The "Steak Pasta" Ryuji Put Together from Imagination Alone: An American-Style Dish Finished with Maitake Enzymes and a Cream Cheese Sauce

It started on X. According to Ryuji, since X began supporting automatic translation, posts from American users have been showing up translated in the timeline. A kind of exchange has emerged in which Japanese people and people overseas show each other "what they eat," and Ryuji finds this very interesting. Of everything that came up, the dish that caught Ryuji's attention most was steak pasta.

In the post that appeared, steak cooked medium-rare was being eaten with a pasta that looked like wide noodles. Ryuji wanted to make it "my way." As a "buzz recipe" it costs a lot in ingredients, but viewers enjoy the "serious" series Ryuji has been doing occasionally lately, so Ryuji wanted to show what would happen when going all out.

Since no recipe could be found, Ryuji decided on the direction alone. Ryuji drew on Alfredo sauce, which is based on cream and cheese, and the American way of pouring a mushroom cream sauce over steak. Ryuji laid out a plan to build the sauce along these two lines.

The main ingredient was a large 300g piece of Australian beef, chosen because it was the best deal at the store. Also prepared were maitake mushrooms, penne, heavy cream with 35% milk fat, and garlic. Ryuji chose the heavy cream thinking "since it's American, it's better to use cream." Ryuji also said adding onion makes it lighter and nice, and did in fact add it finely chopped.

Ryuji used 200g of penne. According to Ryuji, 200g of penne is roughly three servings. With 300g of steak as well, Ryuji explained it would be piled high in a party-menu-sized portion.

There was a reason for choosing maitake. Ryuji said they had previously learned from Morita-san a technique for tenderizing meat with the enzymes in maitake, and would use it this time.

About half a pack of maitake is placed together with the meat. Morita-san had minced the maitake, but Ryuji felt that mincing it would lose its presence as an ingredient, so Ryuji just roughly tore it apart by hand. For salt, the guideline is 1% of the meat's weight, so for 300g, about three pinches are sprinkled on, calculating one pinch as roughly 1g. Ryuji recalled that Morita-san had also scored the sinew.

While admitting that this approach is rougher, Ryuji said, "I don't think Americans would be that careful, so rough is fine." Morita-san is a chef and so preps carefully, but Ryuji is a cooking researcher and believes that "if you put in effort, you lose." Ryuji's position is that the real challenge lies in how delicious something can be made with as little effort as possible.

Since the maitake is just coated over the surface of the meat, Ryuji said this step can be skipped. Still, Ryuji judged that since mushrooms were being used anyway, it was better to marinate. The remaining maitake is torn apart and used as an ingredient.

Maitake has a strong aroma. Even so, Ryuji explained that combined with cream, it becomes completely unnoticeable. Citing someone else who had said that maitake must be paired with strong ingredients, and who had added kimchi, Ryuji said cream and garlic are what can stand up to maitake. Ryuji also laughed about having become something like "a collection of everyone's knowledge."

After marinating for about 15 to 20 minutes, Ryuji touched the meat and confirmed it was "quite effective." The meat had become so tender it stretched. On the other hand, Ryuji also pointed out that it might be unsatisfying for people who want some chew.

The garlic is sliced. Since Alfredo sauce generally uses garlic, cheese, and cream, the aim is to brown it a little, like garlic chips, to let the garlic aroma come through. The onion is finely chopped. People who don't like garlic can leave it out, but Ryuji recommended including the onion.

In between cooking steps, Ryuji shared some views on heavy cream. Heavy cream is an extremely powerful ingredient, and adding it basically makes anything taste good. Ryuji personally likes it but doesn't use it much in recipes because it's expensive.

In contrast, Ryuji said, heavy cream is cheap in America. According to Ryuji's explanation, America makes high-calorie foods cheap and foods considered healthy, like chicken breast, expensive. That is why pizza, hamburgers, and donuts have become everyday foods for ordinary people, and heavy cream (Ryuji wondered aloud whether it's called double cream over there) and butter are also sold cheaply. Ryuji cautioned that "there are various theories" and "please let me know if I'm wrong," presenting it as something heard rather than as established fact.

Ryuji also touched on why dairy products are expensive in Japan. Besides the supply being covered solely by domestic production, butter and the like from overseas aren't imported in order to protect agriculture, and there are various circumstances. Against this background, Ryuji thinks this kind of dish is probably commonly eaten in America.

