Much ado about Wagyu

There’s more: their feed is rotated often to ensure they do not lose interest in their food,and lastly,while slaughtering they are sedated and killed instantaneously,so that the stress is not passed on to their meat.

The result is astonishing,with the meat having uniform and high marbling,implicating an unusually high fat content. Marbling is essentially a measure of fat interspersed with the meat,with Kobe beef visibly having more white striations of fat than other beef. “While cooking meat,the fat normally melts and keeps the meat moist. Beef normally has fat only on the edges,however Kobe beef as fat all over the meat and therefore as it cooks the fat keeps melting. This keeps the meat moist and succulent,and therefore Kobe beef just melts in your mouth,” says Chef Joy Bhattacharya,executive chef,Oberoi Hotels and Resorts.

Bhattacharya doesn’t serve Kobe beef at the Oberoi due to difficult import restrictions,but he has tried some on his travels in Singapore,paying a hefty Singapore $120 (Rs 3,600) for a Kobe steak. “Kobe beef is the most expensive beef in the world,and I think it is justified due to the high costs of rearing and scientific methods used for breeding. Had along with a heavy-bodied red wine,a Kobe beef steak is one of the best culinary experiences,” he says. In India,Kobe beef is seen as both restrictively expensive and touchy,since most Indians who against it’s consumption.

Wasabi by Morimoto at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower serves a Kobe beef steak,but this comes at an exorbitant price of Rs 6,000 a plate. “I have,on several occasions,saved up just for the Kobe beef at Wasabi. It is the most unbelievable culinary experience I have ever had,” says avid fan Ankit Shah. He recalls the first time he tried a Kobe burger abroad,and says that,“I could not stop thinking about it for days.”

For those not willing to spend that much,though,there is an alternative to Kobe-style beef. Essentially an imitation,there are regions such as California where Wagyu cattle are cross-bred and reared in a similar fashion to that in Kobe. Tetsuma is one such restaurant which serves Kobe-style beef,and Executive Chef James Biaka says,“Although it isn’t as marbled as Kobe beef,it’s an excellent alternative as it is still very soft and tender. There is a significant price difference; Kobe beef could cost around 10,000 a kilo but Kobe-style beef would be around Rs 4,000 per kilo.”

In these recessionary times,it certainly seems a good starting point for red-meat lovers in Mumbai.