Beef Curry Sweet Potato Korokke

(makes 12)
Korokke, the Japanese version of the croquette, are big in Japan. Unlike the original French version they contain meat and vegetables and come in all kinds of flavours. The other special thing about Japanese Korokke is they are rarely used as side dishes and are typically eaten as a street food type snack,  or even as a meal.  Beef curry is probably one of the more unique flavours and well worth trying.

Ingredients

1. Minced Beef (200g)
2. Sweet Potatoes (500g)
3. Onion (1)
4. Cream Cheese (125g)
5. Eggs (3)
6. Bread (3 slices)
7. Curry Powder
8. Corn Starch
9. Worcestershire Sauce
10. Mirin
11. Nutmeg
12. Paprika

Preparation

1. Leave three slices of bread without any wrapping in the fridge overnight.
2. Boil 500g of sweet potatoes for 25 minutes.  Use just enough water to cover the sweet potatoes and reserve the flavoured water after boiling.
3. Drain away the water into a container for later use and allow the sweet potatoes to cool in the pot. Then peel, dice and finally mash the sweet potatoes with a fork. There is no need to completely pulverize the sweet potato, you want a bit of texture.
4. Pour 1/4 cup of the reserved water into a bowl. Stir in 2T curry powder, 1T mirin, 1t worcestershire sauce, 1t nutmeg, 1t salt. Marinate 200g of minced beef in the mixture for 15 minutes.
5. Peel and dice one onion into 1cm sized pieces. In a few T of oil, pan fry the onion bits until they are limp, but before they brown too much. Add the beef and stir fry until the beef is cooked.
6. With the fire still going, make a hole in the middle of the pan and add 125g (about 4T) of cream cheese. Spoon in a few T of the reserved water and move a spatula over the cream cheese in a circular motion until it has liquified (see picture).
7. Add the mashed sweet potato and mix everything together well. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Keep the ‘filling’ in the fridge for a minimum of several hours.
8. Cut the dried bread into croutons and desiccate further in a toaster oven at 120^oC for 15 minutes. If you don’t have a toaster oven, toast before dicing the bread.
9. Place the croutons on a piece of foil and methodically crush with the jagged face of a meat mallet. There is no need to hammer; simply press down firmly on the smooth face of the mallet head (see picture). Again, there is no need to completely pulverize the bread, you want some variety in crumb size.
10. Prepare three shallow dishes, one with the bread crumbs, one with 1/4 cup of corn starch and in the third one beat 3 eggs with 1/2t of salt.
11. Warm up oil in a pot for deep frying. The temperature is right when a bread crumb thrown in creates bubbles.
12. Spoon an amount of filling equal in size to an XL egg into your hand. Shape this into a log. Roll the log first in the cornstarch to get a thick coating of starch, then quickly in the egg. Finally roll the log in the bread crumbs. Immediately deep fry. Repeat until all the mashed sweet potato is used up. As the insides are already cooked, you can adjust the heat as you like to produce a nice deep orange finish for your Korokke.
13. Roll the croquettes while cooking occasionally to ensure even cooking. When a croquette is done, place it on a bed of paper towels to absorb excess oil.
14. Serve your croquettes with a mayonnaise flavoured with paprika.

Notes

• If you leave your bread to dry in the fridge for several days, you can skip the toasting part and crush right after cutting into croutons.
• Cumin is not curry powder, it is not even the biggest component of curry powder. If you wish to mix your own, you can use the labelling on this package curry powder as a guide to the proportions of each ingredient.
• When coating the croquettes you can cover the ends by pushing the material up against the top and bottom of the log. This will reduce the handling of the croquettes and help them keep their shape.
• Yes I used sweet potato instead of potato. It is not uncommon to use something other than potato for Korokke in Japan, for instance yam, pumpkin or taro.
• If you want your Korokke to look exactly like the real McCoy you have to buy something called Panko Crumbs instead of crushing your own breadcrumbs. They are leafy crumbs which allows them to be bigger than regular crumbs.
• Steps 12-13 are best done by a two person team.
• The croquettes will continue to brown a bit after you remove them from the oil, so don’t over brown them.
• If want to make the shape perfect, you can roll your filling in cling film into (4?) long sausages. Place the sausages in the freezer for 15 minutes to harden them further before frying, but don’t completely freeze them solid. If you want it fast and easy, you can also make your croquettes in the shape of mini hamburgers.

 

Japanese Hamburg Steak

(serves 4)
The Hamburg Steak is the predecessor of the hamburger, before it was turned into a humble sandwich. That’s not to say the Hamburg Steak is simply a hamburger without a bun, for it has many more ingredients, for instance a gravy. In this sense you can think of the Hamburg Steak as a cross between a Salisbury Steak and Bangers & Mash. The city that the most people eat Hamburg steak is not Hamburg as you might expect, but Tokyo; in Japan every family restaurant will serve Hanbagu Steakey and it is cooked at home by every family. My recipe is based this delicious Japanese version of the Hamburg Steak. 

