Tsuyama has been a place where cattle and horses gathered for a very long time. There is a record of a livestock market held here in the year 705. Even under the prohibition on eating meat, the practice known as yojo-gui, eating meat as medicine, carried on in this town.

There is an abattoir in the city, and the figure people quote is that within ten minutes of an animal entering the line, the cleaning of the offal is finished. That speed is the entire reason the dish works. Offal that is handled slowly develops a smell no amount of sauce will cover.

So the local conditions are these: plenty of it, and all of it fresh. What gets built on top of that is straightforward, and it was being eaten in the grill restaurants here for decades before anyone outside the prefecture had heard of it.

A griddle is brought up hot and the offal goes on first. Cabbage, onion, and leek are added and fried, then the sauce, miso-based or soy-based, and the udon. Bean sprouts last, and everything is turned until it is through. Yuzu juice over the top if you want it. There are more than fifty places serving it in the city and no two agree on the cuts, the sauce, or the cooking. A logistics detail turned into a flavor.