Because it was on sale, my cousins and I ordered it on a whim yesterday morning. I came today and it’s beautiful to behold.
Here’s the question:
3 families (2 adults + 2 kids each ranging from 4-13) = 12 serious beef lovers
How should we prepare this beast for Christmas Day? It’s frozen and will take 3-4 days in the fridge to properly defrost.
Wow! Even for 12, that’s too much A5 for one meal, IMO. I would cut it in half while frozen and keep half frozen. That way you get 2 shots at it, and can learn from the first time if the method isn’t perfect. I have no suggestions to help you prepare it, having never done anything like that.
That’s a bleepload of real Kobe. I’m not trying to pee in your cornflakes but a little bit of Kobe goes a long way. I love meat and I’m a big guy, but that rich cut would feed 30 people in our house.
Interesting that the paperwork says ‘Not For Retail Sale’. I wonder why that would be.
I like chuck’s suggestion.
I’d either slice it thin and quick sear or a go slow and low and try to render the fat a bit before searing.
Serve doused with a ton of ketchup. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Yeah that’s too much. Half would be a lot.
I like cutting into thin pieces and searing on medium
/high heat.
This is from holy grail.
HOW TO COOK JAPANESE WAGYU
Pan-searing Japanese Wagyu is perhaps the simplest and easiest of all steak preparations (we do not recommend grilling A5-grade Japanese Wagyu as it flares too easily).
Pat your steaks dry and season with sea salt (pepper is optional but best kept light). Cook whole or slice into 3/4 or 1-inch wide strips.
Bring your pan (cast-iron or stainless steel) to medium- heat high. Adding a little neutral oil will help even your sizzle and better brown the crust; however, Wagyu will melt into the pan on its own so not a mission critical.
Once the pan is thoroughly heated, place your steak or strips in the center. Cook for 3 minutes on the first side, developing a nice brown crust. Flip and repeat for 2-2.5 minutes. This should develop a nice crust on both sides and get the steak to a medium, which is our preference, as it helps melt the fat in the middle of the steak.
Remove from heat and let your steak rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Yes, you guys are probably right about the amount for 12 people, even hard-core beef lovers.
I’ve been leaning towards cutting it into thin steaks and cooking it as Michael mentioned on a blazing hot cast iron. Or, we could cut those steaks into smaller strips and cook it Teppanyaki style. My first inclination was Sukiyaki or Shabu Shabu, but I don’t have an industrial meat slicer and it would be rather difficult with 12 people around the table.
And by thin steaks, I’m talking like 1/4 or 1/3 inch. That’s how it would be served in Japan in my (admittedly limited) experience. I swear they cut them while still frozen, but I might be wrong.
Curious, what was the sale price? I’ve seen it before on Costco’s website, but it’s not there today. Perhaps they sold out?
It was -$280, so the price ended up being $899.99 everything included, including next day air. I ordered at 7am on Fri, got it Saturday afternoon.
Sous vide, in entirety.
Why does Victor hate that beautiful chunk of Wagyu?
A joke. Even I would not sous vide that.
Those cows are bred humanely, which is good.
$73.17 per lb. is incredible for A5. Going to have to watch for that going forward.
I’ll be interested to hear your feedback on whatever techniques you try. Agree with the advice you’ve been given so far. I’ve always cooked A5 in small squarish pieces with a sear on each side, then sliced thin to allow each piece to have some sear as well the interior fat to be warm.
That is bonkers. The portion advice is good it’s a simple case of math, the calories are absurd not that anyone is counting but the body is very good at counting them even if you don’t realize it.
Now granted I have never cooked A5, but I do take a piece of wisdom from Colicchio, you need to have greater than normal doneness to activate that fat. The thin slices in a hot pan accomplish that. You could also experiment with a chunk and do a slow and low roast after salting the heck out of it, then searing hard on all sides. A decent amount of rendering and caramelization is key.
OK, after consulting several sources (including you all – thank you!), I think this is the plan of action:
Break down the Beast into the Cap and the Eye.
The cap will be smoked at very low heat (thank God it’s freezing cold outside!) in the BGE just enough to imbue some flavor. It will then be treated as a steak and seared on a red hot cast iron pan.
The eye will be cut into pieces to be treated differently – 2 thin steaks will either be marinated in Shio Koji if I can get it to ferment in time, if not then in Shiro Miso, and seared; 2 will be treated as Teppan-yaki with a variety of salts, aged soy, fresh yuzu, and fresh wasabi for sprinkling/dipping; and some will be sliced very thin and cooked as Sukiyaki.
It’s Christmas, so we’ll have all day to eat. It’ll be a multi-course Wagyu tasting.
Steak tartare?
My best birthday present ever was the multi-day intensive butchery class that Marty gave me a few years back. I broke out those knives today and they are still razor sharp.
For a 12.3 lb A5 Wagyu, I trimmed a lot less fat than I was expecting. This was a fantastic piece of marbled meat!
First, I separated the cap from the eye and cut it into two pieces. The smaller flap would be our control and be seared in cast iron plain, with no seasoning and served with salts so we could get the pure flavor of the beef. The thicker piece was for cold smoking. I then trimmed and sliced some very, very thin pieces of the eye for Sukiyaki. The rest of it was cut into 1” steaks.
It was still very cold out when I built a tiny fire in our XL BGE. I soaked a few small chunks of cherry wood and added those just before putting on the ceramic plate and a drip pan half full with ice cold water. I added the Rib Cap and smoked it for 30 minutes. The temperature inside never even came close to 100*, so no fat was rendered. The smell was divine! That was then placed immediately on a plate that came straight from the freezer so it would quick chill the meat. It then got wrapped tightly and put back in the fridge to chill until dinner.
I found fresh Wasabi and Yuzu(!) at Daido market nearby, and that made for the perfect accents for the meat. I had laid out several different salts (Malden, Malden Smoked, Truffle, Fleur de Sel, Pinot Noir Salt, Spanish Salt “Scales”), Yuzu Salt made from fresh zest, Yuzu fruit for squeezing, Piment d’Espelette, grated fresh wasabi, and a very special bottle of aged soy sauce given to me as a gift. The overall favorites for the meats were the fresh Yuzu Salt and the Aged Soy with Fresh Wasabi.
There were plenty of dishes to start off our meal, including Burgundian Escargot swimming in garlicy Bordier Butter, Broiled Shishito Peppers with fresh Yuzu zest & juice, cheeses, and freshly baked cheese and prosciutto bread, au gratin potatoes and green beans.
Everything was cooked in a scorching cast iron pan to quickly sear the meat and give it a nice crust. We started with the “control” piece of the Rib Cap. It had a beautifully sweet buttery flavor to it. We then had the cold smoked Rib Cap and that ended up being the favorite of most of the crew. Some of the Eye Steaks were seared next and then cubed. They were like eating wobbly cubes of amazing meaty butter. We had 9 adults and 5 children for dinner. We got through a little over half the 12lb chunk of “meat butter” before crying uncle. I totally forgot about the Sukiyaki. We never made it that far.
Looks incredible!
-Al
Wow!
A once in a lifetime meal!
I did not know you could buy fresh wasabi!
Thanks for sharing.
