Kobe Beef is just about the most exclusive meat you can eat. Here’s how to smoke it on a grill. This specific cut is labeled/graded Kuroge Wagyu, 11+.
Servings 2
Instructions
- There’s a lot of fuzz/discussion about how to cook a Kobe beef. The butcher’s recommendation was to place the meat in a hot pan, sear it properly on both sides, and let the carryover heat bring it up to an internal temperature of 95°F (35°C). In general I think that is fine, it is one way of doing it. BUT: I’m all about barbecue, and a fatty piece of meat like this is just begging to be lightly smoked.
- Also, it’s easy to get intimidated when cooking a beef this pricy. There’s not much room for error. On the other hand, it is a sirloin beef, so it should be cooked like other sirloin beefs. In my ‘school’ that means: A) Dry brine, B) Smoke using indirect heat, C) Sear, and D) Rest.
- The one thing that will be different is the target temps. My plan is to smoke the meat until the inner temperature is 95°F (35°C). Then sear it for 30-60 seconds per side.
- So, let’s get started! First, take a moment to admire the intense marbling on this hunk o’ meat.
- Now apply a dry brine using 0.5 tsp per pound of meat. Leave the meat uncovered in the fridge for a few hours.
- Fire up your grill, prepare it for indirect grilling. Have it running at 225°F (110°C). Use the snake method if you’re using a kettle grill, or even better, a Slow ‘N Sear.
- Place the meat on the indirect side and close the lid. Add some wood chunks for smoking on the glowing embers. I’m using my Big Green Egg for this one. I’m using the BGE charcoal too, which adds a real nice oak/hickory flavor. Fat meat takes very well to smoke, so this is a perfect match.
- Smoke the meat until it’s inner temperature reaches 95°F (35°C). Remove it from the grill and bring it inside. Now you may wonder: why not sear it on the grill? Well, I have a good reason. As you can see it is very marbled, and the fat will melt in no time over a roaring fire. That means the fat will burn in 10 seconds, leaving a bitter burnt fat flavor which I’d like to avoid at all costs. The only way to sear a cut like this is to use a frying pan instead.
- Sear it in a hot pan, and once it has a nice sear on both sides and the inner temp is 113°F (45°C), remove it and let it rest for 5 minutes. Then slice and enjoy a truly excellent cut of beef. Just add salt, nothing else.
YouTube Video
Here’s a video of where I smoke a Kobe beef and then sear it in a cast iron pan on my Weber kettle:
So glad i stumbled accross this article. I just purchased an A5 Wagyu tenderloin, and preferred cooking method of steaks has always been a reverse sear using my smoker. I smoke at 250 until an internal temp of 100, and then crank up the smoker to 450 and sear on each side until the temp hits 125 then take off and rest. This piece of meat is a bit intimidating, and I thought about not smoking it and cooking it the recommended way of small slices and cooking them individually, but then I came across this article and I am glad i did.
Thanks for the feedback! Trust your instincts 🙂 I can highly recommend it, I’ve done it several times on different grills, and the end result is amazing. I’ve added a YouTube video now also, take a look and see how I smoke and then sear it on a Weber kettle.