed and reduced to use as sauce. A bowl is then filled with a generous amount of rice and meat, with a raw egg left to melt over the top.
Of course, depending on the amount made for the Persona 4 Golden beef bowl (or meat bowl), one may need Understanding of one’s limits, Knowledge to control one’s pace, Courage to face the unrelenting tide of meat, and Diligence to persevere against the colossal challenge.
Persona 4 Golden is available on PS Vita and PC. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is available on PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Check out its launch trailer.