Ingredients

1. Minced Beef (500g)
2. Egg (1)
3. Shallots (5)
4. Milk (0.5 cup)
5. Bread (2 slices)
6. Onion (1)
7. Oxo Beef cube (1)
8. Mustard
9. Worcestershire Sauce
10. Miso
11. Sherry
12. Soya Sauce
13. Butter

Preparation

 

1. Leave 2 slices of bread exposed in the fridge overnight to dry out.
2. Toast the bread on very low heat for 15 minutes to make them ultra crispy and then smash the bread with a mallet into crumbs (in a plastic bag).
3. Peel and cut 5 shallots in half and julienne them into very thin slices. Peel and cut one onion in half and slice it into thick half rings. If the outmost layer of the onion is thin, you should discard it as it will get burnt before the rest of the onion softens.
4. Pan fry the shallot slices in 3T of oil on a low flame until you notice a few pieces have turned brown (see picture). Turn off the heat and allow to cool (the shallots will darken further). After some time spoon the shallots and oil into a mixing bowl.
5. Add one egg, 1/2 a cup of milk, 1T Worcestershire sauce, 1t soya sauce, 1t mustard, 1t salt to the mixing bowl and mix well. Stir in the bread crumbs. Next, add the ground beef followed by a sprinkle of 1t white pepper and fold until you get a homogenous mixture. Leave the beef to stand. Do not be concerned if there are any pieces of bread crumb visible.
6. In the same pan, sauté the onion slices on low heat in 3T of oil until the onion begins to darken.
7. Dissolve 1 Oxo beef cube and 1t of miso in 1 cup of boiling water. Add the stock to the pan with the onions. Follow up with 1T sherry, 1t sugar, 1t mustard and simmer until most of the water has boiled off and you are left with an onion gravy. Pour the onion gravy into a gravy boat or other vessel.
8. Separate the ground beef into 4 equal parts with the end of a fork or spoon. Shape each portion into a ball in your hands, which you then flatten into a thick (1 – 1.5 inch) patty.
9. Add oil to the pan (which you have cleaned) and heat up the pan. When the oil is sizzling hot, place the beef patties into the pan.
10. Pan fry the beef patties for 6 minutes flipping them every minute or so. After the 6 minutes add 1/3 cup of water and cover – allow the beef to steam for a minute.
11. Remove the cover and add a large knob of butter. Flip the hamburgs one last time. Turn up the heat. When most of the water has boiled off, plate the hamburgs and pour the pan’s residual liquid into the onion gravy. Spoon the gravy over the beef patties to complete your hamburg steak.

 Notes

• The staple typically served with Hamburg Steak is steamed white rice or mashed potatoes, rarely fries and never bread.
• Like other steaks, there will usually also be an assortment of cooked vegetables like carrots, egg plant, tomatoes or string beans. Many of these can be cooked together with the beef in the pan so plan accordingly. A sunny side up fried egg is also typical.
• If you don’t like the idea of an onion gravy, Hamburg Steak is also be served with a variety of other sauces, like black pepper sauce, mushroom sauce or demi-glace sauce.
• For the ‘cheeseburger’ version of the Hamburg, you don’t place a slice of cheese on the meat, but insert a block of cheese in the middle of the raw burger.  
• The Hamburg Steak is supposed to be eaten well done, so don’t try to make them ‘medium’. In Japan they sometimes mix some minced pork with the beef and you definitely want to eat pork fully cooked. Even fully cooked the meat will remain tender and juicy because of the non-meat ingredients and the steaming, so there is no need to worry about your ‘burger’ becoming tough and hard unless you really overcook it a lot.
• Do not substitute onion bits for the shallots. It won’t impart the right flavour to the beef. 

 

Slow Cooked Beef Shank Kebabs

(serves 4)
This is a very unauthentic recipe for kebabs, but it is however a great way to cook stew-type cuts of beef without actually making a stew. Its actually more of a cross between shish kebab and boeuf bourguignon. I think of it more as a Provencal-style dish than Persian. We start out by making a stew in white wine and end up drying up the stew into a nice tasty glazing for the beef chunks.

