Roast Beef And Beef Tataki

Song: Never Can Say Good Bye (Flute Cover)

Artist:  TwainsBlues

On a previous night...

my wife had made this simple dish of roast beef for Alex.

I had sampled some...

and it was so juicy and delicious...

I had asked her how she had cooked it...

and on the next night...

I decided to cook the same dish for my mother.

My wife had actually used a lesser cut of beef than did I.

All my wife did was to use olive oil and salt and pepper as an initial rub...

place the beef in an uncovered roasting pan...

and cook it for an hour to an hour and a half...
depending on the thickness(for two pounds of meat) at 375 F.

Although my mother is wearing an old robe to cook with

(she didn't want to get her Happi coat dirty while cooking)...

she is wearing a shirt my elder sister had made for her underneath it.

(She is still missing her eldest daughter).

As the beef was cooking...

I started the rice...

and I then fire roasted Shishito (a mild hot pepper)...

and I had my mother do the veg prep for the follow up dish using the left over beef...

as I had started with almost a Kilo of beef.

Our meal for the night was sliced roast beef...

and the extra beef for the next day's meal would be used to make Beef Tataki.

This particular Japanese radish is called Daikon.

My mother had halved the daikon for ease of handling.

We used both halves for this dish.

It will form the most critical component for the Beef Tataki.

Never get the insanely small Daikon grater.

It simply takes way too long to get any appreciable amount 

in a reasonable amount of time.

I had purchased this Godzilla grater (my name for it)...off of Amazon.

After waiting for my mother to grate the first half of the daikon...

I grew impatient.

She was using small strokes.

I then showed her that it was full length strokes at the highest rate which

takes full advantage of the size of the grater.

I was grating at such a great speed that my mother grew nervous

at how low the daikon had shrunk so quickly...

and how small of a piece I was soon left holding.

For safety reasons...

either get the plastic one...such as this one...

or get a metal one which has a veg holder...

which will prevent accidentally grating your knuckles

when the daikon runs low.

If you accidentally run you skin across this plastic type...

you will most likely only get a road rash type of injury...

whereas with the metal ones...

you will color the daikon below with a crimson flow which will surely follow.

With this grater...

I had shown my mother that a whole daikon could be grated in about one minute.

One whole white onion is then halved...

sliced into 1/4 inch thick semi circles...

and these are then halved.

Break apart the onions...

and place them in with the grated daikon.

Now...

these are three of the basic ingredients which add the flavor.

The majority of the sauce should be Ponzu.

It has a vinegary citrus taste.

The soy sauce is added if you like a more salty taste...

the Mirin is to add more sweetness.

I like straight Ponzu...

and I will sometimes add ground hot red peppers to the mix.

However...

for this batch...

I just kept it simple.

The resulting mixture is ready for the addition of the meat...

which we did not do until we had finished the night's meal of sliced roast beef.

The Shishito is especially good when dipped into Ponzu before eating.

I then pre-staged an area for when I pulled the meat from the oven.

Just about when the beef was done...

the rice had finished cooking.

I then fluffed the rice and let it sit until the meat was fully ready.

After pulling the meat from the oven...

I then covered the pan and let the meat rest for 20 minutes.

My mother then sat waiting for the meat to be finished.

She was hungry...

and as she sat with the expectant look of a child about to receive a treat...

but with still 20 minutes to go...

I decided to have us start with the shishito to bide the time.

I love to see the child like expressions of delight on my mother's face

when she does things she loves to do...

and she LOVES to eat  :)

Soon after...

the meat was ready to be sliced.

I had her pre slice all of the meat...

as I could then put in whatever we couldn't finish that night...

into the Daikon / Onion / Ponzu marinade.

This was my mom's first portion.

We each had more on the second helping  :)

Now...

this picture should automatically tell you something.

Although my beef was okay...

it was not nearly so juicy as was my wife's.

With my wife's beef...

I hadn't any need of any sort of condiment

(and she had an inferior cut of beef!).

With mine...

well...

it needed a little help.

My mother loved the beef though.

After our meal...

I placed the rest of the meat into the marinade.

I mixed everything together and covered it.

It was then placed in the fridge to marinate for a day.

The great beauty of Beef Tataki is that the marinade softens the meat...

and it makes even formerly, somewhat dried out meat...super juicy.

The acid / citrus juices simply bursts with flavor within the mouth with each tender bite.

I LOVE Beef Tataki.

In the next article...

I will show our next day's meal of Beef Tataki.