Wagyu Chilean Beef Whole Tri Tip Maminha | ±1.5kg

Chilean Wagyu Tri Tip Maminha - Reverse Sear, Oven or Barbecue

±1.4kg. Serves 5 to 7. Around 1½ hours from fridge to table.

1. Fresh or frozen
Check your pack. If it is chilled, keep it at 0-4°C in its unopened vacuum pack and cook by the date on the label. If it is frozen, thaw it in the fridge in its pack, allowing 20 to 22 hours.

2. Look at the grain before you cook
The maminha is triangular, and its grain changes direction partway along. One half runs one way, the other half turns. Find the point where they meet now, while the meat is raw. You will need it at the end.

3. Salt it early
Salt generously on all sides. Leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge overnight if you can, or at least an hour before cooking. Score the fat cap lightly, no deeper than the fat.

4. Temper
Out of the fridge one hour before cooking.

5. Low heat first
Oven at 110°C on a rack over a tray, or a barbecue set for two zones at 110 to 120°C with the lid down. Cook until the centre reaches 48°C. Allow around 50 minutes for a piece this size, but go by the probe and not the clock.

6. Rest, then sear
Rest 10 minutes while you bring a heavy pan or the hot side of the barbecue up to full heat. Sear 2 minutes a side, fat cap last. Pull at 52°C.

7. Rest properly
10 to 15 minutes on a board. Do not cover it tightly.

8. Cut it in two, then carve
This is the step that decides the result. Cut the maminha in half at the point where the grain changes, then slice each half across its own grain at 1cm. Carving the whole piece in one direction leaves half of it chewy, however well you cooked it.

For tataki. Skip the low oven. Sear the raw piece hard on every side for 90 seconds in total, plunge it into iced water to stop the cooking, then dry it, chill it and slice it as thin as you can. Serve with ponzu, grated ginger and spring onion.

If fresh
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 20-22 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.