Wagyu - the ultimate indulgence...

I remember when I went to Las Vegas a number of years ago and tried the wagyu at an awesome restaurant in the Wynn Hotel, I just wanted to melt with it. It was the first time I had wagyu (Japanese marbled beef) and I fell hopelessly in love. It was definitely love at first taste. I wanted to have the whole thing to myself but unfortunately, it was over $200 a steak so everyone just got a small taste.

I couldn't eat beef for ages when I got back to Australia. The steaks weren't bad here but it just wasn't the same. None of the steaks here had that perfect melt-in-the-mouth texture and lovely fragrance from the scorched fat content. I didn't even have to chew! Time has since passed and the memory of wagyu started fading. I had proper wagyu twice in Japan but they weren't as high grade.

It wasn't until Christmas when my family friend Lin and his parents brought over a few good grade wagyu steaks that my fond memories of them resurfaced. Ahh, that was so indulgent I felt it was almost a sin. At $99 a kilo from Prahran market I believe one steak was, the price was almost a sin too! Each steak was around 250g and we ate 2 steaks amongst 10 people with a table full of other dishes. The wagyu was by far the most popular one.

Cooking it is quite easy too, you can also indulge in some high grade melt-in-your-mouth beef at home. :)

Simple wagyu
Adapted from Lin's recipe
Serves 1 to 2 (depending on how much money you want to spend :P)

Ingredients:

- 1 high grade wagyu steak, available from many good butcher or fresh food markets
- salt
- cooking oil
- that's it*

Technique:

1. Salt both sides of the wagyu and let it sit in room temperature or in the fridge for an hour

2. Heat pan to medium/high, add a small splash of cooking oil

3. Place steak on pan and cook until slightly golden brown on one side and then flip, only cook it for 2-3 minutes until the outside is slightly coloured as you want to retain the oils inside and keep it at rare.

4. You can put a lid on the pan (like we did) after the steak is turned so the heat is even, but it's not essential.

5. Cut into strips and serve immediately.

*This was how it was eaten at my house and boy it was delicious. If you want even more flavour, you can also add pepper on the steak and cook it with some garlic or even make a soy dipping sauce. I like my wagyu the natural way so the lovely beef juices can tingle my tastebuds. :)

Note: According to Yuye, wagyu needs to be cooked on lower heat so all the fats in the middle is melted. Our wagyu steak was cooked on high heat but still tasted awesome so I guess you can do it either way. The ones we had were quite rare inside, if you want it more cooked, have the heat on lower and leave the steak on the heat for longer so it's more cooked through.

Lin brought over steaks that were $99 a kilo (Prahran Market) and $69 a kilo (Victoria Market), I believe the one shown here was the $69 one but they really looked and tasted quite similar. I found the $69 steak had a little bit more sinew but really didn't make much difference taste wise so maybe go for the cheaper option if you can find it.

I didn't manage to get a photo of it on the plate (I lie, it was just a very ugly photo) so I leave it up to your imagination. I actually still have 2 wagyu steaks left over and maybe I'll post up another recipe or photo of it when I eat those. :D I'm going to be dreaming about wagyu tonight…

Question time: Have you ever had wagyu? How was it cooked and how did it compare to normal steaks?

Did you enjoy this post? If so, why not share it with your friends?

Share |