Sorry, too busy with the eating and didn’t bother taking photos of cooked steaks.
Here is a sample of one of my ordered outwordly-fn cuts at Ushigoro in Ginza/Tokyo 3 days ago.
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That fat is all flavor. Why would you cut it off?
Okay, so I am a huge fan of fat on meats of all kinds. Everyone has seen our pork chops. But I’m actually with Milton here that the particular plug in this cut is not always one I want. We do sometimes end up discarding it.
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To me it isn’t, I find it has very little flavor as it doesn’t actually cook. Remember this is not the exterior fat but rather that plug in the middle. It is just a piece of fat with sometimes connective tissue that doesn’t cook properly.
Because we rarely eat a steak as a serving I serve the steaks pre-sliced. This prevents someone getting all fat in their slice. The ribeyes I cook are generally a minimum of about 2 inches thick. Way too much for us to eat a whole steak and do the disassembly ourselves.
I’ve been doing it this way for a couple of years and happier with the results.
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Ok when serving it sliced I understand that. The very core of that bit is indeed hard to get fully rendered and often gets left behind on my plate too, but about 50% is pure goodness. But most of the time I eat my steaks as a whole serving so it makes it easier to decide which part to eat.
Precisely. To get that plug activated requires taking the steak to a higher internal temp than I want. Fat has to be activated to be delicious, for me. I don’t like rare wagyu either.
You are dead to me.
Talk to any Japanese yakiniku or teppanyaki chef. They will tell you they carefully control their cook for the level of marbling, because fully unactivated fat is considered a shameful mistake.
The obsession with everything being best rare is an American affectation. 
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Sarah, I completely agree with you. Extremely marbled beef is more flavorful when it at least achieves warmth. Rare/raw marbled beef is not maximizing the flavor. It’s still good and the texture is nice, but the flavor is muted.
@Milton_Hudson - I would love to see a pic of your before, then after tied ribeyes with the plug cut out. I might give it shot, although I doubt I would cut it back to muscle, and perhaps you don’t.
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These are seasoned so a little difficult to see. I will find some unseasoned somewhere.
Note it is one ribeye and two filets.
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Including poultry, IMHO.
Rare/medium rare A5 is very unpleasant to eat.
About 10 years ago I had a meal at the main Hafuu in Kyoto, and the chef had a cool comparison when we were talking about the difference between American and Japanese ways to cook beef. He cooked a small piece to medium rare. The texture was very unpleasant.
Like stringy, tasteless, heavy fat.
Like butter, fine Hokkaido butter.
Rib Cap is another one.
Really needs to be close to medium to get that fat proper imo.
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Hence the technique we have been discussing. Removing that heavy fat plug allows you to wrap the spinalis around the eye so it gets closer to medium while preserving the eye mid rare.
Found some photos after trimming and tying.
You can see I’m not eliminating all fat, just the large plug that doesn’t render or get tender.
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Received som A5 Boneless Short Ribs and another 3-1/2lbs of Morgan Ranch Outside Skirt Steak so whipped up some Carne Asada. First time with this A5 cut and didn’t want to overcook it so ended up undercooked. Live and learn.
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Snake River Farms tomahawk steaks.
With a very young but nevertheless delightful 2021 Jean Edward’s 74-41 Cab Sauv, which when not opened in infancy as I just did will be a fantastic companion to grilled steaks.
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