Born and Raised in Japan!
THE WAGYU
From Zennoh Japan
In America WAGYU, Japanese beef, including what is often called Kobe Beef, has been known for decades as synonymous with "highest quality, highly marbled, delicious beef from Japan". Today so-called WAGYU frequently appears on menus at high-end Japanese and Western restaurants across America. However, most of the WAGYU served at these establishments is from cattle that are born and raised in the United States, and most of these cattle are hybrids of American and Japanese breeds.
Honest restaurants will describe the beef as "American WAGYU", but some fail to do so. The production of American WAGYU goes back to 1976, when two purebred Japanese WAGYU cattle were exported to America and crossbred with American Angus stock. Although American WAGYU is quite good, the real WAGYU from Japan greatly surpasses this domestic product in all areas - marbling degree, color of fat and meat, texture and, above all, flavor.
Among many cattle species raised in Japan the name WAGYU is given to only four breeds of cattle - Japanese Black (the dominant breed), Japanese Brown, Japanese Polled and Japanese Shorthorn. These varieties were originally brought to Japan through the Korean Peninsula as early as the 2nd century. Initially the animals were primarily used for performing hard draft labor in the fields and farms of the country. At the beginning of Meiji period (1868-1911), and the beginning of wide-spread beef consumption the government encouraged some cross-breeding of the original domestic cattle with European stock in order to develop and maintain the best strains of cattle for consumption.
The crossbreeding practice was halted in 1910 and the blood lines were frozen, resulting into todays world famous WAGYU beef. In Japan the gradual increase in the consumption of beef started at the beginning of 20th century, but real large-scale (by Japanese standards; tiny by American standards) commercial beef production did not begin in earnest until the1960s when the economy of Japan grew to the point that WAGYU became economically accessible to the general population.
WAGYU introduced to MTC PREMIUM by Zennoh is from the Japanese Black breed of cattle. They are raised in Gunma, Kagoshima and Miyazaki Prefectures. Each newborn calf stays with its natural mother for about 10 months. The calf is then sold to farmers who feed and fatten it with hay, rice straw, other roughage, barley and corn for the next 24 months. Extensive care and much labor spent to raise the cattle resulting in beef whose snow white fat thoroughly marbles the muscle meat. Only virgin heifers and steers are qualified to become WAGYU.
WAGYU grade ranking as established by the Japan Meat Grading Association
Quality Ranking Standards: No. 1 through No. 5
No. 5 is the highest rank. The meat at this rank has the highest marbling of fat in its muscle meat, the fat is snow white color (lower ranking beef fat has a yellowish tinge), the muscle meat is bright red-orange and it has smooth melting texture. All Japanese WAGYU is in the grade range of No. 4 and No. 5. American WAGYU falls in grade rank No. 3.
Marbling Ranking Standards: No. 1 through No. 12
The ideal marbling number is grades No. 7 and No. 8. Meat with marbling grade No. 12 is considered too "buttery" to consume, for example, as steak. American WAGYU falls in grade No. 5 to No. 6. The fat in Japanese WAGYU melts at a mere 77°F. Real WAGYU therefore melts in the mouth.
WAGYU uses
Each cut of WAGYU beef is best suited for different preparations. In Japanese (for example teppan-yaki - the Benihana-style of cooking) and Western preparations rib cuts, sirloin and fillets are for grilled or skillet sauteed steaks. Shoulder cuts, and rib cuts are used for yakiniku (Korean style barbecue). Sirloin, rib cuts and shoulder cuts are for shabu-shabu (Japanese thinly sliced and boiled beef) and sukiyaki (Japanese-style sauté with vegetables). Other cuts may be used for stews, soups and grilling.
Ingredients: beef
The Company: Zennoh is the national organization that promotes all Japanese agricultural products, including WAGYU for domestic and overseas consumption. The farms in Japan that produce high quality WAGYU are small-scale operations often with 10 or fewer head of cattle. In contrast to the huge factory-scale beef industry in the US, each cow is named and individually cared for with much love, labor and attention. For a WAGYU farmer, the cattle are treated more like children than agricultural products. The fascinating stories of these individual farmers will be presented on this web-site.