Ingredients

1. Beef Shank (800g)
2. Carrot (1 large)
3. Eggplant (1 large)
4. Garlic (12 cloves = 1 bulb)
5. Mushrooms (200g)
6. Shallots (8)
7. White Wine (1 cup)
8. Oxo Beef Cube
9. Pesto
10. Oregano
11. Thyme
12. flour

Preparation 

1. Cut your beef into large cubes after removing any chunky bits of connective (white) tissue. Besides using beef shank, other appropriate cuts would be rib fingers, brisket or cheek. Lightly salt the beef.
2. Preheat your over to 150^oC (300^oF). Dissolve1 Oxo beef cube in 1.25 cups of hot water.
3. Peel an entire garlic bulb and put half the cloves through a press. Peel the shallots but keep them whole. Cut the carrots, mushrooms and egg plant into pieces of the appropriate size.
4. Put the beef cubes into a zip loc bag with 2T(heaped) of flour. Shake the bag until all the surfaces are thoroughly coated.
5. Heat up a pan with 3T of oil and lightly sear all the sides of the beef cubes. Do this a few pieces at a time.
6. Place the seared beef into a large pyrex dish, followed by the cut vegetables around the meat. Sprinkle on 2T of oregano and 2T of thyme. If you really want to you can skewer everything on metal skewers first like real kebabs (except for the garlic).
7. Deglaze the pan with 1 cup of white wine. Add the beef stock. Add 2T of pesto and the crushed garlic. Cook for a minute. Pour over the beef and then cover the pyrex baking dish snugly with foil.
8. Poke 3 small holes in the foil with a toothpick. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour 40 minutes.
9. Remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes to dry up the liquid and give the beef a nice glaze.

Notes

• You may have noticed I did not skewer the kebabs. I usually skip this as its tedious to do the skewering and the un-skewering. 
•  If you are having a real BBQ, you can throw your pre-cooked kebabs (skewered) over an open flame BBQ to get the charcoal flavour.  
• If you have a Dutch oven like le Creuset you can use that instead of the pyrex dish. 

 

Oxtail Braised in Red Wine

(serves 4)
Oxtail is loaded with gelatinous cartilage and tendon, making it the ideal cut of beef to interact with the tannin in red wine. It’s a pairing made in heaven. When braised sufficiently, the meat neutralizes the astringent bitterness of the wine, the wine at the same time tenderizes and flavours the meat. Add some common vegetables into the mix and what you get is the tenderest, tastiest morsels of beef you have ever eaten.

 

Ingredients

1. Oxtail (1kg)
2. Large Carrots (2)
3. Onions (2)
4. Red Shallots (12)
5. Garlic (1 bulb = 12 cloves) 
6. Brown Mushrooms (150g)
7. Red Wine(1-1/4 cups)
8. Cloves (6)
9. Bay Leaves (5)
10. Oxo Beef Cubes (2)
11. Campbell’s Oxtail Soup (1 can)
12. Woustershire Sauce
13. Mustard 

Preparation

1. If there is connective tissue (white stuff) left on the outside of your oxtail, cut some slits parallel to the bone in these areas to expose the meat beneath. Place the oxtail in a deep pot which has 2 times as much internal volume as the meat. Top off the pot with boiling water until the meat is just covered, add 1-1/4 cups of red wine and bring to a boil. Use a fuller wine, i.e. preferably not Pinot Noir / Burgundy.
2. Add the can of oxtail soup, 6 bay leaves, 6 cloves, 2 Oxo cubes and 2T woustershire sauce. Keep on a low simmer for about 3 hours. You don’t have to have the fire on the entire time if you don’t want to. I usually just simmer for 15 minutes and leave the pot covered for 45 minutes, three times.
3. Slice your carrots into thick discs, each onion into 8 wedges, and each mushroom into 4 (or 2 if they are small). Peel the garlic and shallots but leave them whole.
4. Fish out the oxtail into a deep casserole with a quarter of the liquid. Discard the bay leaves and cloves. Throw all the vegetables into the remaining oxtail soup in the pot and keep on a low simmer for 1 hour.
5. In the meanwhile, microwave the meat on high, covered for 3×3 = 9 minutes. Before you start and every 3 minutes thereafter, roll the oxtail around to keep them moist.
6. After the oxtail pieces have cooled, strip the meat from the bone. It should come off easily without any cutting. If not, send it back to the microwave. Keep the meat morsels drenched in the drippings to prevent them from drying out. With 10 minutes to go on the vegetable simmer, return the meat (and drippings) to the pot.
7. For taste, add 1T sugar, 1t mustard and a generous sprinkle of black pepper. Finally add salt incrementally until the sweet taste from the sugar is masked. This varies with each person’s tastes so I won’t suggest an exact amount. 

