Wagyu British Beef Whole Striploin | ±3kg

Wagyu Whole Striploin - Steaks or Roasting Joint

±3kg. Serves 10 to 12. Defrost 28–30 hours.

1. Defrost
Move the pack from freezer to fridge. Leave it in the vacuum pack, on a tray. A piece this size needs 28 to 30 hours. Plan for it. Cook within 24 hours of defrosting. Do not refreeze.

2. Decide how to break it down
A whole striploin gives you around ten 250g steaks, or two roasting joints, or one of each. There is no need to choose a single route. Cut what you want now and wrap and freeze the rest, using it within 12 months.

3. Keep the fat cap
Do not trim the layer of fat along the top. Score it lightly in a crosshatch, no deeper than the fat itself. Rendered down, it is the best cooking fat in the kitchen and it carries the olive-fed flavour.

Method A - Steaks (around ten steaks of 250g, 3cm thick)

4. Cut across the striploin at 3cm. Temper the steaks 40 minutes, pat dry and salt generously.

5. Stand each steak on its fat edge in a hot dry pan, holding it with tongs, until that edge is bronzed and the pan has a film of rendered fat. Two minutes or so. Then lay the steak flat and cook it in its own fat.

6. 2½ to 3 minutes a side. Pull at 52°C for medium rare. Rest 6 to 8 minutes, then slice across the grain at 1cm.

Method B - Roasting joint (reverse sear, for a Sunday or a centrepiece)

4. Tie the joint at 4cm intervals so it holds an even shape. Salt it all over and leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge overnight if you can. A dry surface is what gives you a crust.

5. Out of the fridge one hour before cooking. Heat the oven to 110°C and set the joint fat side up on a rack over a tray.

6. Cook until the centre reaches 48°C. Allow roughly 35 to 40 minutes per kilo, but go by the probe and not the clock.

7. Rest 15 minutes, then finish it. Either turn the oven to 240°C and return the joint for 8 to 10 minutes, or sear it in a very hot pan on all sides. Pull at 52°C.

8. Rest a further 15 to 20 minutes on a board. Remove the string. Carve across the grain at 1cm, and spoon the board juices back over.

Do not cook it past medium rare. The striploin is leaner than a ribeye, with its fat on the outside rather than through the muscle. It has less margin, and beyond 55°C it tightens.

If chilled
Keep refrigerated at 0-4°C in its unopened vacuum pack and use by the date on the label. You can freeze it unopened at any point up to that date - at -18°C or below it will keep well for up to 12 months.

If frozen
Keep frozen at -18°C until needed. Use by the date on the pack.
Defrost in the fridge, in its packaging, allow 28-30 hours. Never defrost at room temperature or in a microwave.
Once opened or defrosted, keep refrigerated at 0-4°C and use within 24 hours. Do not refreeze once thawed.
A faint metallic smell on first opening the pack is normal for vacuum-packed beef and will disperse within a few minutes in open air.