Kin no Hamburg Steak: Complete Copycat Recipe (Part 2)

Make the tomato paste. Reduce canned tomatoes to about half their original volume, then pass them lightly through a sieve at the end to remove skins and seeds. Canned tomatoes are quite acidic and reducing them doesn't weaken that dramatically, so keep the amount modest.

Toast the flour thoroughly. The flavor changes completely depending on how far you take it, so aim for a fairly dark roast. This bitterness is the backbone of the demi-glace sauce. Grind the onion in a blender beforehand.

Make the beef stock. Add 250g of beef to 500ml of water and simmer for 1 hour, skimming the scum, to get a clear beef stock.

Make the meat stock in a pressure cooker. Use 200g of ground meat (beef with 20% pork) per 1L of water and cook at high pressure for 2 to 3 hours. Boiling in a regular pot lets much of the aroma escape with the steam, so always use a pressure cooker.

Make the sauce base. Grind the onion and mushrooms in a mortar to adjust the coarseness, then saute them slowly in butter over low heat for 5 minutes to drive off as much acidity as possible. Cook down the red wine and tomato paste in advance as well to bring out their sweetness.

Add the dark-toasted flour to the sauteed ingredients and work it in thoroughly so no lumps form. Far less is needed than originally expected. Next add the salt, sugar, beef extract, chicken stock powder, and fond de veau to complete the base. Animal-based umami ingredients lose their aroma when fried in hot oil, so add them at the simmering stage after sauteing.

Add plenty of the beef and pork stock to the base a little at a time, thinning it to about the consistency of miso soup. Reduce slowly over low heat for about 2 hours without letting it boil. Skip this and you won't get the strong aroma and umami, and the flavor won't come together. Finish by adjusting the seasoning with liquid seasonings, and if needed add the rendered fat from frying the ground meat 1/2 teaspoon at a time along with a little caramel coloring to adjust the color and fat content.

Prepare the meat for the patty. Make a slightly finer coarse grind with an electric meat grinder, judging the grind by eye as you check the size of the particles. Keep the coarse grind at about 10% of the total and combine it with the remaining fine grind.

Knead the meat thoroughly for 2 minutes until it becomes a paste. This is the most important point, and it gives the tight, gap-free cross-section characteristic of Kin no Hamburg. Then add the flour and knead again. Skip this work and you will never get that Kin no Hamburg quality.

Combine a generous amount of panko with the egg white and a small amount of milk, the sauteed onion, a generous amount of sugar, salt and soy sauce, gelatin, and pepper and nutmeg in the amount that clings to the tip of a skewer, then mix and form the patties. Without the pepper and nutmeg the flavor falls flat, but even a slight excess makes them overpowering, so adjust delicately.

Cook the patties. Instead of high heat, cook slowly over low heat for 5 minutes, which increases the fluffiness and avoids extra scorching. If you don't have a grill, use an oven at 250°C for about 7 minutes, or a frying pan covered over very low heat for 3 minutes per side.

Place in a bag with as much air removed as possible and cook in a 70°C water bath for 40 minutes. Finish by spooning over the reduced demi-glace sauce.