Beef Negimaki
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- Salt
- 12scallions, trimmed and halved crosswise
- Ice
- ⅓cup soy sauce
- ⅓cup mirin
- ⅓cup sake
- ⅓cup turbinado sugar, or ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1pound flank steak (about a 6- to 7-inch square in size)
- Vegetable oil, for greasing grates
Preparation
- Step 1
In a large saucepan of salted boiling water, blanch lighter scallion ends for 1 minute, then add darker green scallion ends and blanch for 1 minute longer. Drain and transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool, then drain and transfer scallions to a paper towel-lined plate to remove excess water.
- Step 2
In a medium bowl, combine soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar, stirring to dissolve most of the sugar.
- Step 3
Working on a cutting board, cut flank steak against the grain into 4 equal strips, then cut each strip in half for 8 equal square pieces of meat. Keeping your knife parallel to the cutting board, butterfly each square by horizontally slicing against the grain through the middle. (Leave it attached on one side; do not cut all the way through.) Carefully open it like a book. Each of the 8 pieces should be about 3 inches wide.
- Step 4
Using a meat mallet and working with one piece of meat at a time, cover each with plastic wrap and pound until 1/16-inch thick, creating rectangles that are about 5-by-6 inches. Transfer meat to the soy sauce marinade, turn to coat and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Step 5
Heat grill to medium-high and grease the grates. (Alternatively, grease a grill pan or griddle to use on the stovetop.) Remove steak from marinade and transfer to a work surface. Transfer marinade to a small saucepan over medium-low and simmer until thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Step 6
Meanwhile, divide scallions among the 8 pieces of steak, arranging on one side along the shorter edge (scallions should be parallel to the grain). Tightly roll meat around the scallions and secure in two places with toothpicks where meat overlaps, threading the toothpicks parallel to the roll but not through the scallions in the center.
- Step 7
Grill the negimaki, turning occasionally, until nicely charred and cooked through, reducing heat to medium halfway through, about 12 minutes. (If using a grill pan, heat on stovetop over medium-high and reduce heat to medium halfway through.)
- Step 8
Once negimaki are cooked, lightly brush them with some of the reduced glaze, then transfer to a cutting board. Remove toothpicks, cut negimaki into bite-size pieces and arrange on a serving platter. Drizzle with the remaining glaze, and serve warm.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
RW
My cheat: I use the very thinly sliced beef I get at our local Korean market that's meant for hotpot. Eliminates the most work intensive part of the recipe and tastes great.
Nicole Q
A great appetizer! I used it for wild game and it didn’t disappoint. I will say I don’t like green onions so I substituted asparagus and it was awesome. Family loved it. Will make again!
Eric Phillips
Pay attention to the instruction regarding the thickness of the cutlets. Mine were more than 1/16 inch thick, more like 1/8th to 1/4 inch. The product did not hold together properly because there was not enough overlap in the cutlets to secure them for grilling. This is a terrific recipe. Delicious, easy, and few ingredients. Practice and better technique on my part will make it perfect for entertaining. My family encouraged me to make it again and enjoyed my first (not perfect) attempt.
Bernish
Tasted great in the end! The marinade is key. But it was a pain to make. If you’re not serving for a dinner party, skip all the butterflying, toothpicks, and rolling. Cook as is and throw the blanched scallions in at the end and be done with it.
CK Encinitas
Cutting beef or chicken into thin pieces is a lot easier if it's somewhat frozen. I pull mine out of the freezer, let it thaw on the counter until it has a little give when I poke it with my finger, then I cut it.
Doug
I've never butterflied a flank steak. Is it usually thick enough that I'm not left with shreds? And, yes, I'm not the handiest with a knife.
Seattle does NYT Cooking
I've used asparagus. Would think lemon grass stalk would not be edible like that.
MollysMama
I have enjoyed beef negimaki as an appetizer for years at a local Japanese restaurant. This recipe is spot on!
