Deep-Frying Wagyu?! It Actually Works and It’s Delicious!

I first came across Deep-Fried Wagyu in one of Guga Foods’ videos.

It looked good, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try it this Father’s Day. I know it’s frowned upon to deep-fry steak, but when I cook steak the regular way, it’s always hit and miss. I often end up with very rare steak, or overcooked steak.

SNAKE RIVER FARMS WAGYU

For our steaks, I’m using Wagyu from Snake River Farms. This is American Wagyu, which I have already talked about in a previous post. Snake River Farms is the American Wagyu brand that many Michelin-starred restaurants use 🙂

Here in the Philippines, the brand is available at S&R.

• Snake River Farms Wagyu Black Grade Ribeye, 300-350g (P1,499.00)
• Snake River Farms Wagyu Gold Grade Ribeye, 300-350g (P1,699.00)

Snake River Farms American Wagyu is wet-aged for 21 days.

DEEP-FRYING WAGYU

So I decided to deep fry the Black Grade Ribeye. I do not have beef tallow, and I don’t think butter will work for deep frying. All I have on hand is general cooking oil, regular olive oil, and extra virgin olive oil. I smelled the olive oils and decided that the olive scents were a bit too strong – I don’t want the steak to end up smelling like olive oil. So I just used general cooking oil (also S&R brand), which was fairly neutral.

First of all, the frozen steaks were thawed inside the refrigerator since yesterday. I took them out of the ref while I was preparing the pans, etc… this should give the steaks enough time to get near room temp.

On medium heat, I heated oil in a deep pot that is big enough to fit the steak. I made sure there was enough oil to cover the steak. I waited for a few minutes to make sure that all the oil was evenly hot.

Meanwhile, I patted the steak with some tissue to make sure there is no excess moisture that would cause splatters. I did not salt the steak nor do anything else to it at this point. This is good steak — enjoy it in its purest form! No taste distractions! ?

Deep-Frying the Wagyu:

I carefully lowered the steak into the hot oil. I fried it for 2 minutes.

When the crust formed and started to darken, I was worried that I might have overcooked the steak. The steak wasn’t that thick, about 3/4 inch. After 2 minutes, I took it out and let it rest on a cutting board. While waiting, I was worried that it might still be very rare. I had no idea if I had overcooked it or if it was still undercooked.

Deep Frying Wagyu Results

I cooked the Gold Grade Ribeye while letting this steak rest. While resting, I sprinkled a good amount of sea salt on both sides.

After letting it rest for about 10 minutes, I sliced the steak on the bias and WOW! Lookie, lookie!

 

The steak was juicy and wonderfully medium rare! The steak did shrink a little but I am very happy with the result. This was also the first time that I have produced this kind of medium rare result so easily! It was also mind-blowingly delicious, as expected – you have a delicious browned crust, meaty outer layer, and absolutely tender, unctuous pink center.

I really think I can consistently achieve the same result with this cooking method, better than stove-top cooking where I have to do a lot of “tancha-tancha”. My only improvement would be to use beef tallow, if I can find it, or butter, although I don’t know how I can deep fry with it. The cooking oil I used is okay, but butter tastes better 😀 Maybe I should brush some butter over the steak after it’s just been taken out of the frying pot.

PAN-SEARING

I cooked the Gold Grade Ribeye on a cast iron pan with some Anchor Butter (salted).

I seared it on both sides, and, because I have not mastered this, I decided to use a meat thermometer to make sure my steak was medium.

After searing both sides, I stuck the meat thermometer into the center of the steak, and the needle barely budged. So I waited a bit more, lowering the heat as much as I could, until the needle said that it had reached 150F. But the needle barely went above 140F… My spidey senses were already telling me that the steak had been cooking for too long…

So I took the steak out of the pan and let it rest, and sprinkled both sides generously with sea salt, as well.

When I sliced it, I saw that it was fully cooked. I was sad, and I totally blame my meat thermometer ? but then I noticed that the meat was still incredibly juicy!!! It was actually juicier than the medium deep-fried steak. Is that the difference between Black Grade and Gold Grade?

Taste-wise, the Gold Grade tasted better, of course. I fried it with butter, duh. I was crying tears of joy at how unbelievably juicy and remarkably tender it still was even if I cooked it until it was well done. Snake River Farms Wagyu Gold Grade Ribeye is a forgiving steak. There’s not even any hint of dryness in the steak…

If some of you like your steak well done, this is the steak to get!

Tip: Slice only what you will eat in the next few minutes. Do not “pre-slice” the steak because that will make the sliced steak dry out. Just slice some more when you are about to eat more.

Of course, I did not let the butter and the Wagyu fat left in the cast iron pan go to waste! I sauteed some mushrooms and vegetables in the same pan to mop up all the buttery Wagyu goodness.

I served some mashed potatoes with the steaks, too 🙂

CONCLUSION

Deep-frying Wagyu steak – will I do it again? It depends. I like how easy it is to do – there is hardly any guesswork. The hot cooking oil covers the whole steak, cooking it evenly from all sides. Two minutes is all it takes and it’s done! I would do this again if I wanted a consistent, medium rare result 🙂 I also liked the crispy bits of the steak ends that were achieved by deep-frying.

Notes for improvement would be to use a better oil for frying – something that’s more beefy or buttery. The regular cooking oil was okay, but I feel like a more buttery frying oil would elevate this steak to the stratosphere 🙂

Snake River Farms Wagyu Ribeyes are leagues above regular steak. The difference is unmistakable.

Snake River Farms Wagyu are exclusively distributed by Alternatives Food Corp.

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