Japan Trip/Wagyu Beef

[airedale]

Just got back from 2 1/2 weeks in Japan. One of my objectives was to try as much wagyu as possible.

TLDR: Wagyu is a category, not a breed of cattle. As tried in Japan, it is too fatty for me.

I think the general feeling in the US is that wagyu is a breed of cattle and that is what I was thinking before I made the trip. It's not a breed, it's a category. Literally it just means "Japanese beef." More narrowly, it is a category of Japanese beef that covers four specific breeds. For example, Kobe beef is wagyu. (Incidentally, Wikipedia has this right. I just read the article.)

I had wagyu four or five times, cooked different ways. Mostly it was served in small slices and cooked at the table in liquid or on a small gas griddle. Once I had it Western style, a small steak grilled with a red wine sauce. For all cooking styles, taste was good, tenderness was exceptional, but generally it was too fatty for me.

It was always the most expensive thing on the menus, though with the yen very cheap currently, most menu and store items were about 2/3 of USA prices. Typical restaurant meals ran from $15-$25, with the wagyu options maybe $30-40.

I'm not sure how this translates to the US. Photos of US wagyu show the same lacy fat/meat marbling that I saw in Japan, but I have read that most US wagyu comes from USA cattle breeds crossbred with Japanese stock. So it looks like the Japanese meat but taste and tenderness may be different. I had intended to try some US wagyu at some point, but given my Japanese experience not liking all the fat I will probably now give it a pass.

 

[Smoking Piney]

Good info. I have yet to develop the nerve to pony up for Wagyu.

 

[Itsdone]

My limit for both fat content, and price is Prime grade. I like a good prime grade ribeye, but i always trim as much fat off as possible. I like a tiny amount of fat that gets charred during grilling. Anything more then 1/16 of an inch is too much.

 

[airedale]

My limit for both fat content, and price is Prime grade. I like a good prime grade ribeye, but i always trim as much fat off as possible. I like a tiny amount of fat that gets charred during grilling. Anything more then 1/16 of an inch is too much.

Yeah. I didn't mention it in the OP, but I am a New York strip guy. I generally avoid rib eye, but when I have it I trim like you do.

 

[Itsdone]

Yeah. I didn't mention it in the OP, but I am a New York strip guy. I generally avoid rib eye, but when I have it I trim like you do.

Problem with NY strip is that gristle layer on the one side. You and me both would probably hate picanha, which is very popular on this forum.

 

[Callahan-que]

No way would I ever spend the amount of money wanted for wagu.

 

[Itsdone]

No way would I ever spend the amount of money wanted for wagu.

Even if i loved fat and extremely fatty/greasy meat, I wouldn't be able to enjoy it knowing it cost $50/lb

 

[bowhnter]

I got some waygu at a butcher once and wasn’t impressed. Prime, actually most choice, is good enough for me.

Bob, that layer of fat on a picanha is different than “the gristle” on the NY strip. I don’t eat much of the fat, but the meat is awesome.
You should try it once.

 

[sudsandswine]

Sounds to me like you probably had something more like A5 beef, which is typically sliced more thinly than the ~1.25-1.5" steaks you get in other lesser grades here, and usually in smaller portions. The first time I bought an A5 ribeye, we split it between 3 people, and it was the perfect amount due to how rich it was from the fat and marbling. I would not have wanted to eat my typical portion of ~1lb prime or under grade ribeye of A5, even if cost were not a factor.

A5 Japanese Wagyu Beef Grading | The Wagyu Shop

"In order to qualify as A5 Japanese Wagyu, beef must be graded as Grade A for yield and Grade 5 in BMS, BFS, BCS, firmness and texture."

 

[Itsdone]

I got some way bu at a butcher once and wasn’t impressed. Prime, actually most choice, is good enough for me.

Bob, that layer of fat on a picanha is different than “the gristle” on the NY strip. I don’t eat much of the fat, but the meat is awesome.
You should try it once.

I would if it was readily available in my area, but it is expensive at the very "few" butcher shops in my area ( which is special order ) RD is reasonable price, but you have to buy like a 40lb case.

 

[stickman]

I had American Wagyu in a restaurant in San Diego once. They went really gentle on the sear - too gentle for my taste. Is that typically how Wagyu is done? How was the sear done in Japan, airedale?

 

[Itsdone]

I had American Wagyu in a restaurant in San Diego once. They went really gentle on the sear - too gentle for my taste. Is that typically how Wagyu is done? How was the sear done in Japan, airedale?

I can't speak for Japan, but they go gentle as to not cook out all the fat in the meat. It cooks out at a really low temp, like lard melts. Ive seen Members here buy an expensive Waygu brisket and completely cook out the fat. Its hilarious because money seems not to be an object to them, so when they fail due to inexperience, its karma.

 

[SmokinAussie]

Good to read this experience.

Personally I can eat all the fat I want and seek it out. My few times with A5 Wagyu have not been bad at all but that's when I'd done it myself and also in my BIL's Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong ( so free for me! )

Issue's here in downside up land is slapping a Wagyu label on anything that looks a bit fatty. This is done by retail butchers who are cutting down primals not even from a hanging carcass. If something is a bit fatty, it seems to go into a small tray which they label wagyu and so they try and flog a crap cut for a huge price.

Not that this was the OP's experience, but I can see a lot of meat rays here labelled "Wagyu" that with a learned eye, clearly are not.

Here, to be sure, buy the primal in the cryo from the Wagyu supplier and it might be the same in the US. Or go to a certified wagyu butcher. We have those here.

Now don't fact check me, but I think Australia was the first country to get the genetic breeding "material" out of Japan, so there is a lot of it here and it remains nosebleed expensive.

It's not on my shopping list because (like all of you) we can do better with cheap cuts of meat.

But when I've had it, it has been amazing.

Cheers!

Bill

 

[stickman]

> I can't speak for Japan, but they go gentle as to not cook out all the fat in the meat. It cooks out at a really low temp, like lard melts.

Hmmm. For a steak, I wonder if you could still get caramelization by sous-vide and then searing ripping hot for a very short time, and so get the best of both worlds? I guess folks have been cooking wagyu for a long time, though, so there's probably a reason why this is not done. Scary to buy enough wagyu to learn by trial and error ...

 

[airedale]

Sounds to me like you probably had something more like A5 beef, which is typically sliced more thinly than the ~1.25-1.5" steaks you get in other lesser grades here, and usually in smaller portions. The first time I bought an A5 ribeye, we split it between 3 people, and it was the perfect amount due to how rich it was from the fat and marbling. I would not have wanted to eat my typical portion of ~1lb prime or under grade ribeye of A5, even if cost were not a factor.

Yes. Not every serving was labelled A5 but several were. And yes, again, on portion size. The Western style steak that I had could be ordered in 50 gram and 100 gram portions. I took the latter, of course, which worked out to just under 4 oz. It was very adequate.

Re comments on searing, nothing I had was seared. Most slices were about 1/4" thick so attempting a serious sear would have destroyed them.

I think that cooking and eating Wagyu is, in Japan at least, driven by the high fat content.

 

[stickman]

> I think that cooking and eating Wagyu is, in Japan at least, driven by the high fat content.

Sounds like it is just a different dish to steak as we know it, and expectations should change accordingly.

 

[Smoked&Baked]

Yeah. I didn't mention it in the OP, but I am a New York strip guy. I generally avoid rib eye, but when I have it I trim like you do.

This is me too