There are very few meals that complement every season of the backyard life quite like a taco. They’re versatile, easy to make, and just taste downright great, no matter the event. So, join in as Ballistic BBQ’s Greg Mrvich throws down on the griddle and ups the ante on a humble recipe with his delicious Wagyu street tacos.
Asian-inspired Barbeque Sauce
To kick off this cook, Mrvich concocts his personal yankiniku spinoff—a savory Japanese barbeque dipping sauce. And the ingredients are simple—it’s a quick blend of soy sauce, mirin (a type of Japanese rice wine), grapefruit juice, and grated garlic and ginger. To get a really fine grate on both, Greg recommends using a microplane, which is finer-bladed than your traditional box grater.
Next, he adds in some white sugar and gochujang—a moderately spicy and earthy Korean fermented chili pepper paste which elevates any meal. Then, he tosses in sesame oil, whisks the ingredients together, and places the sauce over heat for about two to three minutes. (Or, just enough time to infuse the ginger root and garlic.) Finally, he whisks in toasted white sesame seeds and sets the sauce aside to cool, allowing all the flavors to really blend.
Asian-Inspired Dressing and Slaw
While the barbeque sauce is cooling, Greg gets to work on creating the Asian dressing and slaw to top off his Wagyu street tacos. The slaw is a simple combination of olive oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, sugar, and toasted black sesame seeds, which add the perfect contract to the white sesame seeds in the sauce.
After whisking the dressing together, Greg combines finely-shredded purple cabbage and very finely-shredded white cabbage in a bowl, drizzles on the dressing, and gives it a shake until fully combined. The idea behind this combo is to enhance the flavors of the taco, all while letting the Wagyu shine. He says this mixture adds the perfect crispy, acidic taste that both complements and cuts right through the richness of the Wagyu, thanks to the vinegar.
Grilling Up the Wagyu
Now’s the time to start on this meal’s namesake—the Wagyu! For this cook, he’s using a 15-ounce New York strip, A5 Wagyu beef straight from Japan. While there might be a million-and-one Wagyu steak cook videos out there, the fact he’s making A5 tacos make this cook one-in-a-million.
Greg sprinkles on a little kosher salt and throws the meat straight on the griddle, set to medium-high heat. Since the steak is pretty thin (just about a half inch), he’s grilling it for about two minutes per side until medium-rare.
After the meat’s been grilled, he gets to work on the tortillas! Normally, for street tacos, he’d opt for corn tortillas, be he really wants to let the Wagyu shine. So, he ‘s using small, street taco-sized flour tortillas. He just drops some of the reserve Wagyu fat on the griddle, throws the tortillas on, and flips them until they have a nice toast on both sides.
Serving the Wagyu Street Tacos
After the cook’s all wrapped up, now comes the fun part: plating (and then eating, of course). First things first, he throws some chopped-up Wagyu beef on the tortillas and drizzles on the homemade sauce. He then layers on some slaw and sprinkles on more black sesame seeds for a finishing touch.
That’s it! While this certainly isn’t your standard street taco, the inclusion of Wagyu make it worthy of even the highest-end chophouse menu. Mrvich calls it a “novelty” recipe, but one that pays respect to the meat and is bound to impress any guests you might have over, regardless of the occasion.
Wagyu Street Tacos Ingredients
- Japanese-inspired Dipping Sauce
¼ cup Soy sauce
2 tbsp Mirin
1 tbsp Grapefruit Juice
1 clove Garlic (finely grated)
1 tsp Ginger (grated)
1 tsp Gochujang
1 tbsp White sugar
2 tsp Sesame oil
1 tsp Toasted sesame seeds (white)
- Asian Slaw Dressing
½ cup Olive oil
2 tbsp Soy sauce
2 tbsp Rice vinegar
1 tbsp Mirin
2 tbsp Toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp White sugar
1 tbsp Toasted black sesame seeds
- Asian Slaw
1 cup Purple cabbage (finely shredded)
1 cup White cabbage (finely shredded)
- Wagyu Street Tacos
15 oz Wagyu New York strip steak
Kosher salt
Small flour tortillas
Reserved Wagyu fat
Wagyu Street Tacos Steps
- Make the Dipping sauce
- In a small sauce pan, combine the soy sauce, mirin, grapefruit juice, grated garlic, and grated ginger.
- Add the gochujang, white sugar, and sesame oil.
- Heat the mixture over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, whisking continuously until the sugar and gochujang are dissolved and garlic and ginger are infused.
- Once the sauce is ready, stir in the toasted sesame seeds. Set the sauce aside to cool.
- Prep the Asian Slaw Dressing
- In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, toasted sesame oil, white sugar, and toasted black sesame seeds until well combined.
- Make the Slaw
- In a large bowl, combine the shredded purple and white cabbage.
- Lightly dress the cabbage with the Asian slaw dressing. Toss the slaw gently until evenly coated and set aside.
- Cook the Wagyu Steak
- Preheat griddle or skillet to medium-high heat.
- Season the Wagyu steak with kosher salt.
- Cook the steak for about 2 minutes per side until medium-rare. (NOTE: the steak should be about ½ in.-thick.)
- Remove the steak from the heat and let it rest for a few minutes.
- Slice the steak thinly, trimming off excess fat if desired.
- Assemble and Serve
- Heat the flour tortillas on the griddle using reserved Wagyu fat until warm and slightly crispy.
- Place a few slices of Wagyu steak on top.
- Spread a small amount of the homemade dipping sauce on each tortilla.
- Add a spoonful of the Asian slaw on top of the steak.
- Garnish with additional sesame seeds, if desired.
- Serve the tacos immediately while warm.