Notes

• I bet you’re thinking…hmmm if I want to complicate things and put the veggies in before I take out the meat, I can save quite some time. Yes that’s true. 
• The microwaving helps melt the remaining fat and connective tissue. If you don’t have a microwave, then you’ll have to roast the oxtail in the oven – before putting them to boil in the pot. This is the traditional way of doing it but I prefer the microwave method as it is more convenient.
• This is not oxtail in a red wine reduction, but it is similar. If you want to cook a wine reduction version, follow the above recipe but…
  • skip the can of soup
  • skip the onions
  • skip the mustard 
  • reduce the Oxo cubes to 1
  • at the end, fish out the veggies (to be served on the side) and reduce the liquid to concentrate it.
• Other cuts of meat suitable for this recipe are beef ribs, brisket and cheek.
• If you like love oxtail but not the taste of wine, try my Scottish Oxtail Stew recipe instead. 

 

Chinese Style Beef Strogonoff

(serves 3)
This is a fusion version of the Russian classic Beef Stroganoff. The beef is marinated in the Chinese Style using bicarbonate of soda, leaving it extremely tender. You won’t be needing a nicely marbled piece of Wagyu beef for this recipe and more importantly there is no chance to overcook it. When married with the rich taste of sour cream, the end result is a fusion of Eastern and Western (actually East meets Eastern Europe) cuisine.     

Ingredients

1. Beef Fillet (400g)
2. Brown Mushrooms (150g)
3. Onion (1)
4. Sour Cream (1/3 cup)
5. Oxo Beef Stock Cube (1)
6. Balsamic Vinegar
7. Bicarbonate of Soda
8. Corn Starch
9. Coriander Seed Powder
10. Soya Sauce
11. Brandy
12. Vegetable Oil

Preparation 

1. Cut the beef fillet into slices which are as thin as you can manage manually. Cut across the grain where possible.
2. Mix the marinate as follows: 1/3 cup water, 1T soya sauce, 2t corn starch, 1t sugar, 1t coriander seed powder, 0.5t bicarbonate of soda, 0.5t salt. Mix the meat in the marinade well and leave it for 2 or more hours. It may appear watery at first but all the liquid will be adsorbed by the meat over time.
3. Its now 2 or more hours later. Add 2T or balsamic vinegar to the meet and mix well. You should see some small bubbles as the bicarbonate reacts with the vinegar. This is normal.
4. Cut your onion into half rings and the mushrooms into thick slices.
5. Disolve one beef cube in 1/3 cup of hot water in a large bowl.
6. Pan fry the onions with a dash of oil for about 3 minutes on low heat. Add the mushrooms and continue stir frying till the mushrooms begin to soften. Empty the contents of the pan into the beef stock. 
7. Put a generous amount of oil into the pan and turn the heat to high. At the same time mix 1T of oil into the marinated meat. When the pan is searing hot, sautée the meat. Make sure both sides of each piece of meat has time on the pan. When no part of the meat’s surface appears uncooked anymore, pour in the stock, onions and mushrooms.
8. Continue on high heat till the liquid is reduced to 1/3 its original volume, it shouldn’t take long. Add 1/3 cup of sour cream. Simmer on low heat for a further minute before adding 3T of brandy and turning the fire off. Add salt if you fancy, but taste it first. 
9. Plate with either buttered fettucine or buttered rice, and sprinkle on some black pepper after plating.

Notes

• If you wish to marinate the meat ahead of time, remember that you can’t leave the meat overnight without first adding the vinegar. After doing so, you can even refreeze the marinated meat.
• If your knife skills are lacking, there are two ways you can get around this. Either have your beef semi-frozen before you begin slicing, or cut slightly thicker pieces and flatten them with a meat mallet.
• If you wish to understand more about the effect of bicarbonate of soda on meat, please refer to this post.
• In some places (like Brazil or Hong Kong) you’ll encounter versions which use heavy cream instead of sour cream. Add 2T of HP sauce to the heavy cream to cook this version.

 

Scottish Oxtail Stew

(serves 6)
The tail is one of the best parts of a cow for stewing. It is loaded with gelatin and its meat gets softer the longer you cook it. My particular version of oxtail stew uses barley as one of its ingredients, and contains no tomatoes or wine, hence my choice of a Scotch prefix.  The barley results in a very hearty stew, perfect for cold weather. Its a meal in itself, with no need for additional stapels or vegetarian side dishes. 

