World-Class Beef Pho
Most beef pho recipes have you toss bones, spices, and aromatics into a pot and simmer everything together for hours. That approach works, but it limits what you can get…
Nearly every teriyaki steak recipe online instructs you to cut up your steak before cooking. The result is grey, steamed meat instead of the seared, caramelized steak you get at Benihana. After reverse-engineering the exact recipe used at all Benihana locations, the fix is simple: keep the steak whole while cooking, rest it, and slice it into julienne strips afterward.
If you’ve already made my hibachi steak recipe, the process here is almost identical, with one modification and two additions. The steak gets a julienne cut instead of bite-sized pieces, and you finish the whole dish with garlic butter and teriyaki sauce. Those two ingredients are what separate Benihana’s teriyaki steak from their regular hibachi version.
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Choice grade strip steak. Also called New York strip, this cut comes from the short loin of the cow. Benihana hand-cuts their steaks on-site, and the typical serving size is 6-8 ounces (170-225 grams). Ask your butcher to cut them ¾ inch (about 2 cm) thick and you’ll get the right portion every time.
Scallions. You only use the white and light green middle section for this recipe. Trim off the dark green tops and the root end, then cut the middle into pieces roughly one inch long. You want them sautéed with a little caramelization but still with some crunch, since they go back into the pan at the end.
White button mushrooms. Two per steak, and there are two ways Benihana preps them. The first is a standard slice into 6-8 pieces. The second is quartering each cap and then cutting each quarter in half. Which one you get at the restaurant depends entirely on which prep cook is working that day.
Garlic butter. One tablespoon per steak. If you haven’t made a batch yet, my Benihana garlic butter recipe covers the exact restaurant version and a smaller home version. It keeps for a week in the fridge and freezes for up to six months.
Teriyaki sauce. About ¼ to ⅓ cup per steak. My Benihana teriyaki sauce recipe uses the exact same ingredients they use at the restaurant: Kikkoman soy sauce, sake, mirin, ketchup, apple juice, sugar, and a cornstarch slurry to thicken. You can use up to ½ cup if you want a heavier glaze.
Safflower oil. This is what they typically use at hibachi restaurants. Any neutral oil (vegetable, canola) works fine if you can’t find safflower.
1. Cook the scallions. Heat some oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the scallion pieces with a sprinkle of salt and sauté until you get some light caramelization. You want them mostly cooked but still with a little crunch. Set aside in a container.
2. Cook the mushrooms. Heat oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms with a sprinkle of salt and cook until they’ve released all their liquid and are fully cooked. Set aside.
3. Sear the steak. Heat oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Season the steak with salt on both sides. If your steak has a fat cap, hold it down against the hot oil for 1-2 minutes to crisp it up. This makes the fat either enjoyable to eat or easier to slice off later. Most teppanyaki restaurants remove the fat before serving.
4. Cook to just under your target doneness. Sear the steak for 2-5 minutes per side, depending on how well done you want it. Undercook it slightly at this stage, because you’ll finish the cooking when you toss everything together at the end.
5. Rest the steak. Remove the steak from the pan and set it on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes. This gives the juices time to redistribute, which means cleaner cuts and juicier meat than you’d get from slicing on the heat the way they do at the restaurant.
6. Julienne-cut the steak. Remove the fat cap if you want. Make 2-4 lengthwise slices down the steak, then turn the strips 90 degrees and make perpendicular cuts. This gives you the julienne strips they use at teppanyaki restaurants. It’s a different cut from the bite-sized pieces in regular hibachi steak.
7. Finish the dish. Wipe out the pan and return it to medium heat. Add the sliced steak and, if it’s slightly underdone, cook it to your preferred doneness. About one minute before it’s done, add the mushrooms, scallions, and one tablespoon of garlic butter. Season with salt and pepper and stir until the butter has completely melted and coated everything.
8. Add the teriyaki sauce. Pour in ¼ to ⅓ cup of teriyaki sauce and stir until it’s heated through. Kill the heat as soon as the sauce is warm. There’s a lot of sugar in teriyaki sauce, so it scorches easily and the sauce will go bitter if it burns.
The dish is ready to serve without any additional garnishes.
Crisp the fat cap before searing. If your strip steak has a fat cap, holding it against the hot oil for 1-2 minutes renders the fat and makes it crispy instead of chewy. If you don’t want the fat at all, crisping it also makes it easier to slice off cleanly after cooking.
Pull the steak early. You’re going to add it back to a hot pan with vegetables and sauce, so it will keep cooking. If you sear it all the way to your target doneness, it’ll be overdone by the time you serve it.
Watch the teriyaki sauce carefully. The sugar content is high, which means the sauce goes from glazed and caramelized to scorched and bitter quickly. Add it last, stir until it’s heated through, and pull the pan off the heat right away.
Rest on a wire rack, not a cutting board. Setting the steak on a wire rack over a baking sheet lets air circulate underneath instead of the steak sitting in a puddle of its own liquid. You’ll get better juice retention and cleaner cuts when it’s time to slice.
Teriyaki steak is one part of the full Benihana hibachi dinner. If you want to put together the whole spread at home, pair it with Benihana fried rice and start the meal with Benihana’s hibachi onion soup. For noodles instead of rice, Benihana yakisoba is a good option.
You’ll need Benihana’s garlic butter and Benihana’s teriyaki sauce for this recipe. Both keep well, so make them ahead of time and you’ll have them ready for multiple dinners.
Fridge: Store leftover teriyaki steak in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
Reheating: Warm it in a skillet over medium heat. Add a splash of teriyaki sauce if the glaze has dried out. The microwave works but the steak can get rubbery. Just warm it through; don’t overheat it.
Freezing: The cooked steak freezes well for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in a skillet.
Benihana uses choice grade strip steak, also called New York strip. It comes from the short loin of the cow. Ask your butcher for steaks that are ¾ inch thick and 6-8 ounces. This is the same cut they use for their regular hibachi steak.
The steak and the initial cooking method are the same. The differences are in the cut and the finish. Hibachi steak gets cut into bite-sized pieces, while teriyaki steak gets julienne strips (lengthwise slices, then perpendicular cuts). Teriyaki steak also gets finished with garlic butter and teriyaki sauce, which the hibachi version doesn’t get.
For medium-rare, pull the steak at about 125-130°F internal temperature during the initial sear. For medium, aim for 135-140°F. Remember, you’re going to cook the steak again when you toss it with the vegetables and sauce, so pull it about 5 degrees under your target at the searing stage.
