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The Steakhouse 50 · make it at home

Wagyu steak, seared Japanese style, with wasabi and ponzu

30 minutes · Serves 2 to 4 (richness, not size)

How Tokyo's teppan and charcoal rooms treat very marbled beef: cut small, seared fast and hard so the fat melts without the meat overcooking, cut into bite-size pieces, and eaten with the simplest things: salt, fresh wasabi, garlic chips and a little ponzu.

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The real one

You need

• 8 to 12 oz (225 to 340 g) Japanese or high-marbled wagyu sirloin or rib eye, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick
• Flaky sea salt
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly and evenly sliced
• 3 tbsp neutral oil
• Fresh wasabi (or good tube wasabi)
• For the ponzu: 3 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp fresh yuzu or lemon juice, 1 tbsp mirin
• Optional: a handful of bean sprouts or shishito peppers, a bowl of steamed rice

How to make it

1. Take the beef out 20 minutes before cooking. Pat it very dry. Trim any thick outer fat and keep a small piece to grease the pan.
2. Mix the ponzu. Put the garlic and the oil in a cold small pan, set it over medium-low heat and cook 4 to 6 minutes, swirling, until the slices are pale gold. Lift them onto paper; they crisp as they cool. Keep the garlic oil.
3. Heat a heavy cast-iron pan or griddle over high heat for 4 minutes. Rub it with the piece of beef fat.
4. Salt the steak lightly and lay it in. Sear 60 to 90 seconds until a deep crust forms, turn and sear 60 to 90 seconds more, and sear the edges for a few seconds each. Wagyu cooks fast: you want 125°F (52°C) inside at most; the fat should be melting, not rendered out.
5. Rest it 2 minutes, then cut it into 3/4-inch (2 cm) cubes or strips.
6. In the same pan, toss the bean sprouts or shishitos in the beef fat for 1 minute.
7. Plate the beef with a small mound of flaky salt, a dab of wasabi, the garlic chips and a little dish of ponzu. Each bite gets only one: salt, wasabi or ponzu. Rice on the side.

Tips

• Portions are small on purpose: 3 to 4 oz (100 g) per person of very marbled beef is plenty.
• A Korean table does it differently: thin slices on a grill at the table, wrapped in lettuce with ssamjang.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.