beef with green chilli, soy, black sesame + soba
Serves 2
INGREDIENTS For the marinade
• 2 tbsp olive oil • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced • 2-inch cube peeled fresh ginger, grated • 3 tbsp tamari or dark soy sauce • 3 tbsp white rice vinegar • 2 tbsp oyster sauce • juice of 1 lime • pinch of chilli flakes to taste
For the dish
• 200g soba noodles • 500g fillet beef, at room temperature • fresh green chilli, finely sliced • black or white sesame seeds • fresh coriander, to serve • spring onions, finely sliced • Maldon sea salt flakes • freshly ground black pepper
METHOD 1 Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk together well. 2 On a dinner plate, add about 1-2 tsp each of crushed sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper. Rub a little olive oil in your hands and rub all over the beef. Roll the meat in the salt and pepper, coating well and evenly. 3 Set a non-stick frying pan over high heat. When hot, add the beef and sear on all sides. Turn down heat to medium and cook meat for 3-4 minutes on each side for medium rare. 4 Remove from the pan and allow to rest for 10 minutes. 5 Add marinade to the pan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until reduced by half. 6 Cook noodles as per packet instructions, rinse and drain. 7 To serve, slice beef thinly and arrange on a plate on top of the cooked noodles. Scatter spring onion, green chilli, sesame seeds and fresh coriander over meat. Finally, pour reduced marinade over meat and noodles.
“I wanted to take our meat to the next level and knew ageing was the key, but I wanted to find a locally sustainable solution rather than importing Himalayan salt.” By this time, in 2014, the company was already successfully curing bacon with seaweed, and Kettyle had the brainwave to make bricks out of locally sourced virgin sea salt, using carrageen moss as a binding agent. A fair bit of trial and error later, and the company had created their own unique salt moss bricks, “bringing the Irish sea to the Irish land,” as he says.
Thanks to the hygroscopic nature of the bricks, all moisture is drawn away from the meat, concentrating the flavour and rendering the fat to a dry flakiness, which then caramelises more quickly on the pan, sealing and locking in the sweet yet nutty flavour of the beef.
Food stylist and photographer Katie Quinn, the talent behind this shoot, spent 13 years in Australia, working with some of the best in the business, before returning to her native Dublin in 2017. “When I tasted Kettyle salt moss aged beef for the first time, I was blown away by how tender it was. For this shoot, we worked mainly with the Kettyle Tomahawk cut, which I’d highly recommend.
Not only do they look insane on the barbecue, but the depth of umami flavour is remarkable. I don’t think I’ve tasted meat as good as this since
I’ve been back from Australia.”
But how does Kettyle respond to the growing global concerns around the environmental impact of meat production and consumption? “For me, the answer to that is simple,” he says. “Support small farms where cattle are grass-fed, well looked after and allowed to mature slowly, and there is no negative impact. Over-production and mass-consumption cause the problem. I firmly believe in an ‘eat less, eat better’ approach when it comes to meat.”
Niall Davidson, chef and co-owner of rising star restaurant Allta in Dublin, agrees: “I had the pleasure of eating some of Maurice’s Belted Galloway beef, and it was superb. With farming becoming more and more intensive, and concern for yield prioritised over the environment and flavour, it’s even more important to champion heritage breeds and traditional farming practices.
Maurice Kettyle’s beef is the beef we should be eating and, most importantly, represents the quality of beef we should be farming.”