"wagyu" news and stories

We are now getting more and better beef available in the US like grass fed, wet vs. dry aged, natural, organic, and certified humanely treated. There is more high quality Choice and Prime grades available than ever before, including some of the super high Japanese grades, like the famous and hard to get Kobe / Wagyu premium beef which comes in 12 quality grades. The finest US Prime, of which only 2% of US beef gets graded and most goes to restaurants, tops out equal to Japanese grades 4-6 .

Can you imagine what grade 12 is like?

The most expensive beef in the world is wagyu, or Kobe beef. It comes from cows that are not only genetically predisposed to intensely marbled meat that is very high in fat, but that get fed a special diet that is meant to improve that marbling beyond anything that other beef can achieve. To keep the meat from getting tough, it is said that some producers massage the muscles of their cows, rather than let the cows exercise themselves. With meat like this available and gaining rapidly in popularity, it is hardly a surprise, all of the world's most expensive steaks, as selected by Forbes Traveler, feature wagyu beef. Without further ado, these are the places to go - and how much you'll have to pay - for some of the best and most-expensive steaks in the world:

• "103" Wagyu rib eye at Craftsteak New York (private order item), $2,800 for 20 pounds
• Charbroiled Kobe Filet, Aragawa, Tokyo, $258 for 8-oz.
• Select Special Kobe Filet at the Kobe Renga-tei Steak Restaurant, Kobe, $246 for 160 grams (5.6-oz.)
• Australian Wagyu Striploin at the Al Muntaha restaurant, Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai, $169 300 gm
• Japanese Wagyu Rib Eye at Wolfgang Puck's CUT at the Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills , $160, eight-ounce filet
• "Wagyu no sumibiyaki" at Zuma, London, $132 (no size indicated)
• Sendai Sirloin at the Ekki Bar & Grill, Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi The Price: $129 for 150g
• Australian Wagyu Fillet Mignon at the Polo Club, Marriott Royal Aurora, Moscow, $101 for 12-oz.
• Smoked Salt American Kobe Rib Eye Cap Steak at BLT Prime, New York, $95 (no size indicated)

Source

On the heels of a recent L.A. Times story about Thomas Keller's burger joint aspirations comes news of another high-end burger on the menu at the Old Homestead Steakhouse in Boca Raton, Fla. Dubbed the "beluga caviar of sandwiches," the $100 burger features a 20-ounce blend of American prime, Japanese Wagyu/Kobe and Argentinian beef. As if this weren't showy enough, the beef arrived in a black hummer for its debut yesterday. On a brighter note, $10 of each burger purchase goes to a local branch of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

[Via Fark]