the bird on fire

By Junior Culinary Aficionado Levi Kassinove

Who wants turkey when you could have wagyu?

What is Wagyu?

You know steak. You might have heard of wagyu. Wagyu literally means Japanese cow, which has evolved to connote the highly marbled and expensive ($200 per pound) steak that we know today. Generally, people agree that the more marbling (intramuscular fat) a steak has the better. The marbling is the white stuff you see in the steak. The steak pictured is grade A5, which is the highest grade of wagyu. Wagyu is graded by the Japanese Meat Grading Association (mychicagosteak.com). I wonder if there is a Japanese Meat Tasting Association. If so, sign me up. Anyway, for comparison, here is a picture of normal angus steaks that you’d buy at the grocery store:

As you can see, the wagyu steak has much greater marbling. But what does this mean for the flavor? How do you cook it? And, most importantly, is the price worth it? I’ll give you a hint: The answer to all three questions is “Yes.”

The Flavor

Assuming that the steak is cooked correctly (which I will get to later), wagyu will genuinely be one of the best, if not the best, food you will ever eat. Your favorite food is pasta? Pizza? Tacos? Not anymore. It’s wagyu now. You know what umami is? It’s the flavor that makes things taste good. You best believe that wagyu is full of it. When you take a bite, it’s like a hedonist party in your mouth. The amount of rendered fat in there will make you redefine the word “juicy.” 

Honestly, I don’t know how else to describe it. The flavor of wagyu isn’t actually so complex. It has a sort of…fiery simplicity. There is an explosion of comfort. It is heavenly. I will say, though, that the more marbling a piece of wagyu has, the less it tastes like steak and more like a kind of refined grease. It certainly won’t make you feel good after eating it. That is why I recommend staying away from notoriously marbled cuts like ribeye. In my opinion, it will just be too fatty. 

How to Cook Wagyu

I would say that 70% of what makes a steak good depends on how you cook it. For most steaks, the optimal way to cook a steak is by reverse searing, which is basically just cooking the steak in an oven before searing it on a piping hot cast iron skillet. Medium rare to rare is objectively the best level of doneness for steaks, as evidenced by the late chef Anthony Bourdain in his book Kitchen Confidential. Bourdain stated that people ordering well done steaks at a restaurant “pay for the privilege of eating our garbage,” and that anyone who does it is a “philistine” who “cannot tell the difference between food and flotsam” (mashed.com). Now, I’m about to say something that might make you hate me. I prefer wagyu that’s cooked medium. I know that some idiots inexperienced steak lovers will say that medium rare is still optimal for wagyu. And, if you want to try that, then have fun. Tell me how it goes. I’m sure it will still be good, but I encourage you to do a side by side comparison of my method vs. the regular medium rare reverse sear. The fact of the matter is that wagyu is just too fatty to be cooked like a regular steak. Cooking a wagyu steak medium rare or rarer will just not render (melt) all of the intramuscular fat (in my experience), leaving you with a steak that hasn’t reached its full potential. Now, I’m going to teach you how I cook wagyu. It’s based on the way Japanese chefs do it.  

Materials:

• A wagyu steak
• A cast iron skillet or stainless steel pan
• High quality salt (why use the cheap stuff on a $150 steak?)
• Meat thermometer for losers (optional; you can touch the steak to gauge internal temp)

That’s seriously all I would use. Now, let’s get into the preparation. I’m assuming you know how to defrost a steak. If you’re thinking about defrosting it in the microwave or something, you might as well stop reading this article. Moving on, the next step is to trim the fat. Save whatever you’ve trimmed off because it will be important later. After that, salt the steak. Be generous. Cover all sides including the edges. If you think you’ve salted it enough, put a little more. Then, you’re going to want to put it in the fridge for at least an hour. What’s going to happen is the salt will draw moisture from the steak, then let it distribute back in. This is why you need so much salt. You are salting the whole steak. This tenderizes the steak and gives it more of an evenly distributed flavor. The longer you leave it in, the better. People do it for 24-48 hours even. But I don’t know if I could leave wagyu in the fridge for two days without eating it. 

Now that the preparation is over, the next step is to get the skillet ready. You’re going to want to get it as hot as possible. I would say like 700 degrees Fahrenheit is a good place to start. If you don’t have an infrared thermometer, you can just splash some water on the skillet and see if it evaporates instantly. At this point you should also take your trimmed fat out of the refrigerator for it to melt at room temperature. Once melted, brush the steak with the fat and coat the skillet. Now, cut the steak into strips or cubes, whatever you want. This will efficiently cook the steak. Now toss them onto the skillet and sear the strips for about a minute on each side. The time will vary depending on the thickness of the steak. Just take it out when you feel like it’s right. Also, be sure to have a fan running and a window open because it’s gonna get smoky. 

That’s it, and that’s all. Have it with a glass of wine–or water for the kids. But, I know you’re not sharing your wagyu with your kids. If you’re having it with wine, just make sure it’s red, unless you want to expose yourself as someone who doesn’t understand how the universe works.

Is the price worth it?

Honestly, yes. Absolutely. If I were a billionaire I’d have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’d live fast and die young for wagyu. In all seriousness, if you can afford it, I’d highly recommend you try it at least once before you die. It is truly an unforgettable experience. Even if you can’t afford it, I suggest you still save for it. Who needs water and electricity? Who needs to respond to the IRS? Spend that otherwise wasted money on wagyu instead. You won’t regret it.