Wagyu Japanese Beef Shabu-Shabu / Sukiyaki | ±200g

Japanese Wagyu Shabu-Shabu / Sukiyaki A5 - Hot Pot

±200g, Grade A5, sliced 2mm. Serves 2. Defrost 7 hours. Seconds a slice.

1. Defrost
Move the pack from freezer to fridge. Leave it in its packaging, on a plate. Allow 7 hours. Cook within 48 hours of defrosting. Do not refreeze.

2. Take the slices out before they thaw fully
After around two hours, while the slices are still firm, lift them gently out of their sleeves. At 2mm and fully defrosted, they tear as you separate them. This is the step that decides how the plate looks.

3. Lay them out, do not pile them
A single overlapping layer on a cold plate, back in the fridge until the moment you eat. Take them out 10 minutes beforehand, no more.

4. Do not season
No salt, no marinade, no oil. The broth and the dipping sauces do all the work, and A5 at 2mm needs nothing else.

Method A - Shabu-Shabu (light kombu broth, ponzu or sesame to dip)

5. Bring a kombu broth to a bare simmer. It should tremble, not boil. A rolling boil toughens the slices and clouds the broth.

6. Hold one slice with chopsticks and swish it through the broth. Five seconds is enough at this grade. Watch the colour turn from red to pink and lift it out. A5 marbling melts faster than any other beef you will cook.

7. Straight into ponzu or a sesame sauce, and eat it immediately.

8. One slice at a time. Never drop the plate in. Skim the surface between rounds, and keep the broth light so it does not overwhelm the beef.

Method B - Sukiyaki (sweet soy warishita, raw egg to dip)

5. Heat a shallow cast iron pan over a medium heat. Add nothing. The first slice will render enough fat for everything that follows.

6. Lay one or two slices flat. 10 seconds a side. They should barely colour.

7. Pour in your warishita, soy, mirin, sake and sugar. Let it bubble around the meat for a few seconds.

8. Lift the slices out and dip in beaten raw egg, using fresh Lion-marked eggs. Add vegetables and tofu between rounds, and keep cooking the beef in small batches as you eat.

Cook as you eat, not before. These slices carry on cooking on the plate. A slice left in the broth for a minute is a different product entirely, and at this grade that is an expensive mistake.

Delivered frozen
Keep frozen at -18°C until needed. Use by the date on the pack.
Defrost in the fridge, in its packaging, on a plate. Allow 7 hours. The pack will release liquid as it thaws.
Never defrost at room temperature or in a microwave.
Once defrosted, keep at 0-4°C and cook within 2 days.
Do not refreeze once thawed.