[FTC Standard Disclosure] This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef® Brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC. All opinions are my own.
I have always been fascinated with the Japanese-style steakhouses, also known as hibachi or teppanyaki restaurants. I enjoy the live-cooking entertainment as much as the food. I am in awe of the chef's ability to cook eight variations of their steak-shrimp-scallop-chicken combinations at once and nail the timing. On top of that, you have to add the vaudeville schtick of jokes, flinging shrimp tails, building onion volcanos, and the cling-clang-bing-bang of the swirling utensils.
Those chefs are true multi-taskers, and I lack their ability to keep track of so much. At our house, a kitchen timer goes off, Alexis asks what it was for, and I'm likely to reply, "I had a timer set?"
This past weekend, Food City had some gorgeous Certified Angus Beef® Brand, USDA Prime grade NY Strip Steaks and I couldn't resist them. Usually, I like a simple grilled steak. But I wanted something different, so I channeled my inner teppanyaki chef and came up with this Strip Steak with Sweet Soy Butter, Zucchini and Onions, and Jasmine rice.
- I cooked the steak whole, instead of cutting it up during the cook and finishing it by cooking the individual pieces.
- I skipped the usual ginger dipping sauce for a Sweet Soy-Garlic-Ginger butter.
Teppanyaki Seasoning
Teppanyaki chefs typically use salt and pepper for the primary seasoning. I wanted to come up with an all-purpose seasoning to use for teppanyaki dishes, and after a few trial runs, I have settled on this winner. It is salty, has a bright pop from the lemon peel, and finishes with a little heat. I grind it in a coffee grinder to make it into a powder that quickly dissolves into the food during cooking and as a finishing seasoning.
NMT Teppanyaki Seasoning
Published 10/24/2019
Sprinkle liberally on steaks, chicken, seafood, and vegetables on the griddle.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 1.5 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground lemon peel
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Mix ingredients in a small bowl.
- (optional but preferred) Finely grind seasoning in a coffee bean grinder to a dust or powder consistency.
- Use a fine shaker for applying to foods while cooking on the griddle and as a finishing seasoning.
Prep Time: 0 hrs. 10 mins.
Total time: 0 hrs. 10 mins.
Tags: Japanese, seafood, steak, teppanyaki
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| Like wok cooking, teppanyaki cooking goes quickly, so you need to have everything ready. Chefs call this mise en place, which I believe is French for "get your [bleep] together." |
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| My weapon of choice for this battle is a 17" Blackstone propane-powered griddle. I have the large 4-burner, 36" model, but I find I use this one much more often due to convenience. You could also use a grill-top griddle, a plancha, or even a large cast-iron skillet. |
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| I preheated the griddle on high for 10 minutes and then seared my steaks for about 3 1/2 minutes per side. I seasoned both sides while the steaks cooked. At teppanyaki restaurants, typically "steak" means sirloin, unless you upgrade to "ribeye" or "strip." I did the ultimate upgrade with USDA Prime, Certified Angus Beef® Brand. |
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| Know your equipment. When griddle cooking, you need to know where your hotspots and cooler spots are. For my large griddle, I have one burner on low, one on medium, and two on high so I can shift my foods around to keep warm, speed up cooking, etc. For a single burner unit like this one, the center is hottest, and the sides are cooler. |
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| The tasty thing about griddle cooking is that crust you get on your steaks. |
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| As soon as the steaks flip, I top them with some of the sweet soy-garlic-ginger butter. I forgot to take the butter out of the fridge ahead of time to let it temper. It melts quicker that way. |
Sweet Soy Sauce - Garlic - Ginger Butter
This is a work in progress. It is good, but I'm still tweaking it. This is where I'm at after a couple of cooks.- Half stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 large clove garlic, finely minced
- 3/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake
Heat a small skillet to medium-high heat. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and saute the garlic and ginger just long enough for it to cook through and become fragrant - about 30 seconds. Remove from heat, scrape contents into a small food processor. Add the rest of the softened butter, sweet soy sauce, and red pepper flake. Process until well combined. Refrigerate until 1 hour before use.
Sweet soy sauce, or kecap manis, is NOT like soy sauce. It's more like a thick, less sweet teriyaki sauce. If you can't get sweet soy sauce, you can try this homemade version or just use teriyaki.
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| While the steaks rest, I griddled the veggies. I seasoned them generously with the NMT Teppanyaki Seasoning and added a couple pieces of butter. I cook them until tender, about 6-8 minutes on the onion about 5-6 on the zucchini. I just put the onion on a minute or two before the zucchini, and it all finishes at the same time. When almost finished, I squirt them with a 2:1 mix of water to regular soy sauce. |
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| Before putting the steak on the plate, I put a hefty schmear of the compound butter on the plate. The heat from the steak melts that and combined with the juices from cutting up the steak, the result is a mouth-watering dipping or dragging sauce for the bites of steak. |
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| I might not be able to flip a shrimp into your mouth from 6 feet away, but I can make one heck of a teppanyaki steak dinner! |
I know I go on about Certified Angus Beef® Brand, but there are 10 good reasons for that.
I hope everyone is having a great week. This weekend I am headed to the Jack Daniels World Championship Barbecue Invitational as a judge. It will be my first time judging this exclusive event, and I am stoked!
