The Art of Creating Wasabi Oil Puree Sauce

As any chef worth their salt knows, the art of creating a truly exceptional sauce is all about balance and nuance. In this case, we're going to tackle one of the most challenging components of our dish: wasabi oil puree sauce. With fresh wasabi root nowhere to be found, our chef has opted for a third of a cup of wasabi powder, combining it with half a teaspoon of sugar, one teaspoon of mirin, and then adding water and oil in alternating additions to achieve the perfect emulsified consistency.

To start, we combine the wasabi powder, sugar, and mirin in a small bowl. Whisking thoroughly to ensure everything is well mixed, our chef then adds water and neutral-flavored oil in alternating increments, whisking vigorously between each addition to prevent separation. This process can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the desired consistency of the sauce. The end result should be a smooth, creamy puree that's neither too thin nor too thick.

Once our sauce is ready, we're faced with the daunting task of transferring it into a chef's little squeeze bottle. This proves to be one of the most difficult parts of the day, as no funnel small enough for the job can be found. After two to three days of searching, our chef finally finds a suitable vessel, and the wasabi oil puree sauce is almost ready to use.

The final plating of our dish requires some careful preparation. Thinly shaving black garlic, carrot, and radish adds texture and visual interest to the plate. Meanwhile, a little over a pound of genuine A5 Wagyu ribeye is brought out – the fattiest and most expensive steak on the planet. Cooked on a ceramic yakitori grill over a glowing bed of bincho-tan, the special kind of white hardwood charcoal that burns very hot for a long time, our steak develops a nice golden-brown crust.

To finish, we place a shiso leaf into our little Michelin-starred bold plate, slice up the steak into bite-sized pieces, and arrange them neatly atop the shiso leaf. We then flank each piece of beef with tiny shreds of carrot, radish, and enoki mushrooms, before topping each individual bite of beef with a little dab of our wasabi paste oil sauce. To add an extra touch of luxury, a single large salt crystal is placed next to that, accompanied by delicate shavings of black garlic.

With the final touches in place, it's time to serve. Our chef pours piping hot... well, whatever we're going to call this stuff – down into the bottom of the bowl, allowing everything to meld together without disturbing our delicate decorations. The result is a dish that's genuinely ridiculously delicious. There's an excellent balance of salt and fat and acid, with nothing getting overwhelmed or lost in the background. Even after the steak has been devoured, the softened vegetables and peppery minty shiso leaf, the broth – which we drank like cereal milk – remain as delightful as ever.

Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring today's episode. They've been a great partner in supporting the Babish Culinary Universe and bringing my websites to life. From websites to online stores to domains and analytics, Squarespace is the all-in-one platform for you to build your online presence. And with their SEO tools, your site will be getting found in search by more people more often. If you want to try it for yourself, you can start your free trial today by visiting squarespace.com/babishto get 10% off your first purchase.