 

Ingredients

1. Oxtail (1.5kg)
2. Large Carrots (2)
3. Onions (2)
4. Potatoes (2) 
5. Mushrooms (250g)
6. Small Cabbage (1/2)
7. Pearl Barley(1/3 cup)
8. Black-eyed Beans (1/2 cup)
9. Tarragon
10. Oregano
11. Bay Leaves
12. Oxo Beef Cubes (3)
13. Campbell’s Oxtail Soup (1 can)
14. Whisky
15. Woustershire Sauce 

Preparation – Part I

1. If there is connective tissue (white stuff) left on the outside of your oxtail, cut some slits parallel to the bone in these areas to expose the meat beneath. Place the oxtail in a deep pot which has 3 times as much internal volume as the meat. Top off the pot with boiling water until the meat is just covered and bring to a boil.
2. Add the can of oxtail soup, 6 bay leaves, 1T tarragon, 1T oregano and 2 Oxo cubes. Keep on a low simmer, covered, for about 3 hours. 
3. Dice up half of your carrots, onions, mushrooms and fry them in a large non-stick saucepan with a knob of butter. This portion of the vegetables is meant to disintegrate, so chop them up finely and don’t worry about being tidy. After about fifteen minutes in the pan, add two cups of water with a Oxo cube dissolved in it, 1/3 cup of barley and 1/2 cup of black-eyed beans. Simmer this, again covered, for about an hour.
4. If either the pot or saucepan starts to get low on water, add some to prevent them from drying up. When they are done, leave them covered with the heat off to settle for a few hours. This is the end of the preparatory stage and should be done several hours ahead of time or even the night before.

Preparation – Part II

1. Now the final stage. Cut the remaining vegetables into sizes you want to see in the final stew. I normall cut the onion into 8 wedges, the mushrooms into quarters, the cabbage into 2 wedges and the carrots into round discs. The 2 potatoes should be peeled and diced into 1 inch pieces.
2. Fish out the oxtail into a deep casserole with a bit of the soup, discard the bay leaves and microwave on high, covered for 9 minutes. The microwaving helps melt some of the remaining fat and connective tissue. Before you start and every 3 minutes thereafter, roll the oxtail around to keep them moist.
3. Throw all the vegetables into the oxtail soup, including the pre-cooked vegetables from the sauce pan, and again bring to a low simmer.
4. When the oxtail pieces has been microwaved, return them together with any drippings, to the pot. Stir every minute or so, until the new set of vegetables begin to soften. Then you add the final seasoning during the last ten minutes of cooking.
5. For taste, add 3T sugar, 3T whisky, 3T woustershire sauce and a generous sprinkle of black pepper. Finally add salt incrementally until the sweet taste from the sugar disappears. This varies with each person’s tastes so I won’t suggest an exact amount. 

Notes

• Why are we cooking the vegetables seperately from the oxtail? Because the small bits invariably get trapped under the oxtail and become burnt at the bottom of the pot. This way, you don’t have to watch the pot and keep stirring for several hours.   
• Why are we cooking the vegetables seperately from each other? If we put all the vegetables in from the beginning, everything will disintegrate into a porridge. This way you get the wholesomeness of long cooked caramelized vegetables, plus some recognizable pieces when you serve.
• Make sure you use polished pearl barley. The rougher partially polished hull barley is not edible and is meant to be discarded after cooking, or for distilling alcohol.
• If you don’t have a microwave, then you’ll have to roast the oxtail in the oven – before putting them to boil in the pot. This is the traditional way of doing it but I prefer the microwave method as it is more convenient. Besides, it allows me to use a pot of a more manageable size.
• The picture shows the entire stew on one plate. This is purely for aesthetics. Normally I’d serve the meat on a plate and the stew seperately in a bowl. If I am in a generous mood, I sometimes even strip the oxtail of meat at the end, which I then mix into the stew.
• If you prefer your oxtail stewed French style, check out my oxtail braised in red wine recipe.

 

Beef Carpaccio Tonnato

(serves 6)
This is a variation of Beef Carpaccio. It lets you enjoy carpaccio at home even if you can’t cut beef nearly as thinly as restaurants can using a commercial slicer. Instead of the normal carpaccio topping of vinaigrette, arugula and parmigiano, you substitute in the tuna mayonnaise of a Vitello Tonnato. Add in a slight searing of the beef and the result is a delightful fusion of two famous Italian starters.

Main Ingredients

1. Beef Tenderloin (500g)
2. Canned Tuna in oil (200g)
3. Anchovy in oil (25g)
4. Eggs (2)
5. Mayonnaise (5T)
6. Olive Oil (2T)
7. Mustard (or wasabi)
8. Balsamic Vinegar
9. Rosemary
10. Thyme

