Make it a true Dubai Christmas with these top-dollar ingredients

Wagyu beef 

Many culinary pleasures involve simple cooking techniques when the main ingredient is rare and prized. Minimal efforts deliver spectacular results, and the dish takes top billing at the table. Wagyu beef is a great example. 

Wagyu is cherished for its flavour, tenderness and juiciness, but it is the characteristic marbling or inter-muscular fat that makes it a delicacy. A properly cooked Wagyu steak is unbeatable, but it can also be served raw as tartare or blanched in shabu-shabu style.  

 

Chef and food writer Bridget Davis, best known as the Internet Chef, offers a tip in her Ultimate Wagyu Beef Cooking Guidelines: “Before you prepare your Wagyu, ensure it’s been stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator, covered completely in cling film. The meat needs to be cooked straight from the fridge, as cold as possible, to ensure the fat renders gently. 

 

For online shoppers, a whole filet of Grade 8-9 Australian Wagyu tenderloin weighing 2.5-3kg is priced at Dh1,512 at Chez Charles, while a 3kg Grade 9+ Japanese Wagyu rib-eye goes for Dh2,130 at Secrets Fine Food. Prime Gourmet sells Grade 6-7 Australian Wagyu filet mignon for Dh600 a kilo, online as well as at its Dubai outlet.

 

Monkfish tail

The grotesque appearance of the monkfish is rather daunting, but the tail is the only part used in cooking, and it is highly prized. Its firm white flesh has a subtle sweetness, and with just a single bone running down its centre, monkfish tail is not only easy to cook but also lends itself to several flavourings. 

 

“Monkfish’s meaty white flesh is often compared to lobster meat,” says the Food Network’s guide to buying and cooking monkfish. 

 

“This versatile fish can be prepared using almost any cooking method, and can be served in soups and stews.” 

Sustainable seafood directory Fish Choice offers buying advice, “Avoid tails that are discoloured at the edges and headless monkfish that have dried up blood, indicating it’s begun to age.”

 

Fish specialist Arabind Fresh sells fresh French monkfish tail for Dh143 a kilo at its store and online, with free home delivery across Dubai. Chez Charles sells a whole 2-3kg monkfish tail for Dh405, while Secrets Fine Food prices it at Dh250 a kilo. All three branches of Waitrose in Dubai also stock fresh monkfish tail, for Dh157 a kilo.

 

Grana Padano 

Grana Padano is a hard Italian cheese specifically made from milk in Northern Italy’s Po River Valley that dates back to AD1000. It takes 15 litres of milk to make a kilo of Grana Padano, but just 30 grams of the cheese is nutritionally equivalent to half a litre of milk.

 

Sara Kate, cookbook author and founding editor of The Kitchn, describes the cheese in a primer on Grana Padano as such: “Nutritionally, speaking, Grana is about equal to Parmesan in calories, protein and fat, but it is lower in sodium and cholesterol and higher in calcium. Compared to good old cheddar, it is lower in fat, cholesterol and higher in protein and calcium.”

 

Grana is aged from nine to 30 months. While the youngest can be used in a broad range of cooked and baked dishes, the mature stuff is best for salads and sandwiches, grated over a cooked dish, or served on its own with fruits and nuts. “Look for the Grana Padano logo on the rind to ensure you get the real deal,” says Kate. 

 

Grana Padano is Dh90 a kilo at Carrefour and Spinneys in the UAE, and Waitrose and Eataly in Dubai. Ras Al Khaimah-based cheesemaker Italfood sells 4kg blocks of 16-20-month-old Grana Padano (price on request).

 

Lobster

The not-so-humble lobster has clawed its way onto the culinary pantheon. Dubai, known for its affinity for the finer things in life, has welcomed this king of seafood into its gilded halls. 

 

Canada supplies a big portion of what’s available at five-star properties, and experts like Wolfgang Eberle, Executive Chef at the Rosewood Abu Dhabi, swear by it. Clearwater, whose philosophy is to provide remarkable seafood in a responsible manner, is one of the biggest Canadian frozen seafood brands. John Redding, Culinary Director of local distributor Transmed, says the best thing about this product is that it’s frozen at sea. “This means it’s 100 per cent as fresh when you defrost it as when it first comes out of the water. 

 

“The flavour and sweetness is remarkable. It’s all you want in lobster.”

 

Of the seven different varieties Transmed imports, the knuckle and claw are most popular. “It has many different applications,” he says. “Use it in salads, sandwiches or in appetisers or mains.” The company sells about 40kg of this variety weekly. 

 

Jurgen Scharkosi, CEO of Eurabia, says live lobster, usually flown in on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, is popular. His company supplies various retailers and distributors in the country. He has a tip for picking good specimens: “When you take it out of the water, it should lift its claws. [That shows] it’s strong.” Scharkosi recommends steaming as the best cooking method.  

 

“Of the 20 live species we import, Canadian lobster is most popular,” he adds.  

 

TIPS: Cooking monkfish