Japanese Wagyu Beef Story: From Farm to Table
ONLY in JAPAN
Travelling Japan for food is nothing new, every region of Japan has its own unique cuisine and when it comes to beef
Japan's Wagyu is worth the trip. Ibaraki prefecture's Hitachi Beef brand is one of the closest to Tokyo
So Dean and I ventured north to the countryside to learn about Wagyu.
from the farm to the processing plant to the restaurant.
Welcome to Ibaraki Prefecture, behind me is Hitachino restaurant here in the base of Mount tsukuba a beautiful area.
With a fantastic sunset, one all the way to Mount Fuj, I'm so excited
This restaurant is famous for Hitachi gyu or Hitachi beef, the beef of Ibaraki prefecture
But what makes this experience special is we're gonna get a chance to try several different cuts of Wagyu.
So I hope you're hungry. We're about to eat a lot!
Hitachino steakhouse looks like a lodge inside thick wooden tables, leather chairs, and charcoal grills.
In the kitchen, blocks of A5 Kuroge Wagyu beef are ready to be cut.
Here's an entire tenderloin block, this cut called Hi-re in Japanese.
The intense marbling is a symbol of premium graded Japanese Wagyu.
For tonight's dinner, we'll try three cuts
But before we eat.
Let's look at our trip to the farm and processing plant to see how the steak in front of us has been sourced.
This is Hashimotosan's farm and ranch for Kuroge Wagyu. It's a quiet place with fresh air and good water
Yeah, they look like they've got lots of space and they look like they're in really good condition.
And I think that's all part of it. You got to treat these cows extremely well.
You've got to feed them really well so that they become the most delicious
beef that they can be I guess.
It's time to face our food something we should do to appreciate it more
Living well and stress-free is one of the secrets to Japan's Kuroge Wagyu beef.
Respect the animal until it's time to become food, which is their purpose
For many, it would be hard to face your food.
But unless you do it, it's very hard to appreciate where it came from how they were treated,
And understand what exactly you're eating
This is important to me as a meat-eater.
In Ibaraki they're very proud of the way they raise their Hitachi Wagyu beef. I even got a slimy kiss before leaving!
It's important for you to go and see what it's like, the conditions of the animals.
And the conditions of the Wagyu and they all look pretty happy!
Maybe not you know in the end. But today they're pretty happy.
This is Hashimotosan's wholesale Hitachi Wagyu beef shop.
I just wanted to get an idea, are the prices cheaper here and it's crazy they are!
So we got here. I just ordered a half cut of sirloin steak. It's ¥1745.
For a hundred grams, so it's about three thousand something yen.
Which is incredibly cheap! And then down here
I ordered a couple of A5 Hitachi Wagyu burgers and these are about $3 for a burger.
So I'm guessing it's going to be one of the best burgers I've ever had - but buying here from the wholesale saves you a lot of money.
The volume of meat was 30% more or the price seemed to be 30% less for beautifully marbled A5 Wagyu beef.
WARNING: We were invited inside of the processing plant images may be disturbing for some viewers
It lasts about two minutes and shows how A5 Wagyu beef is graded. Please be advised.
We are only inside the meat refrigerator.
They've cut it into half and you can see it's not exactly the most beautiful of places.
It's a little bit morbid
but the reason why I bring you here is because you can see how they decide to grade
The cattle between A4 and A5,what the difference is and then all of these are going to become Hitachi gyu.
That's a special designation just for the best of the best!
The beef here won't officially be graded for a couple of days, but using a flashlight we can clearly see the marbling.
The JMGA has a beef grading standard that starts in a processing plant
The yield is graded from A to C and the BMS or beef marbling standard in 5 groups of 12 levels.
This is based on marbling meat color texture fat color and quality.
The highest rank of Japanese Wagyu is A5 which means a yield of over 72% and a BMS score between 8 and 12.
Basically, you can see from this. Although they won't know until Thursday when they cut it across and see very closely inside.
But from what you see already you can see the marbling is so intense. This would probably be marked as an A5 Wagyu.
Hitachi Gyu, Hitachi beef and in order to get that designation as Hitachi gyu
You need to be either A4 or A5 and this one looks like it's gonna be an A5.
You know I think out father's fathers were quite used to that kind of an image.
Because these days people are just used to it in a Styrofoam container wrapped in plastic at the supermarket
Whereas we don't put that kind of value on life, I guess because we're desensitised by it all.
Yeah, I feel that its a bit negative that we are hidden away from that.
so those images we saw today might seem shocking it might even seem sad but by hiding that away from us, I feel like we
disconnect from food and ...