Preparation

1. Hard boil two eggs ahead of time. (You won’t be needing the egg whites)
2. Mix 0.5t of salt, 1t of black pepper, 1T of rosemary and 1T of thyme together and sprinkle this evenly onto a cutting board. Roll your fillet over the herb mixture to form a coating on the outside (excluding the ends).
3. Preheat a frying pan with about 3T of vegetable oil and fry the curved portions of the tenderloin for six minutes. A pair of clamps would be helpful here. To leave a symmetrical rare core in the centre and sear the herbs into a crust, cook the fillet on four different sides for 90 seconds at a time, instead of rolling it about. When done, set the meat aside to cool.
4. Now for the tonnato sauce. For the tuna, use the type that comes in oil to minimize water. Blend the tuna (including the oil) with the anchovy, the egg yolks, 5T mayonnaise, 2T olive oil, 1t  white pepper and 1t of (seedless) mustard. All the components are soft and you probably require only 5-10 seconds on high on the blender. Keep this covered and refrigerated if you are not using it immediately.
5. Using a shaving motion, slice the beef as thinly as you can and arrange the discs of meat onto plates. I find that using a mildly serrated knife is the easiest. Since there is a cooked crust, it should be much easier than slicing a bone fide carpaccio.
6. Spoon the tonnato sauce onto the beef, leaving the edges of the meat visible. Decorate each serving with a spot of balsamic vinegar. You first dip the vinegar into a central spot using a teaspoon and then using something small like the back of a toothpick stir it into a small amount of the sauce. Pull the darkened portion out into the spiral sun pattern as shown, or form any other design you please.

Notes

• If you replace the pan fried beef fillet with braised veal loin or top round that has been chilled, you’ll get the real Vitello Tonatto, so this is actually a bonus two-in-one recipe. You can use the braising method described in this Braised Pork Ribs Recipe if you are unfamiliar with braising meat.
• Traditionally you should serve vitello tonnato with capers (I don’t particularly care for them so I tend to leave them out). If you have some handy, you can plop them on as part of the decoration.
• If you have chopped Italian parsley/coriander, which you can normally only buy fresh, you can use them instead of the thyme.
• I strongly recommend using the green Japanese mustard called wasabi. It goes much better with this dish than French or English mustard.

 

What is Wagyu Beef?

There is beef and then there is Wagyu (pronounced Wha as it what + Gue as in argue). In the circles of fine dining, it is often mentioned in the same breath as Beluga caviar, white truffle, chu-toro and Iberico ham. Wagyu beef is characterized by an intense marbling of fat obtained through selective cattle breeding in Japan over many generations, which gives it is unique buttery flavour and ultra tender texture. The veins of fat are most prominent when the meat is frozen and gradually fade off as the Wagyu warms up.

Because of its high fat content, Wagyu is often not served thick and is typically cut in sirloin style slices. That’s because its fat has to be melted to bring out the full flavour of the meat (in the same way that bacon taste better with the fat melted down). If Wagyu is undercooked it tastes just like any other raw beef steak, except perhaps with a milder flavour. Medium is as rare as one would go for top grade Wagyu, and sometimes my preference is to have my A5 done medium-well, or it tastes a bit like I’m eating fat.

The ideal way to cook Wagyu is over an open charcoal grill, failing which you should at least use a cast iron grill pan with ridges. Sear on both sides twice, so you can get the nice criss-cross pattern.  Use a little bit of coarse salt to bring out the steak’s flavour, but refrain from using any tenderizer, marinade or sauce. Paint oil onto the steak instead of heating it up in the pan as it will reach smoking point. You can however serve your wagyu with thin slices of garlic that are fried till they are crispy, and/or flambe it at the very end with a shot of brandy without disturbing its intrinsic flavour. Estimate how well your steak is done is by observing its shrinkage.

Japanese Wagyu
Well this is a tautology since in Japanese Wa = Japan and Gyu = Cattle. Ironically, Wagyu is never referred to as Wagyu in Japan. Wagyu cattle is typically of the Black Tajima-ushi breed but all Japanese beef is branded by the area where the cattle is reared and not the breed (you know just like French wines are designated by the location of their vinyard, not the grapes used), usually somewhere in the warmer regions of Kyushu or Southern Honshu. If a restaurant is serving Wagyu that doesn’t come with a name, its a sure sign the beef is not from Japan.

It is universally accepted that the best Wagyu is from Japan because of the high quality feed and depending on the individual regions, cattle are given massages, fed beer and all other kinds of overkill. Wagyu are reared much like dogs; they spend most of their time indoors except when they go for their daily walk and at night they sleep in their own personal stalls in a barn. Outside of Japan, the most commonly available types of Wagyu are Kobe, Kagoshima and Matsuzaka, although I occasionally also come across Wagyu from Saga and Hida. Dozens of other varieties such as Yonezawa, Mishima and Akaushi are available domestically but they are bred in smaller numbers and are rarely exported. This article from the HK Tatler has a very good overview of the various varieties.

Depending on the texture, colour and most importantly how fine and distributed the fat marbling is, high grade Japanese beef is scored between A3 to A5, with A5 (pictured) being the best. Remember the marbling pattern should be examined when the meat is very cold as the veins of fat are not white at room temperature. To give you an idea of equivalence, USDA Prime is the equivalent of Japanese A1. In case you were wondering, there is also B and C grade meat for stews etc. .

