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.
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.