With Wagyu beef, all the effort goes into its making. Once the meat is in your hands, the rest is easy. You don’t even need to use any fat, because the farmer and the animal have sorted that for you. It’s all about the marbling, and the marbling is all about the fat.

Whatever you do, do not cut off and discard the fat cap on one side of the steak. That way madness lies. You’ll be throwing away the very point of what Wagyu is about: that fat. And if you’re thinking now: but I can’t eat all that fat … well, let’s just say Wagyu is not for you.

I served them with creamed mushrooms and thick-cut potato chips.

Ingredients

Just look at the difference between a regular cut of steak (in this case, a sirloin, left) and a Wagyu (this one’s a rib-eye). (Photo: Tony Jackman)

(Let’s presume you’re cooking for 2)

2 Wagyu rib-eye steaks, about 300 g each, with the fat cap still on

Salt to taste

(And that’s all…)

For the creamed mushrooms:

1 punnet button mushrooms, sliced thickly

⅓ cup white wine

200 ml cream

A sprig of thyme

Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Salt your Wagyu steaks on both sides and let them stand uncovered in the fridge for a few hours.

Remove the steaks from the fridge at least an hour before you intend to cook them.

Make the creamed mushrooms first (and deep-fry your potato chips as well, just before frying your steaks): Oil a deep heavy saucepan and fry the sliced mushrooms until they release their juices and then turn a nutty brown as those juices cook away. Stir often. Add the wine and reduce to almost nothing. Add the cream and thyme, season with salt and black pepper and simmer until it thickens, stirring. Keep the creamed mushrooms to one side to quickly heat through immediately before serving.

Heat a heavy pan till it’s very hot.

Hold a Wagyu rib-eye fat side down to the pan and rub the fat all over the pan. It will immediately release enough fat to coat the pan.

Cook one side of the steaks for no more than a minute and a half.

Turn and fry the other side for barely a minute.

Let them rest for a few minutes.

Serve with the pan juices, creamed mushrooms and thick-cut potato chips. For the potato chips, use the quantity you fancy, peeled and cut thickly, and fry them in hot canola oil until crispy and golden brown, but soft and fluffy inside. DM/TGIFood

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Champion 2021. His book, foodSTUFF, is available in the DM Shop. Buy it here. 

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks. Share your versions of his recipes with him on Instagram and he’ll see them and respond.

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