Gyutan Yakiniku

Gyu-tan is one of my favorite cuts for Yakiniku.  Gyutan means beef tongue.  People travel to Sendai (in north-eastern Japan) to eat it as a special delicacy, however it is now popular as Yakiniku in restaurants throughout Japan. 

 (Yes, that's my beloved Sendai that was hit by a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in 2011) 

If you've never tried it before, your first question will probably be "What does gyutan taste like?"

The flavour of gyutan (apart from tasting like beef, obviously) I would describe as "buttery".  When cooked just right, gyutan is very tender and moist, and a little chewy at the same time.  

Ok, this description is probably sounding a little vague to you, so maybe you'll just have to try it!

In Yakiniku, gyutan may be sprinkled with salt and pepper during cooking, and/or you may like to dip it in Yakiniku Tare (Yakiniku Sauce) or Ponzu.

I find it equally delicious with Tare or Ponzu.

Click to see more about Yakiniku: How to make Yakiniku

Here is my recipe for Yakiniku Sauce, similar to Gyu-kaku Yakiniku Sauce.

 In my photo below is the sliced Gyutan along with some Beef Heart (Shinzou) marinated with garlic, sake, oil and a little salt.  The gyutan I leave plain as it is delicious on its own.  

In Australia, we enjoy gyutan and beef heart often as at $5/kg for whole tongues from (Woolworths) supermarkets, it's about the cheapest cut of meat.

If you don't feel like skinning and slicing a whole tongue, have a look in the freezer of your Korean grocery store, and you'll pay a little more (around $16/kg) for perfectly prepared, thinly sliced beef tongue.

If you buy a whole beef tongue for the first time (yes, I agree it is a little scary-looking) and you've never prepared beef tongue before it's quite a tricky procedure.  However, there is an easy way for removing the skin and slicing a beef tongue thinly for gyutan as you see in my photo below.
Click here for my Gyutan Preparation Tutorial.

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I first tried Gyutan at a restaurant in Matsushima, one of the great natural wonders of Japan, located near Sendai.