This recipe is one of the mains in the fusion Japanese banquet menu I shared yesterday, pictured below.
Beef tataki
Tataki is a Japanese dish where a protein (usually fish or beef) is briefly seared on the outside, thinly sliced then served with a citrusy sauce. It’s a popular starter at modern Asian restaurants, the sort of food that appeals to everyone – meat lovers as well as those who enjoy the more refined Asian fusion dishes (think: Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice Cakes, that sort of thing!). But it’s dish you pay dearly for, around $30 for a small serving (6 to 8 slices) at higher end restaurants. So the plate pictured in this post would cost around $80 at a restaurant (plus parking plus wine plus everything else!), compared to around $20 – $28 for the ingredients (the price of beef is a big variable).
My mother is quick to point out that beef tataki is not traditional, you only find fish tataki in Japan (here’s her Tuna Tataki recipe). So beef tataki recipe falls outside the domain of RecipeTin Japan (“authentic Japanese recipes”) which gives me the rare opportunity to post a Japanese recipe. Albeit a modern one. I’ll take that!
Ingredients for Beef Tataki
As noted above, I’m offering two recipe options here – restaurant version vs and easy Monday night option. So take your pick!
BEEF TENDERLOIN
Beef tenderloin is a lean, tender cut of beef which makes it ideal for serving in a delicate dish like tataki. Because of the shape, you get a larger area of beautiful rare cooked red meat which makes this tataki extra-luxurious to eat.
Choosing the best beef tenderloin piece for tataki
Shape – Choose a piece that is thinner and longer (250g/8oz that is 13 – 15cm / 5-6″ long) as it is easier to slice thinly than large thick blocks. Short and fat – If yours is shorter than 11.5cm / 4.5″ (which means it is wider), cut it in half horizontally to form 2 thinner pieces. It takes a very skilled knife master to cut a thick piece of beef like that into thin slices. (Partially freezing doesn’t work for such a thick piece either, you end up with solid outsides before the inside is semi-frozen). Trim to uniform thickness so the beef cooks through evenly. Weight – The recipe is written for a 250g/8oz piece but you can use a larger piece if you wish, there is enough sauce. Quality – Because this is cooked to rare, I recommend getting a good quality piece from your local butcher. But there’s no need to get premium quality like I would (strongly) recommend if making raw beef dishes like beef tartare or carpaccio. If you use an economical piece, I’d recommend cooking the beef to at least medium rare and be prepared to cut thicker slices (more well done = meat breaks more easily when finely sliced). Also, use a bigger piece because thicker slices = less slices!
steak option for tataki
In theory, you can make tataki with any cut of steak, but my personal preferences are:
beef tenderloin steaks (filet mignon) sirloin/porterhouse (known as New York Strip in the US. Not to be confused with what the US call porterhouse steaks which is the equivalent of T-bones here in Australia). This is pictured below (fat trimmed). It’s a good option because it has a more beefy flavour than tenderloin.
Both of these cuts are tender enough to serve for a dish like tataki and also they are relatively lean so you won’t have large chunks of cold white fat.
yuzu dressing for tataki
Tataki is typically served with a citrusy dressing. I’ve opted for a homemade ponzu-style sauce with the addition of Yuzu, a Japanese citrus which tastes like a combination of lime and lemons (excellent subs!). The Yuzu gives this a touch of special (restaurants love it!) and distinct Japanese flavour. However, Beef Tataki is the sort of dish that will work with various Japanese/Asian style sauces so I’ve listed some alternative sauce options below.
Cooking sake and mirin – two essential sauces in Japanese cooking that can be found in the Asian aisle of large grocery stores these days, as well as Asian stores. They add depth of flavour into this sauce. If you can’t consume alcohol or find them, suggest using one of the alternate sauces listed below. Rice vinegar – substitute apple cider vinegar Japanese soy sauce – or Chinese light soy sauce or all purpose soy sauce. Do not use dark soy sauce (too intense, it will ruin the dressing). Yuzu – a distinctly Japanese citrus. Chefs go through phases when they’re obsessed with this, with menus everywhere filled with Yuzu this and Yuzu that! Find it in Asian and Japanese grocery stores, they are sold in small bottles like pictured below. Substitute with equal parts lemon and lime juice (it’s actually not far off).
alternative sauces
In case you can’t consume alcohol or can’t get all the ingredients for the Yuzu Dressing, here are alternative sauces/dressings that will also be terrific with beef tataki. If you use any of these, do not use the garlic oil as these dressings already have oil in them.
Asian Sesame Dressing The ginger garlic dressing from Beef Soba Noodles Dressing for the Tuna Poke Bowl
something crunchy!
A crunchy garnish always works well with these sort of dishes, to add texture contrast. For the restaurant-style beef tataki option, I’m using Crispy Potato Straws (blatant copycat from tataki I’ve had at restaurants). These superfine fries are the perfect garnish because they are delicately crisp and you can pile them up high so they add visual interest. I’ve posted them as a separate recipe because they’re worthy! See Crisp Potato Straws (Pommes Paille). Easy alternative – Rip open a packet of crispy fried shallots and sprinkle! They’re a perfect alternative – salty, crispy little pops of goodness. Pantry staple in my world – I use them so often, I even wrote a post about them!
