Wagyu Beef Tataki

Treat yourself to the exquisite flavours of Wagyu Beef Tataki—a delicate balance of seared A5 wagyu with a homemade ponzu sauce. This dish lets you enjoy the best of both worlds: the rich umami of lightly seared beef with the freshness of sashimi. The quick sear brings out the meatiness through the Maillard reaction, while the tangy ponzu sauce with citrus and soy perfectly complements the intense marbling and melt-in-your-mouth texture of wagyu. For me, tataki is my favourite cooking method for Wagyu because it gets the best of both worlds. It achieves the Maillard reaction, giving it the meaty taste one would normally associate with a well-cooked steak, yet keeping most of the beef in sashimi form, showing off the elegance of the Wagyu taste and the subtlety of the Wagyu fat, which is balanced by the ponzu. 0:00 - Intro 0:09 - Why Tataki 0:34 - Searing the Wagyu Steak 1:30 - Making the Ponzu Sauce 1:56 - Slicing the Wagyu Steak 2:06 - Plating The dish also acts as a wonderful portion control. Steakhouses around the world have made it fashionable to have Wagyu as their premium item. While it probably makes perfect business sense, Wagyu should never be served as a whole steak, in my humble opinion. It has way too much fat (up to 60% for A5 Wagyu). For comparison, foie gras has 67% fat. Personally, values aside, no one in their right mind would go to a steakhouse and order a kilo of foie gras as a main. The term tataki in Japanese means “pounded”, which actually applies to the pounded ginger that is normally added to fish tataki as a garnish. For beef, I prefer the thinly sliced shallot, which has a bit more sweetness and is usually less spicy. Ingredients A5 Japanese Wagyu Ribeye Steak - about 200g Shallot - half, thinly sliced Salt Black Pepper Lemon juice Light soy sauce Edible flower (optional) Micro coriander (optional) Directions 1. Prepare a bowl of ice water. 2. Heat the pan at high heat (induction 9) until smoking, season the Wagyu steak on both sides with salt and black pepper, then add the steak to the pan without oil (it will release its fat very quickly). Push down with a spatula to increase contact with the hot surface. Cook until browned on both sides. You should aim to do this as quickly as possible. 3. Transfer the steak to the ice water to stop the carry-over cooking. 4. To make the ponzu, mix equal parts of lemon juice and light soy sauce. (You can adjust the amount of soy sauce to taste.) 5. Slice the steak thinly and add the ponzu sauce on top. Garnish with the thinly sliced shallot, edible flower, and micro coriander. ______________ Follow us on Instagram:   / w2kitchn   #W2Kitchen #wagyu #wagyua5