Oveseas Wagyu
The Wagyu breeds are also reared in Austalia, Canada and the USA. These cattle are (mostly) from the bloodline of Japanese cattle and are fed using the ‘local equivalent’ feed, but are considered to be not as good as the their Japan bred cousins. They cost less (see notes), so this proof enough without going into a long discussion. This doesn’t mean Western Wagyu is bad in any way, they are still a premium meat by any standards. Speaking of standards, foreign bred Wagyu is graded at between M4 to M12 so if you are told a M-score, then you can assume the meat is not from Japan. Many a time restaurants will put Wagyu on their menu without stating the grade, which means its probably just a M4 to M6, so be mentally prepared to be disappointed. I would say M7-9 is equivalent to a Japanese A4 while M10 and above is equivalent to a Japanese A5.

American Kobe-style Beef
This is a cross between Wagyu and Black Angus, bred specially for the North American market in America. This beef has nothing to do with Japanese Kobe Beef except for the ‘uncanny similarity’ in spelling. Its existence stems from the fact that Americans are so used to eating their steaks rare, since western beef gets tough if it is cooked to any meaningful degree. So the Angus component has been introduced to make Wagyu more ‘beefy’ even when it is rare. This makes sense, but then again if you are really into medium rare or rare tenderloin style steaks, why not go with an aged Angus instead?

Phantom Wagyu
Officially called Tosa Aka-ushi, this is a lean version of Japanese Wagyu from Shikoku. The cattle there are of the Japanese Brown (the coat is more of a golden colour if you ask me) variety. Though they also sleep in barns, they are left to spend the daylight hours roaming the hills, and get plenty of exercise, which makes their meat leaner. Nonetheless, they have the same great umami-rich flavour of their fatty cousins. Tosa Akaushi are graded from R1 – R5 as their reduced fat makes the A-grading irrelevant. For those who insist on having their beef cooked rare, you’ll find Phantom Wagyu a grade above Angus or American Kobe.

Notes

• Don’t take my word blindly about the difference in quality between Japanese A5 Wagyu and other beef, believe market prices. I have the prices of beef for steak from various countries on the right. They are from the same butcher’s counter in Singapore, so all the meat is fairly priced as imported beef. Gram for gram the Japanese A5 Kobe Ribeye costs 4x as much as US prime corn-fed Ribeye, the best grade of beef from the USA and 5x more than Australian Black Angus Fillet.
• When you are buying raw Wagyu, after the butcher slices the thickness you want off the slab, he is supposed to cut off the thick perimeter fat before weighing. Also make sure the grade of the meat is stated, or you might be overpaying.
• Cast iron grill pans should be stored with a coating of fresh cooking oil and ideally wrapped in a cling film to prevent rusting.

 

Braised Beef Ribs, in Guinness

(serves 4)
Stout is a good braising beverage because of its rich nutty taste and all the nourishing grains that goes into each pint of it. I experimented with all kinds of flavours to partner stout before I settled on soya sauce. I don’t know if its because both are black, but they match well, resulting in a East-meets-West braised rib recipe, with hints of Korean cuisine and Pub food.

 nb. No reason why you can’t use pork ribs instead of beef ribs if you so desire.

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Ingredients

1. Beef Ribs (1000g)
2. Guinness Stout (1 can)
3. Leek (chopped, 1.5 cups)
4. Carrot (1 large)
5. Garlic (12 cloves)
6. Oxo Beef Cube (1)
7. Flour
8. Honey
9. Dark Soya Sauce
10. French Mustard
11. Cardamon
12. Tarragon

Preparation

1. Start by cutting your carrots into thick discs and diagonally slicing your leek into half rings. Peel the garlic into individual cloves.
2. There is no need for marination. Just trim off any large chunks of fat and then dredge your raw ribs through a few T of flour containing a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
3. Using a frying pan, sear your ribs in a few T of oil until they are brown on all sides to seal in juices. You should do them a few at a time, without crowding the pan. Arrange the seared beef in a pyrex or casserole dish as shown below.
4. In the same pan, without washing it, stir fry your leek in a few T of oil on low heat. When the leek softens, turn up the heat and add your can of stout. Make some beef stock using half a cup of hot water and an Oxo cube, and add that in as well.
5. Preheat your oven to 160^oC (320^oF),
6. Continue to simmer until the volume of your braising sauce is reduced by a third. Turn off the heat and finish off the sauce by mixing in 4T of Dark soya sauce, 2t (heaping) of honey, 1t of cardamon, 1t black pepper,  1T of tarragon.
7. Arrange the carrots and garlic between the ribs and pour your braising sauce over the ribs, making sure the ribs are fully covered. It’s ok if some of the vegetables stick out. Seal the top of your baking vessel snugly with aluminium foil. If it has a cover, use it. Do not poke breathing holes into the foil.
8. Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours depending on how chunky your ribs are. Remove from the oven and pour all the liquid, plus what is left of the leeks, into a glass or porcelain container.
9. Place the ribs and carrots back in the oven without any cover for a further 10 minutes to dry out.
10. Skim away as much of the oil from the gravy as you can and then pour the remainder into a gravy boat. Add 1t each of honey and French mustard and mix well.
11. The ribs can be served with a healthy dose of soft staple food. Rice, mashed potatoes and polenta are the ones I usually serve with these ribs.

