The Caviar of Beef

Wagyu (和牛) means "Japanese cow" and that is literally what it is. The meat of this particular breed has been called the "caviar of beef". Unlike their mass-farmed brethren, Wagyu cattle are raised with great care: they are manually massaged to help with the marbling, and fed beer or sake to stimulate their appetite and digestion. As a result, Wagyu beef has a higher ratio of omega-3, omega-6, and monounsaturated fats (the "good fats") and reduced saturated fats (the artery cloggers) compared to regular beef.

Such extravagance is not without reward: the meat is tender like butter and possesses a deep, meaty flavor. Wagyu lives up to its hype.

Having splurged on two lovely Wagyu steaks from FãMu in J-Town, I was reluctant to obfuscate the flavors with other ingredients. So they were pan-fried very simply and patiently in olive oil over medium-low heat until medium rare.

More importantly, the steaks were allowed to rest after cooking. Resting allows the protein molecules in the meat to relax and lets the moisture trapped in the middle to redistribute across the parts that had moisture squeezed out of them. (Even though I know this, it's often a challenge to keep my appetite at bay long enough to leave cooked meat unaccosted for 10 minutes.)

There is some controversy about seasoning meat with salt prior to cooking. Chefs today split into two camps: those who believe that the salt absorbs moisture and dehydrates the meat, and those who don't believe the salt has any impact on the meat. Personally, I agree with both sides. Pork, for example, has low moisture content and easily dries out when you salt it before frying. Coarse salt crystals are jagged and therefore do pierce the meat and suck out the moisture. However, this is really only significant when curing meats. Perhaps if you salt your meat 10 minutes or more before cooking, then curing would have begun and the meat would begin to dry out. But if you only give it a quick sprinkle right before the meat hits the pan -- presumably you're not using a pound of salt -- then I don't think seasoning makes any difference. That said, experience has taught me that everyone has radically different notions of acceptable levels of seasoning, so I always under-season everything I make. The Wagyu was fried without any salt or pepper.

After swooning over the first bite, I opted to slice one of the steaks into strips and served it atop rice and sprinkled with chopped green onion. I drizzled some of the juices left in the pan to give the meat some sheen. Freshly ground black pepper and Himalayan salt finished the dish. If only I could eat like this every day.