Garlic infused oil
To get some lovely garlic flavour into this dish, I’ve opted for garlic infused oil. I prefer this to, say, mixing garlic into the dressing (which can be a little too harsh for delicate dishes like this). Garlic chips are a popular garnish option at restaurants, but again, I also find that the flavour can be a little too strong for this dish. But you do end up with crispy garlic chips, so feel free to use them! Here’s what you need to make the garlic infused oil:
Grapeseed oil is a neutral clean flavoured oil that is ideal to use for this sort of purpose. Substitute with rapeseed oil or any other neutral flavoured oil.
How to make beef tataki
Don’t be daunted by the step photos, it’s not hard. I’m just being generous with explanations because it’s a special dish! And remember, in its simplest form: cook a steak, slice it, and serve with one of the simple Asian dressings listed above. Monday Night Tataki is so good!
1. How to cook the beef for tataki
- Use a rack set on a tray to allow the heat to circulate evenly around the beef so it cooks through more evenly. ^ Typically, oven temperatures for fan-forced ovens is 20°C lower than standard ovens. However, at lower temperatures, this adjustment is not always necessary.
2. Garlic infused oil
Here is now to make the garlic infused oil. There’s a good amount of garlic for just a bit of oil, so you get really good but smooth garlic flavour that complements without overwhelming the dish. Raw garlic in any form is a little harsh for a delicate dish like tataki, I find.
3. Yuzu dressing
The dressing has mirin and sake in it, so they need to be simmered briefly to remove the alcohol (else they taste a little too “winey”).
4. Crispy potato straws (pommes paille)
See the separate recipe for the full Crispy Potato Straws steps. In summary: Storage: This stays 100% crispy for 5 days. Make a big batch and munch on them like french fry crisps!
Plating up
OK, ready to assemble!
how to make monday-night steak tataki
If you don’t have time to wait for the steak to cool, serve it warm. It’s still soooo good!
How to eat and serve Beef Tataki
Typically, you’ll see Beef Tataki as a starter on restaurant menus or as part of a multi-course banquet. And while it’s too pricey to consider as a main when dining out, it’s within reach when eating in! Serve it alongside a leafy Asian Salad or Slaw with fried rice or garlic rice, and you have yourself a lovely modern Asian meal. As for how to eat it? (And yes, I totally realise how odd it sounds to include directions for how to eat beef tataki but I feel it is my duty to ensure that with every piece of beef, you get a bit of the toppings (especially if you’ve made the crispy potato straws!) and you squidge each piece of beef in the sauce before putting it in your mouth. Squidging is key! Promise me you won’t forget! – Nagi x PS Reminder – this recipe features as part of my special fusion Japanese menu! Designed especially with practicality in mind with much of it make-head.
Watch how to make it
Life of Dozer
Always reminding me that he’s ready and willing! I enjoy raw beef for dishes like carpaccio and steak tartare where the beef is finely chopped / sliced or pounded paper thin. Beef tataki slices are a bit thicker – around 3 – 5 mm – so I prefer it to be rare. I realise a few millimetres sounds minuscule, but it really does make the difference! A bit too much of a mouthful of raw meat sensation if it’s fully rare inside, as many recipes seem to direct. I know, I’m sooo particular! 😂 However, because we are cooking the beef only to rare, it is recommended to get a good quality beef. You don’t need to go rolls royce (which I’d recommend for rare beef dishes). But this is not the dish to make with end-of-shelf-life discounted beef. 🙂 You won’t have this problem with steak because the slices you are cutting will be smaller. Generally, it is much easier to finely slice a steak rather than a tenderloin. To cook beef tenderloin so it is rare from edge to edge, slow roasting at a low temperature is best (it still only takes 20 minutes). The higher the temperature, the thicker the band of overcooked beef and the higher the risk of accidentally cooking it too much (the window of time to get the internal temperature right is much smaller at higher temperatures). Also, the thicker the outer band of cooked beef, the harder it is to finely slice as it crumbles. So, after trying a handful of methods, I found slow roasting to be the easiest, low-risk method that yields the best results for edge-to-edge perfectly rare-not-raw beef with a very thin seared crust (which literally takes 10 seconds on the stove). The lower temperature roasting is also the proved and much-loved method I use for premium cuts of roast beef including prime rib (standing rib roast) and beef tenderloin roast. Sous vide is actually my first method of choice for this particular recipe because it’s impossible to overcook the beef, it’s “set and forget” and it is edge-to-edge perfectly rare beef, even more so than slow roasting. But I didn’t make it the base recipe as I assumed most home cooks don’t have sous vide equipment. Steak doesn’t need to be chilled as long because it’s thinner but as with tenderloins, it too can be made the morning of. The dressing can be made the morning of (I find the yuzu flavour fades if made too far ahead) and the crispy potato straws can be made up to 5 days ahead. They stay 100% crisp! And there you go! Some of the iterations and testing that I undertook for this recipe. I know it sounds pedantic. But beef tenderloin is a premium cut of beef, and this is not a quick ‘n easy one pot paste. So I want to give people the confidence that they can tackle this! And believe me, there were many, many happy volunteers to take leftovers! 🙂