Notes

• There is dark soya sauce and light soya sauce. This recipe requires the dark variety which is normally used for margination. Japanese soya sauce is ok but you shouldn’t use Chinese light soya sauce which is normally used for seasoning and dipping.
• The height and size of the baking dish is important and you should pick one which is tall enough to prevent liquid from boiling over. It must also be big enough to accommodate the ribs without stacking them.
• Don’t skip the flour. It makes its easier to seal the meat when you are browning it and it also adds some body to your final sauce.
• You may choose to take out the carrots for the final 10 minutes of baking if you like them soft.
• If you find that all the liquid has boiled off skip step 9 and instead remove all the solids from the baking vessel and add some hot water and scrape the container to create the gravy.
• For BBQs, bake for just 1 hour and then finish off the cooking over the BBQ fire. The ribs will be too soft for BBQ if you cook them for the full period.
• If you don’t have cardamon, try using nutmeg instead.

 

French Onion Soup

(serves 6-8 )
It is amazing that something as simple as onions can make such a fantastic soup. All this thanks to that someone ages ago who discovered that the sugar in onions caramelizes when it is slow cooked in oil, bringing out the onion’s hidden natural sweetness. This is a really labour intensive and time consuming soup, but it’s well worth the effort. You can serve it as is, or oven-baked with a cheese topping.

Ingredients 

1. Oxtail (2 pieces)
2. Onions (4 big)
3. Butter (50g)
4. Bay Leaves
5. Thyme
6. Garlic (4 cloves)
7. Oxo Beef Cubes (2)
8. Sherry

Optional Ingredients

1. Gruyere Cheese (100g)
2. French Baguette (1 short)
3. Flour (2T)
4. Miso (2t)

1. Start by making your stock. Into 5 cups of boiling water, add your ox tail, 4 bay leaves, 4 cloves of garlic, 1T thyme. Mash 2 oxo cubes in a bowl with a bit of hot soup first and add this to the stock as well. 
2. Simmer for at least two hours, or longer if you wish.
3. Slice your 4 onions into 1/4 inch rings. Using a heavy non stick pan, stir-fry the onions in a quater block of butter under low heat for about 45 minutes. The onion rings will slowly caramelize into a deep yellow colour and shrink to one quarter of their original volume. A sign that your onions are done is when they stop whistling. (you can do part 2 and 3 concurrently)
4. Strain the solids from the stock. Ladle some beef stock into the pan and then empty the pan’s contents back into your stock pot.
5. Simmer for a further half hour (you’ll need to stir occasionally as it sticks to the bottom) to bring out the full flavour of the onions.
6. Season with, 2T (or more) of sherry, 2t sugar, 2t miso, a generous sprinkle of black pepper. Stir and add salt to taste.
7. For best results, allow to cool and reheat before serving.

Baked Option (you’ll need ramekins)

1. Have your onion soup refrigerated. This stops the bread from soaking completely through before the cheese browns.
2. Preheat the oven to 180^oC (350^oF).
3. Medium grate your Guyere.
4. Slice six pieces of your french loaf diagonally so they just fit across the remekins and toast  them a bit (again to stop the soup fom soaking through too fast)
5. Pour your cold onion soup into your remekins, filling only 3/4 of the way up. Put a piece of bread on top of soup and then heap cheese on till it covers both the bread and any gaps.
6. Bake till cheese melts and begins to brown, about twenty minutes. Serve immediately.

Notes

• If you want to use flour, sprinkle in 2T of flour 3 minutes before the onions are done frying, and deglaze slowly while stirring. This is a trade off. The flour will bind away some of the oil that would otherwise film on your soup and give it a bit more body. However, you no longer have a clear soup. I do it both ways, depending on what else I am serving during the meal.
• Instead of oxtail you can use beef ribs or any part of the cow that has plenty of connective tissue.
• Isn’t Miso Japanese? What’s it doing in a French soup? Trust me, Miso goes really well with onions. If you have never used it before, check out my post on Miso Paste.
• Why aren’t I using French wine? I prefer sherry as it brings out the sweetness of the onions.
• If you can’t find Gruyere, either Raclette or Emmental are good alternatives. For further details, refer to my Cheese Page.