Last weekend, we were invited to a cooking class at New World Manila Bay Hotel called Secrets of Barbecuing.

Since J is an avid steak person, he was very happy to see that we were barbecuing quality beef! The beef was provided by Stockyard Beef, a well-renowned and award-winning supplier of grain-fed beef from Australia.

The class was taught by Chef Peter van Es of 2Pots Kitchen, New World Manila Bay Executive Chef james Williams, and his culinary team. We had our class at the poolside of New World Manila Bay Hotel. It actually looks like a secret garden because you access it through the spa before you arrive at the entrance to the pool area. It’s like, there’s a secret place hidden behind the spa. Who knew?

We barbecued 3 kinds of beef:

• a Wagyu tomahawk – the big one with the bone!
• a Wagyu rump cap – one of the tastiest cuts, located at the top of the rump
• and short ribs

Don’t worry, I’ll be sharing the recipes below.

ABOUT STOCKYARD BEEF

According to the chefs, Stockyard Beef is one of the best beef producers in Australia, second best, in fact. They are known for their flavorful, Halal-grade, premium natural Angus and Wagyu beef. The good thing about Stockyard Beef is that they provide good quality beef at reasonable prices, whereas the top beef producer sells beef for twice as much!

Stockyard Beef’s Black Wagyu cattle live a good life, and even listen to music! It takes 2 years for the cattle to reach the size to make a tomahawk steak.

WHAT IS A TOMAHAWK STEAK?

It is a big-ass steak that’s still connected to the bone and it looks glorious!  It is called a Tomahawk steak because it looks like a Tomahawk axe.

According to greatbritishmeat.com,

The Tomahawk Steak is an on-the bone Rib Steak, cut from the Fore-rib with the entire rib bone left. The long bone is french-trimmed, leaving an amazing presentation, and dinner table discussion point. As it is bone-in Rib Steak, it has quite a large amount of inter-muscular fat, which gives it a load of flavour when cooked, as flavours are released from both the huge bone, and inter-muscular fat during roasting to give a sweet gelatinous flavour.

The Tomahawk is cut based on the thickness of the rib bone and is usually 5cm/2 inches thick, weighing approx 1.2kg. A Tomahawk makes an ideal sharing steak for a special occasion or romantic meal, as it can easily feed two people. If you like bone-in steaks such as T-bone or Porterhouse, you’ll love the Tomahawk Steak as the primary muscle is the longissimus dorsi (back muscle), which is also the main muscle on the T-bone and Porterhouse.

SECRETS OF BARBECUING COOKING CLASS

For the Tomahawk steak, we simply sprinkled it generously with salt and drizzled olive oil on it on both sides. That’s all the flavor it needs. The chef said they are not a fan of peppering steaks before cooking because the pepper can burn.

After seasoning, we grilled it on high heat to sear it. Both sides need to be seared, and then cooked, preferably in a covered grill, at a lower temperature.

Contrary to what most of us were taught about cooking steak, where we should only flip it once, we were told that it is actually better to flip the steak several times. This will distribute the juices more evenly across the steak. I didn’t know this! Now that I do, it just seems like common sense!

We let the tomahawk steak cook at a low temperature for about 45 minutes to an hour, and then we let it rest until we were ready to eat. It is important to let the cooked meat rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing. This resting period will let the meat juices that get released from the meat fibers during the cooking process, get absorbed back evenly into the meat, which results in juicier meat. Otherwise, when you slice the meat without resting it first, all the juices run out all over your cutting board when you cut the meat, resulting in dry meat. 

Good thing we were all into medium steak! If you are spending money on such a good piece of meat, don’t waste it by cooking it well done. Rare to medium is the way to best appreciate it! 

Meanwhile, we worked on the other meats. We marinated our beef short ribs and our rump cap. The Korean-style beef short ribs were grilled the usual way, while the rump cap was skewered and grilled in a tandoor oven.

The chefs did the grilling for us. I kinda wished we could have grilled the meat ourselves, but it’s okay, I understand. There are not enough grills for everybody and they probably wanted to avoid accidents. But now I want to have grills like these at home! 

The raw Wagyu Rump Cap. Look at how it’s wonderfully marbled and glistening with fat even raw!

We put too much marinade for our Korean Beef so we had to remove some:

After that was done and while the meats were resting, we made a bearnaise sauce, which isn’t actually that difficult, as long as all the ingredients and equipment have been pre-measured and prepared for you 

Sorry if I look sweaty and harrassed. I was. Haha!  All my makeup was melting off, too, LOL.

So finally, all our meats were done cooking!

Just look at this tomahawk steak – oh, it’s TDF! It was tender and juicy, yummmmmm… just close your eyes and savor the wagyu goodness.

Here’s a close-up. OMG look at that dripping, juicy, tender, medium-cooked slice of Wagyu steak on my plate…

Can’t believe it was only seasoned with salt and olive oil! The salt permeated inside the beef.

Flavor-wise, I really liked the marinade for the Korean-style barbecue ribs. It includes a half-cup of Coca-Cola!