Ramba
Have always loved negamaki, can’t wait to try this version as it sounds, from previous notes, to be doable by mere mortals. Something about the flavor combination — green onions and sweet plus beef — is irresistible.
Harold Lee Miller
Not if you bring it up to a simmer for a couple minutes.
Beat
This was so good. We simply sliced meet thinly and then cut into pieces after wrapping. Used double mirin and no sake and no sugar. Used skewers for grill
Mimi H
Used recipe as starting point w/hangar steak I had on hand, cutting into cubes before adding to marinade. Didn't have sake (egads!) so added more mirin, and instead of sugar a splash of maple syrup. Instead of parboiling whole scallions, I cut them on long diagonals. Sautéed the white ends for a moment before adding beef; then when I turned the meat, added the greens. Placed it atop a bowl of sautéed fiddlehead ferns (summertime!), scattered the scallions about, drizzled w/reduced marinade. YUM!
Suzie Z
This is such a favorite of my household- the marinade/sauce is delectable and these are so pretty and flavorful. I put them atop a bowl of white sushi rice alongside grilled bok choy and drizzle the sauce over it all.
Stanley Feder
The butterflied pieces of flank steak broke into two pieces when the steaks were pounded. Moreover, the steaks developed holes when pounded beyond 1/4 inch thick. I made the recipe work by cutting the scallions into smaller pieces and working with narrow strips of steak. I think the scallions would have been better without blanching. Nevertheless, final result was tasty.
Cindy
Just way too much work. Found the directions to be confusing. I would agree with other(s) to just grill the steak and the "fixins" and call it a good meal. 12 minutes on the grill too long for flank pieces.
Charlotte
My shortcut was beef cut for Braciole, turned out great!
J.P.
We tried this tonight and it was delicious! Made it with thin sliced sandwich steak instead of flank, and finished on a gas grill. It is sweet, but with a smidge of sriracha and a squeeze of lime, we cut the sweetness a little. Definitely try it!
Diana
I have a family of picky eaters, and every one of them loves this recipe. I doubled it this time and every bit was eaten, I think they would have had more if there’d been some. It’s not difficult to make, but I do find it a little time consuming. I think the more often I make it the more organized I’ll be about the steps.
Linda
I'm not always an adventurous cook, but the simplicity of this appealed to me. I made it exactly as instructed and we loved it. My local butcher did all of the cutting for me after I showed him the recipe. Easy and delicious
Laurie
Made pretty much exactly as recipe dictated only I used half as much scallions . I used the gas grill and it was really quite good.
Carolandon
My plan was to follow the recipe, but life got in the way:) So I prepared it as a stir fry and it was wonderful!
Beat
This was so good. We simply sliced meet thinly and then cut into pieces after wrapping. Used double mirin and no sake and no sugar. Used skewers for grill
CK Encinitas
Cutting beef or chicken into thin pieces is a lot easier if it's somewhat frozen. I pull mine out of the freezer, let it thaw on the counter until it has a little give when I poke it with my finger, then I cut it.
Bernish
Tasted great in the end! The marinade is key. But it was a pain to make. If you’re not serving for a dinner party, skip all the butterflying, toothpicks, and rolling. Cook as is and throw the blanched scallions in at the end and be done with it.
The Meshugana Gadfly
Can't you get sick from eating a marinade that had raw meat in it, even if it's been simmered/thickened?
Harold Lee Miller
Not if you bring it up to a simmer for a couple minutes.
Amy
not beef.... but definitely wouldn't do this with chicken or pork
RW
My cheat: I use the very thinly sliced beef I get at our local Korean market that's meant for hotpot. Eliminates the most work intensive part of the recipe and tastes great.
Golem18
Very helpful "cheat." Step 3, butterflying the flank steak, is not a skill most home cooks have and may even be beyond the ken of the average supermarket meat cutter.
Tammi
Oh, I love this, thank you!
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