Continued from Wagyu Steaks: Wagyu Beef Rules.
What is wagyu beef? Meaning, simply, Japanese (“wa“) cattle (“gyu“), this is the sumptuously marbled, meltingly tender meat of Japan’s famed blackhair, bred over centuries from the combination of as many as 20,000 pedigrees.
Until December, 2005, when the border opened between Japan and the U.S. following a decade of Mad Cow fears, the finest wagyu wasn’t available on these shores.
“Kobe beef” on American menus actually came from local farms, where, years earlier, a few wagyu cows had been crossbred with our Black Angus. (Kobe is the capital of Hyogo prefecture, one of several famous wagyu beef farming regions.)
How wagyu beef is graded Wagyu beef is graded on a scale from C1 to A5 – a system that balances the color and texture of the fat, the color and texture of the meat, and the yield off the bone. But most American chefs use the alternate Japanese Beef Marbling Score, from 1 to 12.
Wagyu beef is the best of the best Farmers put enormous effort into wagyu beef. To get to this level of perfection requires extreme measures: combining and recombining of breeds, carefully controlled diets of corn, malt and fresh mountain water. Some farmers massage their animals with beer or sake.
As bovine as all this sounds, a slice of wagyu beef has little in common with, say, a classic porterhouse. In texture and richness, it resembles the fattiest, lushest o-toro (and, like toro, is genetically predisposed to producing a high percentage of healthier unsaturated fat); and because it is wet-aged, it lacks the ripe redolence of USDA Prime.
Its silken feel and haunting flavor stands apart from anything else in the food kingdom. Wagyu beef is simply a mind-blowing piece of beef. You can’t look at it as a steak. It’s a different experience, and it would be impossible to sit down and have a six- to eight- ounce portion on your own.
In Japan, where wagyu beef is eaten on special occasions – New Year’s Eve or the summer festival – teppan-style, on the iron griddle, is the most popular preparation. The off cuts become yuke, or tartare, and shabu-shabu.
How to cook wagyu beef Set a cast-iron skillet over high heat for five minutes. Meanwhile, cut a wagyu ribeye or strip steak into four- to six-ounce pieces one inch thick. When the pan is very hot, sear the steaks for 45 seconds on each edge, then two minutes on each side.
Let steaks rest for five minutes off the heat, season with salt and pepper, splash with just a couple of drops of fresh yuzu juice or ponzu if you wish, and get ready for the best steak of your life. [via]