As our dish is devoured and the last drop of wasabi oil puree sauce is savored, we can't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. It's been a long day in the kitchen, but the end result is well worth it – a truly exceptional meal that showcases the art of creating a truly exceptional sauce.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- This episode issponsored by Squarespace.I used Squarespace to buildboth Basics with Babishand bingingwithbabish.com,On the sites, you'll findrecipes, equipment lists,other news and updates.All beautifully designed,if I do say so myself.Get 10% off your first Squarespace orderby visiting squarespace.com/babish.- Sloppy Steaks at Truffoni's!Big rare cut of meat withwater dumped all over it,water splashing around the table!Makes the night so much more fun!After the club, go toTruffoni's for sloppy steaks,they'd say no sloppy steaks,but they can't stop youfrom ordering the steakand a glass of water!Before you knew it, wewere dumping that wateron those steaks!The waiters were comingto try and snatch him up!We had to eat as fast as we could!Oh, I miss those nights!I was a piece of (beep), though!- Hey, what's up guys?Welcome back to Binging withBabish, where this week,we're taking a look at the sloppy steaksfrom I Think You ShouldLeave with Tim Robinson.First for our, show accurateversion, we're gonna heavilysalt and pepper a nice big ol' T-bone.Let that sit at room temperaturefor 30 minutes to an hourbefore introducing it to asuper hot cast iron griddle.Once it is as hot asyou can feasibly get it,go ahead and plop the steak down,pressing it into the griddleto make sure that it's gettingeven contact with the heat.Let it sit undisturbedfor three to five minutes,flipping once you've started to getsome nice deep golden brownage.Let it sit for anotherthree to five minutes,flipping it as necessaryand holding it on its sideto render out the cap of fat.And because this guy is sothick, I'm gonna finish him offin a 400 degree Fahrenheitoven until he's registering115 degrees at his thickest point.The steak also made a distinctsizzle when Tim's characterpoured water over it in Truffani's,so I've got a preheatedoven-safe plate here.And of course, glass of water.Here we go.- Please, no sloppy steaks.- Come on, whatdo you think I'm gonna do?Me? Sloppy steaks?(Andrew stammering)Here we go, let's slop 'em up.Oh man, Tim is right,this is so much more fun,especially when you're realpiece of (beep) like me.Okay, but in all seriousness,we have a somewhatcompetently cooked steak herein a whole bunch of water.And it's definitely notsomething I would seek out,but it's also not,like, ruining it either.Steak is still good, as longas you eat around the water.And once I fished itout and patted it dry,it proceeded to become my lunch.But that being said,how can we make a delicious, intentional,but still piece (beep)of friendly sloppy steak?And I think the answerlies in a sort of tributeto shabu-shabu.We're gonna start out by making a dashi.I've got four large kombuleaves here that I've soakedin about four cups of water overnight.Bring that to a simmer.Once boiling, kill the heat andadd one cup of bonito flake.Cover and let steep forat least 10 minutes.Strain that through some papertowels and a fine mesh sievefor a nice clear dashi,which is gonna be a nicefoundation for our broth.Grab a cup of this stuff andcombine in a small saucepanalong with three tablespoonseach mirin and soy sauceand two teaspoons of sugar,which we're gonna bringto a simmer and keep hotfor serving later on.Meanwhile, I wanted toserve this with a sort oflotus root crisp bringa little bit of textureto our soft and soupy party.So I'm gonna appeal and slicesome lotus root paper thinon a mandolin, pick outmy very favorite slicesand soak them for 10 minutesin a mixture of one quartof water and a tablespoon each kosher saltand rice wine vinegar.Once they've hung out for 10 minutes,we're gonna lay them outonto some paper towelsand pat them super, super dry,because next up we're gonnafry them in some canola oilthat we've heated to about350 degrees Fahrenheit.Unfortunately, this madethe lotus root both curland cook unevenly, andI wanted really flat,super evenly browned crisps.So I'm gonna try out thattrick that we learnedfrom the sloppy joesepisode, thoroughly coatingthe lotus root slices andoil before sandwichingbetween two rimmed bakingsheets, baking at 375 Fahrenheitwith convection for 15 minutes.Ooh, that's too long, and they're stuck,so let's try this again.More oil, slightly lower heat,and slightly shorter cooking time,350 Fahrenheit for eight minutes.Let's see how this works out,and they're not evenly cooked.I think it's because my mandolinis kind of a piece of (beep).Eventually I did get oneto brown evenly for me,baking and rebating atone minute intervalsuntil I was left with a singleperfect lotus root chip.Next up, a sort of wasabi puree.I couldn't get any fresh wasabi root,so I got a third of acup of wasabi powder herethat I'm gonna combine withhalf a teaspoon of sugar,one teaspoon of mirin, andthen I'm going to alternatebetween adding water and oil,whisking thoroughly betweeneach addition to make surethat everything's emulsifieduntil we've reached ourdesired dollopable consistency.This could take anywhereup to a half cup each waterand a neutral-flavored oil, like canola.Then we are tasked withgetting this liquidinto a cheffy little squeezebottle, a chore that turned outto be maybe the mostdifficult part of the day,because we could not find afunnel small enough for the job.So two to three days later,once we got the bottle,I don't know, halfway full,our wasabi oil puree sauceis almost ready to use, ifI even decide to use it.I'm gonna prepare for thefinal plating by peelingsome black garlic, which isa funky fermented garlic,thinly shaving someblack radish and carrot.But what of the steak,you might be asking?Well, here it is, alittle more than a poundof genuine A5 Wagyu ribeye,the fattiest and mostexpensive steak on the planet,this guy clocking in at just under $500.Don't worry, absolutely noneof this is going to waste,I'm gonna eat all of it, but I just wanta little rectangular piece for our dish,which I'm gonna cook ona ceramic yakitori grillover a glowing bed of bincho-tan,a special kind of white hardwood charcoalthat burns very hot for a verylong time very consistently.Top it up to the great,get it ripping hot,we want our steak to be quite rare,and we're dropping on one ofour little cubes of ribeyeand cooking for about one minute per side,until it gets a nice golden brown crust.Use some big old chef's tweezersif you want to look coolwhile you're doing it, and I'mprimarily gonna sear the topand bottom, but also gonna give the sidesa little bit of lovin', justso it doesn't look too raw.Get the steak off the heat,let it rest for five minutesbefore slicing and serving.I'm gonna start by placing a shiso leafinto my little Michelin star bold plate,slice up the steak into bite size pieces,and arrange them neatlyatop the shiso leaf,maybe fan them out a little bit,so you see that rare beef action.Then I'm flanking the beefwith our tiny shreds of carrot,radish, and enoki mushrooms,and then I'm topping eachindividual bite of beef with a little dabof our wasabi paste oil thing.Very glad I ended up using that.Place a single large saltcrystal next to that,that makes some tiny littleshavings of black garlicand arrange those on the other side.And because, what thehell, we're really shootingfor the stars here, budget wise,how 'bout some edible 24karat gold, which should placeour dish firmly intopiece of (beep) territory.Once you've decorated itwith your flavorless odorlessstatus symbol and figuredout where you're gonna putyour one good lotus root crisp,you know what time it is,it's time to slop 'em up.We're gonna pour our piping hot...I'm not entirely surewhat to call this stuff,down into the bottom of the bowl,ao as to not disturb ourdelicate decorations,and I know it's A5 Wagyu,so it's already gonna bepretty great, but this isgenuinely ridiculously delicious.There's an excellent balanceof salt and fat and acid.Nothing's getting overwhelmedor lost in the background.The lotus root chiptastes like a potato chip,so that's nice.Even after the delicious,delicious steak was gone,the softened vegetables andpeppery minty shiso leaf,the broth, which I drank like cereal milk,it's not quite shabu-shabu,it's not quite sloppy steaks,it's sloppy shabu, or something.Thanks again to Squarespacefor sponsoring today's episode.They've been a great partnerin supporting the Babish Culinary Universeand bringing my websites to life.From websites to online storesto domains and analytics,Squarespace is the all-in-one platformfor you to build your online presence.They also have SEO tools, sothat your site is getting foundin search by more people more often.If you want to try it for yourself,you can start your free trial todayby visiting squarespace.com/babishto get 10% off your first purchase.(jazzy music)\n"