In Japan, wagyu is typically cooked longer than "normal" steak - usually up to a medium-well level. This is, quite simply, because of the marbling. When cooked well, the fat apparently dissolves and softens the surrounding meat. If you only aim to cook wagyu until it's rare or medium rare, you will miss out on the benefits of the wagyu (ie the melt-in-your-mouth tenderness) and you will just end up with a fatty lump of meat. The above is both what I've been told, and what I've seen of cooking techniques. Typically, when cooking a wagyu steak over a grill, the chef will sear the outside at a high heat, and then turn the heat down until it is quite low, and let the meat sit on the low heat for about 5 minutes. I must admit that I've only ever had a wagyu steak once. As has been noted above, eating a whole steak is unusual in Japan. It is far more common to either slice or dice the meat, and to then cook the slices or chunks and to serve them with a light dipping sauce.
post #16 of 28
1/28/08 at 5:38pm