Melt 20g of butter in a frying pan and sauté the garlic. Ryuji said most foods in the world taste better with butter. Once the garlic has browned to about the level of garlic chips, take it out and set it aside.

Sear the steak over high heat in the remaining garlic butter. The goal is medium-rare. Because the meat is thin, it cooks through quickly. Ryuji seared it quickly, flipping it several times, and cautioned that overcooking would prevent the vivid medium-rare color from coming out.

The cooked meat is wrapped in aluminum foil to finish with residual heat. There was little foil left on set, but Ryuji wrapped it anyway, saying it was fine if it stuck out a bit.

Looking at the meat after cutting it, Ryuji was surprised: "Super tender." It was cooked to the intended medium-rare, and Ryuji credited this to the maitake enzymes as well, saying they had been able to put what they'd learned to use.

Penne was chosen as the pasta so it could be speared with a fork together with the steak. Since there are big chunks of steak, Ryuji thought it would be tastier and easier to eat if the meat and penne could be speared together on a fork and brought to the mouth, rather than using long, thin pasta or thick noodles. The image in the original post was also penne.

The penne is boiled for about 10 minutes in water with 1% salt concentration. According to Ryuji, this gives an al dente, fairly firm result.

The sauce is made by sautéing onion, torn maitake, and sliced white button mushrooms with salt and pepper. Ryuji added about 100g of mushrooms that "just happened to be lying around." Ryuji believes that since mushrooms shrink when sautéed, adding plenty makes it tastier. Partway through, Ryuji transferred everything to a large, deep frying pan to make mixing easier.

Consommé is used as the flavor base. According to Ryuji, consommé is what goes well with cream sauces, and in America, beef bouillon cubes are also commonly used. The plan was to first add 100cc of heavy cream and decide the amount while checking. One teaspoon of consommé is added.

Wanting cheese as well to make it American, Ryuji added about three slices of cheddar cheese. Ryuji described this as leaning toward mac and cheese, calling the mac and cheese made previously "America's national dish" and saying it was similar to this dish.

A point worth remembering, Ryuji said, is that if the sauce reduces too much, loosen it with about 2 tablespoons of water. After tasting, Ryuji judged that 100g of heavy cream was enough since cheese and butter were also in it, and told viewers to aim for about this cream consistency.

Add the boiled penne to the sauce, along with the juices (gravy) from the steak, and toss to coat. Since the penne was boiled firm, there's no need to rush. Add about three pinches of sugar and one more slice of cheddar for a total of four slices, about 60g. The cheese melts right away.

Finally, add the sliced steak and sprinkle with black pepper. Ryuji said, "It's so American I'm starting to tremble." Parsley and chili powder (paprika powder works too) are then sprinkled on top. Adding a red color makes it even more American, Ryuji said.

For the tasting, the meat is speared, then the penne, and both are bitten into together. Ryuji and the person at the table described it as "violent" and said it goes well with wine.

What was especially praised was the combination of tender meat and al dente penne. Another impression was that even though quite a lot of cheese was added, it wasn't heavy. Ryuji attributed this to the generous amount of mushrooms.

On the tenderness of the meat, they agreed that it needs to be at least this tender. Because it's tender, it can be chewed and swallowed together with the penne, and you can keep eating. With tough meat, you'd tire of eating, they said. Ryuji answered that imported meat is best and that it's better not to use wagyu.

Ryuji said they wanted to pack it into a container right away and go cherry blossom viewing. The reason is that penne doesn't get soggy even after time passes, so it can be divided into portions and taken along.

They also agreed that they had never seen a restaurant serve this dish. Because no one thinks of combining steak and penne, they said they couldn't imagine the taste at first.

Partway through, they also tried changing up the flavor with "Majisco," a hot sauce Ryuji made. Reasoning that Tabasco is also American and so it would go well, Ryuji praised how well it pairs with the cream. Ryuji described the dish as the usual adding-up of umami, but with so many things added that it reaches "an insane number."

As for how to eat it, it's a dish that livens things up when you make it for close friends. Ryuji said it works not as a final course, but as a "tsumamisuta (snack pasta)," or as a dish served alongside a main course. The conclusion of the tasting was that once in a while, a dish that goes all-in on junk like this is nice. Ryuji wrapped up by saying, "The name is dumb, but the taste is first-rate," and encouraged viewers to try it too.