Don't really have a reality of what we're doing what every time we're eating meat, right?
Yeah, the Japanese aren't that disconnected.
In fact, it's part of Japanese culture to have that connection with nature including your food (Dean: right)
which is why we say "itadakimasu" いただきます。
Which I introduced in another episode about Japanese Wagyu
So for me, I'm not as sensitive about
seeing them and massaging them and then going to eat them because they're not pets to me
It's just a part of the nature and the order of nature to me
Other people have it. So everybody feels better for me that I can do that, you know
That I can see the process makes me feel a little bit better about what I'm doing
Will you feel guilty about eating this meat now? No, I don;t think I'll feel guilt. Because that's where we're headed, to the restaurant
Yeah. Yeah. I just think I will respect that meat more.
And today, you know, they they invited us in and they didn't try to hide anything from us
They just showed complete transparency about their business and the way that the cows live
and you know
I kept joking happy cows, but the environment there is really nice and they have nothing to hide, right?
I like that though, right?
I think if you went to a US Beef farm, there's cameras and security to keep you out
yeah, and they're inviting us in and that,
Transparency makes me appreciate what they're doing as well as when we go to eat
Have a greater appreciation of the taste of it. I will probably eat less meat
As a result of knowing where it comes from
We hadn't expected to see inside the processing plant
But the transparency gave us more confidence in the quality of Hitachi Wagyu beef and made us appreciate
What we were about to eat. Wow now, this is a table fit for a king
I'm almost overwhelmed looking at all of this, huh?
The intense marbling is always impressive when it's right in front of you.
Sirloin,
Prime Rib,
Tenderloin,
We shared a non alcoholic beer because, were driving.
We start with the impressive hide tenderloin.
The marbling goes through the cut.
Dean placed it on the very hot fire the sizzle was immediate.
We placed it all on like we would with a gas grill, but this isn't a gas grill
It cooked faster than we expected, a horrifying sight!
Oh no!
The shock and disappointment hit us hard
Dean and I decided to return the next day to do this right
with the guidance of the restaurant owner Onisawa-san who will
Not only cook for us but explain more about Hitachi beef Wagyu has more fat than other beef
So you have to be careful of the oils on the fire?
After seasoning just place a few pieces at a time
Japanese karaage Wagyu contains more of the omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids called the essential fatty acids by doctors
But I think you should eat it in moderation
The Tenderloin cut is springy and soft from the oils between the fatty oils are much lighter and have that umami taste
It was paired with the steak butter
Dean had the first bite
Its melting in my mouth
It has a gentle salty taste to it
And its just the softest meat i have ever eaten!
This may just be one of the most beautiful bites of beef I've ever had in my life
There are no words to describe the pleasure that comes with a burst of amazing umami taste from A5 Wagyu
It melts in your mouth
Your sense is floating comfortably on Cloud 9.
Cooked to perfection!
This one is the sirloin.
It cooks pretty fast and it's best to move it to the side after it's grilled on the top.
Dean ate his with lemon.
Me, I went my own way - wasabi!
It's more than I need but I've been known to be a little wild with condiments.
It's super super red in the middle and then he's managed to like
Beautifully heat both sides of the colours are perfect!
You just bite right through
This time I went for lemon
added a bit more flavor
And you just you've got to try it to believe it how soft this meat is
People keep asking me how it tastes
I can't hear them anymore. Like I said good food moves the soul. But yeah, it's good.
I asked Onisawa-san about the quality of A4 versus A5 Wagyu beef.
Anybody typical more support simile? No abramova all the same
i asked onysawasan if there could be any comparison between A5 Wagyu and the fatty otoro maguro tuna
I mean... wagyu is was sort of like maguro kind of, the red akami, chutoro and fatty otoro
Sometimes I'd rather have chutoro or akami instead of the fatty otoro
Even though otoro is more prized and expensive. since tuna and cattle move and live differently
You can't really compare but they're both really good!
The final cut was the prime rib
[searing]
It was different to the sirloin and tenderloin cuts, but like the ones before juicy.
the oils light and extremely delicious
taste explosion!
Hatachi beef is one of the closest premium Wagyu brands to Tokyo and the pride of Ibaraki Prefecture
And making a day trip to have a steak dinner or any meal for that matter is a way to see the country and learn more
About the delicious foods all over Japan
last episode the drive-through ramen and the drive-through sushi was alot of fun!
This is pretty great to come up here to the base of Tsukuba, but! the next episode is a tribute to Mount Tsukuba
Absolutely. I'm not gonna tell you what it is though, because it's a food challenge