Wagyu Soba

After a trip to Liang Court, I came back with lots of Japanese cooking goodies. I decided to make some cold soba, as I got tired with the recipes served by Shimbashi. Although I think their sobas and soup are the best, they don't offer a huge variety of cold soba dishes.
I purchased some beautiful wagyu beef and decided to use that as the main ingredient for my soba, paired with some mountain enoki mushrooms.


These soba (pictured below) seemed like the best compromise in terms of price/quality ratio. This is what I bought from Liang Court for this meal:

• Jo-Karubi ($16.40)
• Enoki Mountain ($2.90)
• S&B Yuzu Kosho ($6.60)
• Yosedofu ($3.20)
• Daikon ($0.70)
• Nissin Hachiwari soba ($4.90)
• Maruai katsuobushi 3gx8 ($3.65)
  

Also, I used the following ingredients:

• Spring onions
• Soy Sauce
• Mirin
• Kombu (dried kelp)

I started off making the dashi, by putting about 800ml of cold water with a square of kombu (20g) on medium heat. Just before the water reaches the boil, remove the kelp, bring it to the boiling point and add about 20g of katsuobushi (bonito flakes), then turn off the heat and add:

• 200ml dark soy sauce,
• 80ml (5.5 tbsp) mirin
• 1.5 tsp sugar

Bring the sauce to a boil once more, then add 30g of katsuobushi, remove from the heat, wait for 10 seconds and strain. Let it cool and refrigerate until cold. Unfortunately this needs to be made a little in advance as it needs to be cooled. I accelerated the process by cooling it down within a pan of ice water, and then placing it in the freezer for 30 mins or so. It's worth noting that this sauce can be kept refrigerated for several months, so you won't have to do this every time.

Wash the mushrooms and blanch them in boiling salted water. Chop some spring onions, wash the daikon and grate it finely to make a good amount of oroshi.

Cook the noodles. Put them in boiling water and let boil for about 4 minutes or until cooked. Drain the water and wash the noodles under cold running water. Put them on a bed of ice and turn them now and then to keep them cold throughout.

To sear the beef, I re-assembled the slices as the beef I bought was pre-sliced. I created 2 "packets" of slices by matching them in diameter and sticking them together, then i sprinkled them with salt around the outer surface. Heat a frying pan and put the "parcels" of beef on top, turning them half way through to sear both sides. I like these fairly rare, as they come out with a thin, crispy and savoury layer of cooked beef that contrasts the inner juicier part.

Finally, you are ready to serve. Assemble the noodles into bowls filled with the cold broth you prepared, then top with the mushrooms, the slices of beef, oroshi and spring onion. I love yuzu kosho, so I added that on top of it all. Serve with wasabi on the side.

I also purchased this phenomenal yosedofu, which I prepared with the ingredients I had. It came with its sauce, so all I did was top it with some spring onion and katsuobushi, and serve it with some yuzu kosho and wasabi on the side. I think I will go back to Liang Court more often, as I have a soft spot for such delicacies!