I was experimenting a few days ago with the wagyu yakiniku that I also posted about many months ago; I wanted a healthy-ish beef and vegetable salad for a diet-ish lunch. Wagyu beef, the generic cattle behind the famous Kobe Beef (perhaps 99% of which has never felt a masseuses gentle/brutal touch nor gotten drunk on Kirin beer, by the way, despite persistent apocryphal stories to the contrary) is pretty darn good, in my opinion, in small doses. I wanted the taste of a little beef but also a lot of vegetables to temper the dastardly fat content of the beef. Grown in Mindanao somewhere, I have found the yakiniku cuts to be well-marbled and while fatty, very yummy…
My first experiment was a simple grilled wagyu which had first been briefly marinated in some kikkoman, sesame oil, mirin, pepper and sesame seeds. I laid this on 
some sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, topped it with some grilled onions and served it with a sesame vinaigrette. The beef was excellent. But unfortunately, I found that the cucumbers and tomatoes were just way too watery to hold up to the beef. I felt the beef by far outshone the veggies and despite my gamely finishing the entire dish, this wasn’t quite what I was looking for. For some reason, I often find some of our local vegetables to be overly watery and lacking flavor, and tomatoes and cucumbers are the worst offenders of late. This beef would have been excellent with some white rice but that would have been a diet buster. At PHP1,000 per kilo, the beef is pricey, but with a kilo, I could easily make 8-10 of the salads featured here, therfore each serving would be roughly just a bit more than PHP100 per plate, not including the veggies. Not bad for a cow with such a stellar reputation…
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i’ve always believed that beef was made for macho veggies like potatoes,mushrooms, broccoli, onions, not for wimpy tomatoes and cukes. but, you’re right…most locally-grown veggies sold these days are beauties, but totally tasteless and devoid of character. i miss the “native” tomatoes-the ones with lots of “crimps” and “folds”. sayang!
How about crisp lettuce leaves? Roll the beef in the leaves like lumpia and add some yakiniku-d garlic chips with it? I love yakiniku and I wilt the lettuce over the grill. I didn’t know you’re not supposed to do that until one day all the yakiniku grill booths were occupied so I had to sit somewhere else and order from the kitchen. I asked the server to wilt the lettuce for me and I got a firm no. I don’t know, for me it’s just easier to roll the lettuce if it’s wilted.
Millet, you are right, beef with substantial pairings… Funny you should mention the native bumpy tomatoes, I just bought some this morning in the market. I did a post on them before, and I use them for sawsawans mainly. They are excellent. Marichu, stay tuned for Version 2, soon… and yes, the lettuce is typically served cold or unwilted for the use you describe…either in Korean or vietnamese versions of the dish…
Marichu, that is a good suggestion. I love lettuce wraps, and you could have shredded carrots and cucumbers sliced lengthwise in it, bean sprouts, you could add chopped peanuts or walnuts as well. I do like it with crisp lettuce, I think the wilted lettuce will put me off. Have a peanut sauce or sesame sauce for dipping.
Your Wagyu beef looks delicious. Try Napa cabbage and bean sprout next time since they came from the same horizon – Asian flair. Our fertile land is wasted due to overuse of chemical fertilizer – like dynamite fishing. The yield of gigantic fruits and vegetables is no value at all due to lack of flavor, watery and unsavory taste. Our farmers and the Department of Agriculture should promote organic farming. The Department of Agriculture should build more irritation and storage facilities.
MM, what do you think is the reason of our local produce are watery??
Maria Clara- you are right, we should go back to the basics, promote organic farming. . . and maybe some new agriculture ways that still support organic ways. . .
That salad looks absolutely delicious. I have a pack of the Wagyu Yakiniku in my freezer and have been deciding how to eat it in a somewhat healthier manner since I usually devour it with about three cups of rice!! That’s the thing I love about this blog, not only do I get great information from the post itself, but after reading the comments I come away with more ideas than I can handle. I must say market manila attracts talented and creative readers!
try this marinade: (for a pound of sliced wagyu): 4 tbps mirin, 1/2 cup soy sauce (lee kum kee premium soy sauce is surprisngly good) 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger. marinate 1 hour. grill for about 30 secs only.
serve with japanese potato salad: mashed some potatoes. instead of mayonnaise, use olive oil. add 1 tsp of mayo for every 1 cup of potato and lots of onion leeks. mix well. season with salt and pepper.
Hi Marichu :) The beef looks moist and tender to perfection :) Its good as it is :) Otherwise, a wrap sounds good too, with shredded cucumbers, green onions and some chili hoisin sauce, and get yourself a beijing beef wrap haha :)
Timmy that sounds great…will definitely try that marinade and potato side… Thanks!