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Don't get me wrong, A5 Japanese Wagyu is worth more than typical beef but for the price many restaurants are charging it is ridiculous. What's so special about Japanese wagyu? Well it's the amount of marbleized fat that is glued to the meat. If properly served which is usually best served rare and anything more than med-rare is a waste of money. Because when the wagyu is cooked to medium-rare the fat content is 50% cooked and becomes melted butter essentially and the meat itself is not much different when the fat is melted. So the best way to serve it is rare or slightly rare. If you like the rare bloody beef natural flavor then wagyu itself is like chewing very buttery, tender, and soft meat. It is so tender that you barely have to chew. It isn't like a medium rare ribeye that you still need to chew to break down the meat flavor.
Why is it overated? Because of the prices restaurants are charging and improperly cooking it. So many places offer a thick wagyu that after it's cooked, it loses a lot of it's fat content and taste no better than a good quality prime steak. Instead of paying $300+ for a 10oz Wagyu, I rather pay $120 for a 14 oz dry age sirloin or ribeye. Since most wagyu aren't dry aged, the flavor isn't locked into the meat and you're getting the flavor from the fat. A dry age wagyu would be the solution but that combo can set you for $500+ for a 12oz dry age ribeye wagyu. And guess what? It doesn't taste much better than a normal prime grade dry age sirloin for only $120.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We buy the $5.99/lb ground American Wagyu from Costco and it makes fantastic burgers at a reasonable price. We'll buy steaks only when on sale at our local upscale market. No steak is worth $100 to me, Wagyu or otherwise, $50-60 is about my limit for a restaurant steak.
We buy the $5.99/lb ground American Wagyu from Costco and it makes fantastic burgers at a reasonable price. We'll buy steaks only when on sale at our local upscale market. No steak is worth $100 to me, Wagyu or otherwise, $50-60 is about my limit for a restaurant steak.
American wagyu means that they are cross bred between the American angus and the Japanese wagyu ox to create a hybrid. But it is not the same because Wagyu is raised eating Japanese diet not American cattle diet so the texture of the meat is gonna differ.
I’ll take prime grade. Any day…. In fact I’ll buy choice grade
When on sale
Steak is one of my fav foods…. But I won’t
Pay those prices for wagyu
The Wagyu I've had was quite nice. However, "wagyu" is not the same as "kobi beef", which is wagyu raised is a very specific and expensive way.
The wagyu raised in America is tender and has good marbling and a nice, but mild flavor. It's just a nice grade of ordinary beef. I've paid a slight premium to buy it, but not horrendous. Kobi beef, on the other hand is way beyond the limits of my budget, so I am very unlikely to ever try it.
Because wagyu is simply Japanese ox breed. And Kobi Wagyu is the Kobi raised Japanese breed. Of course it's not just the breed but how it is raised. Most Americans ranchers feed their ox grain diet so it gets fat from a grain heavy diet unless it's grass raised which has more gamey flavor. Kobi Wagyu is raised on beer, grains, and grass. Good combo and the ox are pampered with massages to ensure the marbling is even out throughout the body. You're paying for the labor and the special diet.
So it's stupid to tell me that American wagyu is the same as Kobi wagyu.
Let's be honest, most high end restaurants that serve steak of any kind "way" overcharges for what they serve.
At a very popular steakhouse here, a filet mignon is $100.
Cooking steak properly isn't really that difficult... a bbq, an oven... heck even stove top and do a reverse sear.
A foody friend of mine sometimes has Kobi parties where he buys obscenely priced beef and brings home to cook and invites ppl over who pay $60 each to try stupidly good beef.
I've never went, but heard it is Heavenly.
It's one of those "you have to try it at least once" in your life if you are a beef lover.
Personally it's not really on the top of my bucket list because it's basically eating raw really really fatty beef.
I like my steak done medium to medium rare. Pink in the middle.
I have never had it, but I do not like steaks that fatty. That's a big reason that I'm not a huge fan of ribeye. I'll take a fairly lean, tender filet over a ribeye anytime.
Don't get me wrong, A5 Japanese Wagyu is worth more than typical beef but for the price many restaurants are charging it is ridiculous. What's so special about Japanese wagyu? Well it's the amount of marbleized fat that is glued to the meat. If properly served which is usually best served rare and anything more than med-rare is a waste of money. Because when the wagyu is cooked to medium-rare the fat content is 50% cooked and becomes melted butter essentially and the meat itself is not much different when the fat is melted. So the best way to serve it is rare or slightly rare. If you like the rare bloody beef natural flavor then wagyu itself is like chewing very buttery, tender, and soft meat. It is so tender that you barely have to chew. It isn't like a medium rare ribeye that you still need to chew to break down the meat flavor.
Why is it overated? Because of the prices restaurants are charging and improperly cooking it. So many places offer a thick wagyu that after it's cooked, it loses a lot of it's fat content and taste no better than a good quality prime steak. Instead of paying $300+ for a 10oz Wagyu, I rather pay $120 for a 14 oz dry age sirloin or ribeye. Since most wagyu aren't dry aged, the flavor isn't locked into the meat and you're getting the flavor from the fat. A dry age wagyu would be the solution but that combo can set you for $500+ for a 12oz dry age ribeye wagyu. And guess what? It doesn't taste much better than a normal prime grade dry age sirloin for only $120.
There is no real Wagyu in US.
It is even much harder to get a proper Wagyu in Japan now due to changes in pastures quality there and the changes in breeding - so the particular breed of cattle is getting fattier than it should be..
It isn’t even about money anymore: due to the changes in environment the quality is changing
In US is just a marketing gimmick to charge more.
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