With over $400 billion in the bank, it's no surprise Elon Musk has expensive taste. But when it comes to his steak, expensive verges on the unusual.
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00:00With over $400 billion in the bank, it's no surprise Elon Musk has expensive taste.
00:06But when it comes to his steak, expensive verges on the unusual.
00:11I'd rather eat tasty food and live a shorter life."
00:13And according to Michelin star-awarded chef Akira Bak, the billionaire also requests an
00:19uncommon dish when dining at Bak's Beverly Hills A.B. Steak Korean BBQ Steakhouse.
00:24Speaking with People magazine in 2022, Bak stated,
00:27"[Elon Musk really likes our ssamjang dry-aged beef. Honestly, only chefs order it,
00:33but he orders it. He and his son just gulped it."
00:37At the time, A.B. Steak's menu described the dish as a 45-day-aged New York Strip sirloin.
00:43And while any steak will already be flavorful when it's gone through an aging process,
00:48the ssamjang is what sets it apart. For those unfamiliar, ssamjang is a spicy fermented paste
00:54that's often added to lettuce wraps for a bit of flavor, or used as a dipping sauce for vegetables
00:59and other foods. A beloved condiment in Korean cooking, ssamjang typically consists of a
01:04fermented soybean paste called doenjang, the fermented red chili paste gochujang,
01:09and other ingredients like garlic, sesame oil, and some sort of sweetener.
01:14During his interview with People, Bak described A.B. Steak's ssamjang as
01:18a fermented Korean miso and a little bit of gochujang, which they also dry-age.
01:23For those unaware, miso is a Japanese fermented soybean paste that bears some similarity to
01:28doenjang. The key difference is that miso traditionally features some type of grain
01:33as well as koji, which is a mold that develops on grains. In general, ssamjang offers a bold
01:39flavor profile replete with umami thanks to the fermentation of the soybeans. In addition,
01:45this rich and meaty flavor is complemented by spicy, sweet, and salty notes.
01:50As for the flavor of A.B. Steak's ssamjang dry-aged beef, a poster on Reddit who was
01:55lucky enough to sample the dish said,
01:57"'It was great. Dry-aged gave the meat more umami flavor. I couldn't taste the ssamjang flavor,
02:02but it provided saltiness in the meat while aging."
02:05Bak doesn't give much away when it comes to the specific dry-aging process used at A.B. Steak,
02:10but the practice of dry-aging beef is well-established in the culinary world.
02:15It typically involves hanging cuts of beef in chilled,
02:18humidity-controlled environments with temperatures ranging from 32 to 39 degrees Fahrenheit.
02:23While timelines can vary, most dry-aging sessions span from 20 to 40 days. When done correctly,
02:30these conditions help tenderize the meat and unlock an unparalleled flavor befitting of a
02:36fine dining experience. While it's hard to determine exactly how ssamjang affects the
02:41dry-aging process of Musk's preferred dish at A.B. Steak, the paste may permeate the meat as
02:46the steak becomes tenderized. This could be the reason the ssamjang dry-aged beef at A.B.
02:51Steak is so challenging to the palates of people outside of the culinary industry.