Wagyu beef - is it worth it?

RE: Wagyu beef - is it worth it?

Virginia Campbell — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 12:17:03 GMT

Never had Wagyu but making burgers out of it seems like buying very expensive wine at auction then pouring Coke into it.

The best steak I ever had was Murray Grey at the breed stand at the Field days show in NZ. A bit of steak with salt on it, served between two bits of cheap white plastic pan loaf. Delicious. The breed was developed in Australia from Angus x Shorthorn so not surprising the beef is good.

RE: Wagyu beef - is it worth it?

Sarah Keir — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 08:28:30 GMT

I've had wagyu steak - that I bought and cooked myself. The marbling was impressive, it was very tender but it was no more tasty than a properly dry-aged steak from a traditional breed and the amount of fat was just too much - I was actually gagging and only ate half. I wont' be buying or eating again when I can get good quality steaks.

RE: Wagyu beef - is it worth it?

Clive Ansell — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 06:10:16 GMT

I've eaten Wagyu steak and a burger, and also on one occasion in the US a Kobe burger, which I believe is subtype of Wagyu.

While they were very nice and enjoyable, I have eaten equally good locally outdoor reared beef at a fraction of the price.

In answer to the OP question, no, I don't think it is worth the price. Food snobbery?

RE: Wagyu beef - is it worth it?

Nicola Cole — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 22:31:15 GMT

As you say, can’t see how there’s a big difference when it’s minced as a burger.

Also, if it’s to do with the fat content and marbling then for steak, presumably it depends how you like your steak cooked as to whether there could be any feasible difference? If it cooks for too short a time (ie rare) then the marbling isn’t going to have time to be any use surely?

RE: Wagyu beef - is it worth it?

Fable — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 19:20:44 GMT

We have producers here in NZ that raise Wagyu beef, but certainly with NZ’s predominantly pasture based systems they are not listening to music (other than the farmer’s singing) or receiving massages! Many of these animals are not likely full Wagyu being generally half dairy. From my experience working with them and from what I have been told, they have very poor temperaments, seem to get all the health issues and take significantly longer to grow out than other beef breeds. Most of our producers seem to do it once, then realise that the extra premium they get for the meat is not worth the additional trouble it takes to get them to finishing weight.

As far as the quality of the steaks, I haven’t tried Wagyu beef, but it is supposedly superior due to the fat marbling as Thomas said. However, again from what I’ve been told by others, you can get just as good marbling with Speckled Park beef and those animals grow out quickly. Hence the popularity of that breed here lately.

RE: Wagyu beef - is it worth it?

Thomas Johnson — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 17:44:35 GMT

[quote userid="3094" url="~/001/veterinary-clinical/farm-animal/f/discussions/30273/wagyu-beef---is-it-worth-it"]Some are saying the Wagyu burgers taste no different anyway due to the processing from the Natural form of the meat!! Over to you?Are there welfare benefits to them? [/quote]

My understanding is that the big difference with Wagyu is the way that fat is marbled through the meat making it more tender and flavoursome, and this makes sense to me, but I don't see how it would be better for making a burger as once it's minced you could achieve the same effect by adding more fat to the mix...

RE: Wagyu beef - is it worth it?

Arlo Guthrie — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 16:35:46 GMT

Julian Earl moved your post to the general farm animal discussions as its not really one for the expert forums (and we are short of farm animal experts).

I've had Wagyu once, I think. I remember it being very tender, but not sure I would pay that again.