Please play this song, "The Song of the Flea" as you read this recipe / blog.
Or as always -[Skip straight to Recipe]
Imagine yourself as an old professional singer, on tour in a foreign land where you had to perform and record a new album, but succumbing to a toothache.
That's exactly what happened to Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin, the famous Russian opera singer, when he went to perform in Japan at the age of 63 in 1936, and to record "The Song of the Flea" by Mussorgsky.
He was staying in the fantastic Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, and the kitchen created this dish to accommodate him. The dish was immortalized as the Chaliapin steak,
I don' know what strain of cattle the Imperial Hotel used back in 1936.
Kobe beef was already known after 1868, when some limey convinced a farmer to sell him his farm cow, which he butchered and ate. At that time, meat from 4 legged animals were considered taboo, and cows in Japan were used mostly as draught animals. Luckily the governor of Hyogo Prefecture, Hirobumi Ito at that time was internationally minded, enjoyed his beef, and helped to market this beef.
Fukuo Tsutsui is mentioned in a historical fictional novel, as having apprenticed in Toyoken, a very famous french style restaurant that was influential to western cuisine in Japan (and who's head chef's later worked in the Emperors kitchens).
Toyoken's first location was opened in 1889, next to a new "beef hot pot - Gyunabe" restaurant upon recommendation by Hirobumi Ito, the same guy who popularized Kobe beef back in 1868. It's highly possible that the Chaliapin used was from a Tajima-gyu strain.
The comic also provides a recipe for their fans to follow, but from the color of the sauce, I'm not sure if they used 4 table spoons of red wine.
Like with our chicken dishes, this dish makes use of the enzymes from the onions to tenderize the steak. Any tendons are removed from the steak prior to pounding, and a cross hatching pattern should be cut into the meat to further tenderize it, and increase surface area for the onion enzymes to do their work.
The "sauce" is similar to the sauce we use with our steaks or miso-burgers, but taking inspiration from the sukiyaki roots, we deglaze with mirin and sake, and season with a little Japanese soy sauce.
I'm going to assume this is for a cheap piece of steak shaped meat from the supermarket. If you are buying a great piece of meat for a steak, please just cook it minimalist style, or lean steak style to really taste the meat.
I would like to further test this cooking method on meat that comes from a mature animal, or on some traditionally terribly tough, lean cuts of meat.
Health Elements
This is a wonderful way of using cheaper cuts of grass fed beef as steak. Grass fed beef has a better Omega3 : Omega6 ratio, and may have added health benefits compared to grain fed beef.
Marinating steak with onions may reduce the formation of neurotoxic compounds like heterocyclic amines in grilled meats.
Calculator notes -
Meat weight is in grams - 8oz steak is 226 grams
Salt volume is based on meat weight.
Soy value based on onion weight.
Onion is half meat weight.
PREP
1) Mince the onion
2) Salt your steak, and pound the meat lightly with the spine of your knife
3) Make thin slices along and across one side of your steak, making sure not to cut more than 40% into the meat. Try to space your cuts around 5mm / 1/5 of an inch apart.
4) Flip your steak and repeat the cuts from step 3.
5) Coat both sides of your steak with minced onion
6) Let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Your steak can be placed in the fridge for up to 2 days, but allow it time to rest for at least 30min, up to 2 hours at room temperature before cooking. This is because the enzymes are less efficient at low temperatures.
COOKING
1) Preheat your cast iron pan. Have your wet sauce ingredients premixed.
2) Scrape off the onion from your steak, and salt it evenly on both sides. Reserve the onions and juice from the meat.
3) Try to dry off the steak to the best of your ability
4) Pour some neutral high heat oil on the pan, making sure the pan is ridiculously hot.
5) Place your steak on the pan for 30s
6) Flip your meat onto another hot section of your pan, repeat this 3 to 7 times, depending on the thickness of your steak and your preferred doneness.
7) Remove your steak from your pan and place it on a plate to rest. Add ground pepper if desired.
8) Pour the minced onions into the frying pan, including all meat juices.
9) Deglaze the pan with onions, mirin, sake, and soy sauce. Add a pinch of sugar.
10) Butter can be added now if your steak was very lean.
11) Fry the onions on medium flame for 5 minutes, moving them constantly to prevent burning
12) Pour the fried onions over your steak, giving it a decorative crosshatched pattern if desired. Top with some chives / chopped parsley if desired.
 |
| I made two steaks, one using the chaliapin method. Use a very sharp knife to do the cuts. I removed the fatcap to render as we are trying to eat less fat lately |
 |
| One steak was marinated with onions for 30min, the other was just left there. Both equally salted. |
 |
| The steaks were cooked for an equal amount of time. Next time I would have cooked the chaliapin steak for a shorter time The Chaliapin steak was noticeably more tender, but not sure if it was tender enough to eat with a toothache. |
Other versions of this recipe:
https://cookingwithdog.com/recipe/chaliapin-steak/
Comments
Post a Comment