Intercostals are taken from between the ribs and they respond really well to brining. The flavour is exceptional!
The grill-and-glaze approach we’ve used here also works really well on beef tongue: braise it till it’s tender, slice it thinly, and cook it quickly over the coals, slathering on the glaze as you go. We love this served with Tama’s celery salsa verde, below.
1kg Westholme wagyu intercostals, trimmed of any sinew and scored
2L (4.2 pints) water
100g (3.5 oz) salt
80g (2.8 oz) caster sugar
6 fresh bay leaves
6 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbsp whole black peppercorns
1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
4 tsp cloves
4 tsp dried chilli flakes
100ml (3.5 oz) HP sauce
30g (1 oz) Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp soy sauce (tamari is ideal)
30g (1 oz) honey
30g (1 oz) mustard
2 tbsp sesame oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger minced
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
Soft herbs
Julienned spring onion greens
Hot sauce
Pickles
Tallow flatbreads, to serve
In a large bowl or food-safe bucket, stir together all the ingredients until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved.
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together until they’re completely combined.
Place the intercostals in the brine, making sure they’re completely submerged, and leave them in the fridge overnight.
Remove the intercostals from the brine, pat them dry, and let them sit uncovered in the fridge for at least an hour.
Grill over charcoal (a medium fire is ideal), brushing with the barbecue glaze as you go, getting nice caramelisation and cooking the intercostal meat to a medium or medium rare. I don’t go too rare with these because there’s a lot of fat and connective tissue on the cut which needs to be cooked a little more. They don’t really need resting.
Serve with soft herbs such as flat-leaf parsley, chives and chervil, julienned spring onion greens, tallow flatbreads (recipe above), Tama’s celery salsa verde (recipe below), pickles and hot sauce.