Australian Wagyu

[PCL]

Was at a wedding this weekend, and met a couple who raise Wagyu cattle in Forbes (sp.??) NSW. I was going to look it up on the map, as it's apparently an 8 hours drive from Melbourne.

Anyhow, the mature animals are exported live, back to Japan, with hardly any of the animals making it to the abattoir for the local market. I've seen the stuff cryo-vac'ed in David Jones, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for stuff I can't smell or touch. For the record, it was close to $60 for a 300g piece of fillet.

Couple things to consider:

- the fillet isn't the best part of the Wagyu, the brisket and flanks are sooooo good. (for the record, I don't eat fillet much anyway... it's boring)

- rib eyes are good too

- Wagyu's have little rump to speak of

I'm going to be visiting these dudes soon, as soon as my wife decides its okay to upgrade the 4x4. It's not an 'event', just good fun. The promise of seeing these animals, and eating them right there and then is too good to resist. Apparently there's some rare breed pork too, with FANTASTIC marbling, and after the slow roasted belly for tea tonight, I'm keen to check out the pigs as well. As per the Wagyu, these pigs do not make it to the local market.

Any thoughts on local Wagyu and where you'd get them in town, be it Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, wherever, and have you tasted the stuff, and how was it done??

Guys, I'm excited.

[ozmouse]

well im there for the rare pork!!

ive had wagyu at a japanese restaurant - shabu shabu style (cooking thin slices of beef fondue like in a broth). it is amazing how all the marbling just melts away. and then the broth after is so rich!

the only reason i had ordered it here, was because i have had the 'real thing' - kobe beef - in japan! I think, kobe beef is wagyu raised only in kobe? similar to champagne et al.

i have not had it grilled as a steak.

i dont know that much about it, but i dont think it is that rare anymore - it is being raised in every state in the country. i believe it is the fast growing breed in Oz at the moment. and as you say, it is all for export. and you certainly see it on alot of menus now.

In addition to the cut, the age of the animal determines the 'quality' of the beef. ie older beef has more marbling, and it is marketed by a numbering system indicated the amount of marbling. more marbling more $$. the amount of marbling in the meat, would also determine how you would prepare it.

i believe there was a women raising rare or old breed pork near bendigo, or central highlands i thought. but you dont see any public profile anymore. so i dont know where that got too.

bangalow pork is the darling of the restaurant world at the moment. you cant go anywhere in nsw without seeing in on menus. understandable so... it tastes great! but that 'brand' does not have the corner of good tasting pork.

i had pork in bali last year. it was divine. i have been craving it ever since. so sweet and flavoursome. and the fat.... hmmm. just like the old days!! and this was after seeing it in the market.... i had to ask what it was.... deep red 2 inches of fat on it.... (still warm from slaughter!).

[Shalmanese]

Our local farmers market (Fox Studios, Sydney) sells wagyu, $69/kg for ribeye, $59/kg for sirloin, $39/kg for rump, no brisket AFAIK but I'm sure you could ask for some.

The name of the farm is Condobolin Wagyu. I spoke to the guy at the stall who is the son of the owner and he wasn't sure how to get it in Melbourne but if you phone his dad on (H) 02 6895 3116 or (M) 0428 953 116 ask for Peter, he can find you a source.

I've heard good things about bangalow and my local organic butcher has some. However, I've been quite happy with some of the stuff from the local asian markets which is about 1/7th the price and they also aren't afraid of a bit of fat.

PCL: What makes Wagyu brisket much better than normal brisket? I thought the appeal of wagyu was the marbling which meant essentially high heat, quick cooking, for a long cooked brisket, the fat would have all melted out and would be indistinguishable from normal brisket. Am I wrong?

[Shinboners]

i dont know that much about it, but i dont think it is that rare anymore - it is being raised in every state in the country.  i believe it is the fast growing breed in Oz at the moment.  and as you say, it is all for export.  and you certainly see it on alot of menus now.

Wagyu beef has also been making an appearance in cookbooks - the Kylie Kwong and Teague Ezard cookbooks come to mind. It may also been mentioned in the Shannon Bennett cookbook too.

i believe there was a women raising rare or old breed pork near bendigo, or central highlands i thought.  but you dont see any public profile anymore.  so i dont know where that got too. 

bangalow pork is the darling of the restaurant world at the moment.  you cant go anywhere in nsw without seeing in on menus.  understandable so... it tastes great!  but that 'brand' does not have the corner of good tasting pork. 

Speaking of pork, does anyone know of any really good suppliers? I usually buy my pork from a Vietnamese butcher at the Queen Victoria, but I'm keen to try some high quality pork.

[PCL]

PCL: What makes Wagyu brisket much better than normal brisket? I thought the appeal of wagyu was the marbling which meant essentially high heat, quick cooking, for a long cooked brisket, the fat would have all melted out and would be indistinguishable from normal brisket. Am I wrong?

←

Well, the high heat cooking thing with wagyu doesn't seem to generally work. If it's a fillet/steak of any other description, it's best done on a teppanyaki style hot plate, where the steak is seared, then sliced then rotated quickly, then sliced etc so that you end up with bite sized cubes of steak each one individually treated like a mini-steak, oozing with sweetness and the fat totally integrated with the meat. The last minute covering of the mini-steaks to bake it slightly also helps. This was how they did wagyu at the teppanyaki place next to the ANA in the Rocks. It's also how Steingarten describes it in The Man Who Ate Everything.