By this time, everybody was too busy eating to take pictures of the food.

After such a wonderful Saturday brunch, we were so happy and satisfied. But there’s more! We were served this really, really good Mango Pavlova. Recipe below.

If you are in the area, try and check out the New World Manila Bay Hotel. It’s the old Hyatt Hotel that is now under new management and the hotel has undergone some renovations and improvements. Your old favorite restaurants like Li Li and The Fireplace are still there. The casino is still there, too. Parking space is limited but you can have it valeted.

And now, for the recipes!

RECIPES!!!

A promised, here are the recipes of the dishes we cooked during class. Recipes courtesy of the New World Manila Bay Hotel.

Rump Cap Churrasco

Lemon, garlic, thyme, parsley finished with gremolata

INGREDIENTS:

For the rump cap:

750g Stockyard beef long-fed rump cap
1pc. lemon rind
0.5 bunch thyme, finely chopped
0.5 bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped
100g garlic cloves (approx. 6 pcs.), peeled and crushed
2.5g sea salt flakes
0.2lt extra virgin olive oil

For the gremolata:

0.5 bunch Italian parsley, finely chopped
1pc. lemon rind
100g black olives, pitted and finely chopped
2.5g sea salt flakes
0.2lt extra virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Cut the Rump cap in 1/2 inch thick or depending on size preference.
• In a bowl,combine the rest of the ingredients to form the marinade then add in the meat pieces to coat on to the marinade. Cover and keep in chiller. The longer you marinate the meat, the deeper the flavour. I recommend 2 hours minimum or overnight.
• Thread the meat onto a metal churrasco skewer. Set aside.
• Over a high heat BBQ, seal the meat on 2 sides then turn down to a ‘medium’ heat to resume cooking the churrasco.
• For the Gremolata – combine all ingredients in a small bowl and season correctly.
• Let rest for a minimum of 10 minutes. Slice and place on warm serving platter.
• Correct seasoning then drizzle over gremolata.
• Serve.

Beef Short Ribs

Marinated, Korean barbecue-style

INGREDIENTS:

For the ribs:

750g Stockyard beef long-fed

For the marinade:

360ml tomato ketchup
70ml worcestershire sauce
60ml olive oil
15g grain mustard
25ml white vinegar
20g paprika
5g paprika, smoked
5g oregano, dried
180g fruit chutney
5g white peppercorns, slightly crushed
2.5g salt
125ml coca-cola
130g barbecue sauce

salt, pepper and olive oil to season

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Season the ribs liberally with salt, pepper and olive oil.
• Combine the rest of the ingredients to make the marinade. Coat the ribs evenly and let it sit for at least 2 hours or overnight. The longer you marinate the meat, the deeper the flavor.
• Over a high heat BBQ, seal the meat on 2 sides then turn down to a ‘medium’ heat to resume cooking the ribs to your liking however these ribs are best kept medium.
• It is important to let it rest for a minimum of 8 minutes to let the juices settle.
• Slice and plate on warm platter to serve.

Bearnaise Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

300g unsalted butter, melted with milk solids removed
4pc. egg yolks
45ml water
30ml white wine vinegar
3pcs. tarragon, stems removed, leaves loosely chopped and reserved
4pcs. Italian parsley, stems removed, leaves loosely chopped and reserved
0.25 bunch chervil, stems removed, leaves loosely chopped and reserved
10pcs. white peppercorns
1pc. French shallot, loosely chopped
1/2pc. lemon, juiced and strained

Salt and cayenne pepper, to season

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Combine the white wine vinegar, STEMS of all the herbs, peppercorns and shallots in a small sauce pan and reduce by 1/2 over a low heat. Set aside to cool then strain.
• Combine strained liquor with the egg yolks in a medium sized stainless steel bowl.
• Set bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and whisk for approx. 8 minutes. (you may need protection from the heat)
• Continue whisking until the ‘sabayon’ has reached a ribbon stage. This means that the sabayon holds nicely between the whisk fronds. Do not heat above 65oC or you will get scrambled eggs!
• Remove form heat and slowly whisk in the warm clarified butter.
• Correct seasoning then add lemon juice & the chopped leaves of parsley, tarragon and chervil.

Mango Pavlova

INGREDIENTS:

240g white sugar
240g white sugar
300g egg whites
500ml whipped cream
3pcs. fresh mangoes, large
cornstarch for dusting

30g mix of equal amounts of almond powder and confectioner’s sugar for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a baking tray with nonstick baking paper dusted with cornstarch to avoid the meringue from sticking.
• Place egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add first batch of sugar a little at a time, beating well between each addition, until thick and glossy. Once egg whites are stiff, fold in the second batch of sugar.
• Transfer the mixture to the prepared tray and using a large spatula spread and form into disc.
• Place in preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn and cook for another 6 minutes.
• Whip cream until medium peaks form and spread/pipe over the cooled pavlova. Decorate with sliced mangoes on top.