Wagyu tataki – wagyu striploin tataki with ponzu.

Wagyu tataki with ponzu, fresh ginger, shallot, spring onion and toasted sesame seeds – a truly wonderful little plate where good meat gets to take centre stage. The beef is seared very briefly over very high heat, rested for a moment and then cut into wafer-thin slices. The result is a handsome, crisp crust on the outside and a juicy, pink-to-red centre – exactly how I think a good tataki should be.

Tataki is a Japanese technique in which meat or fish is seared briefly and hard on the outside while the centre stays raw or only very lightly cooked. It is then cut into thin slices and typically served with fresh, sharp and aromatic flavours.

Here I use wagyu striploin, and it really is something special. Wagyu is known for its beautiful marbling, and the fat brings both flavour and a wonderfully rich mouthfeel. Together with the fresh, sharp ponzu, ginger, onion and toasted sesame you get a very simple plate that is nonetheless packed with flavour.

Because a wagyu tataki is made from so few ingredients, I think it is also important to choose ingredients of proper quality. There is no heavy sauce or pile of accompaniments to hide the meat behind – the beef itself and the very simple preparation are the whole point.

You certainly do not have to use wagyu striploin to make this recipe. A good flank steak also works very well for tataki, and you can of course happily use ordinary beef instead of wagyu. Just choose a good cut of proper quality that is suited to being served very rare.

How to get a perfect tataki

I take the meat out of the fridge about 30-40 minutes before cooking so that it is not ice-cold when it hits the pan. With wagyu in particular it is important to take it out in very good time, because of the dense marbling of fat. Then I season it with salt and sear it in clarified butter in a smoking-hot pan.

It needs only a short time over high heat. You want to build a good crust on the outside without cooking the meat all the way through. Exactly how long it needs depends, of course, on the thickness of your piece of meat, so use the cooking time in the recipe as a guide.

After searing, I let the meat rest for 5 minutes before cutting it into thin slices. Use a really sharp knife so you get neat, even slices.

I serve my wagyu tataki on a plate with a little depth to it and pour a generous splash of ponzu around the meat. The fresh acidity of the ponzu is a superb match for the rich, marbled wagyu. Then I grate fresh ginger finely over the meat and sauce, and top with thin slices of shallot and spring onion, toasted sesame seeds and perhaps a few micro herbs. It really does not need anything more.

Serve it as a snack or starter for 4 – ideally with something cold in the glass. It is the kind of small plate that looks incredibly impressive on the table but is actually remarkably simple to make. And when the ingredients are good, it simply tastes wonderful.