Done Up Like a Kipper!

Learn how to make Spring Wine and aliantha cookies.

Moderator: Menolly

Post Reply
User avatar
peter
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 11488
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:08 am
Location: Another time. Another place.
Been thanked: 4 times

Done Up Like a Kipper!

Post by peter »

Fools and their money. Isn't that what they say? Well here's a tale and you can judge for yourself.

I've long wanted to try the much famed wagu steak that is produced in Japan and involves feeding the bullock on a mixture of high protein grain and beer, and regular massaging of the animal's muscles in order to produce an exceptionally tender and flavoursome product.

To purchase a wagu steak in a restaurant will set you back big bucks - think two hundred plus dollars a plate - and though I'm not afraid to spring for a meal I truly want to experience, that price is a bit rich even for me. A meal at this level is not going to give you much change out of a thousand bucks, and is simply beyond my means.

Now I'm a pretty decent cook, and coming from the west country of England am not unfamiliar with the preparation of a decent steak. On this basis I decided that, if a decent supplier of the product could be found in my country, I'd give the thing a go myself. Accordingly, I set about doing a search and fetched up on a company that seemed to know its onions and could provide a certified A5 grade Japanese wagu fillet steak at a cost of around eighty dollars including carriage.

The steak arrived frozen, in good order and on time, but on unwrapping the product my first doubts began to materialize. It was not the pale pink colour I'd been expecting, but in fairness I said to myself, it's been frozen and that will nearly always cause a steak to darken in colour. More worryingly, the fat marbling of the steak, while high and evenly distributed around the piece, was not of the thickness or appearance that I'd come to expect via the extensive YouTube videos I'd watched on the meat and how to prepare it. I'm no novice when it comes to fillet steak and I'd seen marbling such as this on a thousand pieces that I'd bought over the years, UK produced and of the highest quality.

Nevertheless, in the hope that I was being over critical I defrosted the steak and began my preparation according to the accepted method of lightly seasoning the meat and then placing it into a hot dry pan. In all video's I'd watched, this was the recommended method by virtue of the high fat content being quite capable of producing it's own cooking oils. In fact the release of these oils was a ubiquitous feature of every video I watched and was a demonstration of the exceptionally high fat content that is a characteristic of high grade wagu beef.

As I'd expected however, no fat pool was seen to gather around the steak. On the contrary, the steak began to caramelise faster than in the video presentations, and it was only by virtue of my experience in the cooking of fillet steaks that I was able to understand what was happening and adjust my cooking method to accommodate for this (actually not a problem - a good steak requires very little fat in the cooking pan anyway, the main skills being in knowing how long to leave the steak before turning it).

Anyway, I cooked the thing and served up a dish that would have sat well in any Michelin starred restaurant - thin slices of medium-rare beef with a soy sauce, wasabi and sea-salt condiment arrangement. Beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. But not wagu steak!

This was a high grade fillet steak that could have been purchased for ten quid from any half decent butcher in my town. I know at least two butcher's who's meat is of superior quality to this, even good as it was, every week without fail. They produce their own meat and know how to do it beyond anything you will find in the regular supermarket range.

So there you have it. What did I expect. I come from the best meat producing region of the best meat producing country in the world. What I purchased was what, to anyone of lesser experience, would have been the best piece of meat they had ever eaten. They simply would not have known that what they were getting was not what it said on the tin. This is how companies like this are able to survive and continue trading - on the basis of the lack of understanding of the bulk of people who buy from them.

Me - I haven't got the heart to go complaining and demanding my money back; rather, I'll just chalk it up to experience.

And meanwhile, my search for a genuine piece of wagu steak, will, once my burned fingers have healed, continue as before.

;)
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
User avatar
Menolly
A Lowly Harper
Posts: 24066
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 12:29 am
Location: Harper Hall, Fort Hold, Northern Continent, Pern...
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 7 times
Contact:

Post by Menolly »

We have similar here across the pond, peter. While I haven't tried either, there is a product being marketed as American wagyu. I believe it is supposedly raised and treated the same as Japanese wagyu; the ranchers may even use the same breed. But those in the know claim while it is an exceptional grade of beef, it doesn't compare to Japanese.

I've heard some companies market them as the same, although packaging will differentiate. But the fact it is American raised tends to be in tiny, buried print most will overlook in their excitement to open the packaging.
Image
User avatar
peter
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 11488
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:08 am
Location: Another time. Another place.
Been thanked: 4 times

Post by peter »

This was supposedly authentic Japanese produced wagu Menolly. The site actually sold a British produced version marketed as such at a considerably lower price. There may have been some tiny print somewhere but I don't believe so.

In fact I would rather have had a home produced product that had the actual marbling that is associated with the wagu proper. I'm not so much hung up on the place of origin as to the authentic wagu experience. It's like champagne if you like. Champagne is a regional name and anything labeled as such has to be from that particular region of France by law. But wines produced in the same way go under the name of cava in Spain, and Asti in Italy (or is it prosecco - I forget) and are often of higher quality than that produced in France where, as everywhere else, there are champagnes and there are champagnes.

In the case of wagu, the name has no legal appellation to Japan, but rather can be produced in any country. If I'm correct, a product labeled as kobi beef has to be produced in Japan to be sold as such, and is essentially guaranteed as Japanese produced wagu.

If the company told me that the piece of beef I had was produced in Japan I would not argue with them, perhaps it was - but it still wouldn't have qualified as a piece of wagu and I'd argue this until the bitter end.

I'm thinking that I might follow it up just for the hell of it and see what they have to say. I don't expect any return for the effort, but it may be fun to see how they wriggle. We'll see. If I do I'll post the story when it happens.

;)
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
User avatar
Avatar
Immanentizing The Eschaton
Posts: 61651
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 19 times

Post by Avatar »

I think it's worth doing. Or at least posting something on their Facebook so other consumers are aware. :shrug:

Even if you specifically tell them you don't want a refund, just disappointed re expectations vs experience etc.

--A
Post Reply

Return to “The Galley”