As for the brisket, it's used in Shabu Shabu, gentle poaching of the meat in superb broth. Or even Gyu Tataki, or treated like skirt steak, thin, a'la minute. Apparently when raw, the fat melts at 32 degrees... or so I'm told by the farmer.

If you were to do a whole steak apparently in the way we are accustomed to, it ends up tough. Or so I'm told.

The crux of it is, I'm gonna go see these cows, enjoy some honest country hospitality, and then eat the bastards and bring some home to experiment and play with and ultimately, enjoy the hell out of 'em.

[Shalmanese]

I've only done Wagyu ribeyes. They came out like butter, just as the promotional literature said it would :D.

I was alarmed by how much fat ran into the pan but there apparently was still enough in the steaks to keep it nice and tender. I think next time I might contemplate cooking them until bleu instead of rare.

Does anyone know of a supplier in Aus that dry ages their wagyu? would it do anything special for the meat? I figure with something so special, going the extra mile should be worth it.

[PCL]

I'll try to speak to the Forbes people re:aging. This is a very good question. Why don't you post it on the general forum? I'm lazy and will be doing some work this afternoon!

[ozmouse]

further to the above discussion,

a website on rare breed pork in victoria

a website on victorian wagyu

[Shinboners]

Today's Epicure also had a feature article on meat and butchery, with a few comments on the Wessex breed of pig.

For those who can't get a hold of Epicure, here's the article:

http://theage.com.au/articles/2005/02/07/1107625102383.html

Feed them meat

February 8, 2005

Rare breeds, old breeds and whole, magnificent beasts: the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival celebrates flesh in all its forgotten glory. By Richard Cornish.

The pleasure of flesh seems to be attracting an increasing group of devotees. Slowly but surely, demand is growing for better-quality meat with more flavour and superior texture.

Recent years have seen the emergence of organic butchers, the appearance of old-fashioned "rare breeds" on restaurant menus and direct-to-the-door delivery of pre-packaged meat from the farm gate.

While these developments are still basically at cottage-industry stage, there appears to be plenty of people willing to explore and support diversity in the meat industry.

The focus of this new breed of meat lover, however, is not on the gluttonous consumption of huge quantities of animal flesh but rather on investigating issues of quality, respectful husbandry, provenance and traditional meat preparation and curing skills.

"Globally, there's a move back towards meat," says the creative director of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and Epicure columnist, Matt Preston.

This year, 14 major festival events are based purely on meat, with many others containing a serious meat element. Enthusiastic chefs are creating tailor-made workshops and special dinners.

"In the US, for example, they are celebrating the blokey, meat-eating, unapologetic carnivore," Preston says. "What we have in the festival this year are events that get people thinking about meat. Why, for example, do some steaks cost $35 a kilogram and others $8? Where does our meat come from?"

Healesville chef Richard Hauptmann agrees with Preston. "We've lost that contact with our animals. Most of us eat prime cuts out of a plastic tray from the supermarket," he says. "As a kid, I watched the farmhands slaughter and butcher the sheep and cattle, then I'd watch Grandma cook the animals for the family and the workers. She had to use every part of the animal - there was not a scrap of waste."

Hauptmann is co-host of festival event Cure the Rare Beast (Sunday, March 13, 1pm), part of the program of Yarra Valley Slow Food events.

His partner for the day is Healesville butcher Ken Boeder. They plan to help revitalise old-fashioned butchery skills that were once common practice on farms and in butchers' shops throughout Australia.

Hauptmann and Boeder are starting with an old-breed large English black pig carcass, breaking it down and then curing three cuts.

"First we're going to pickle the neck," Hauptmann says. "It has great texture, especially when simmered in a stock with mirepoix, cider vinegar and spices. We'll then chill it in the stock to suck back in the juices. We're then going to slice it and serve it with pickles and bread."

They'll then move down the pig and salt and lightly smoke the pork belly. At the end of the day, they'll "clean up the scraps" by making a few coarsely ground Italian fennel-and-garlic sausages. "You don't want to waste a skerrick of these amazing old-breed pigs."

Another chance to sample old-breed pork will be at Bokchoy Tang with Real Taste - Traditional Meat (Wednesday, March 23, 7pm). The Melbourne arm of Slow Food, in conjunction with the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia, is highlighting the importance of genetic diversity in the Australian food industry by serving three endangered breeds of farm animals.

Anthony Dufty, from the Rare Breeds Trust, explains: "Rare breeds are farm animals that are no longer farmed in commercial quantities, so they are in danger of becoming extinct.

It may seem anathema to eat endangered species, but if we don't give the farmers a financial return for their animals, then they won't have an economic incentive to maintain long-term sustainable herds and flocks. The other notable fact is that these animals by and large taste so much better than commercial breeds."

Bokchoy Tang owner and executive chef George Qing is using rare-breed Wessex saddleback pork to make his hallmark dish, steamed Chairman Mao-style mussels and organic pork.

"It is so much more intensely and better flavoured than commercial pork. It has a distinctive, rich taste and a luscious fat component that is essential in highlighting the subtle nuances of the dish," he says through a translator.

Joining the kitchen on the night is guest chef Alan Harding, of Kenloch, a man familiar with rare-breed animals. He says: "The focus really needs to be on the meat, so I always cook these animals simply. The Lincoln breed of lamb I will be cooking has an amazing sweetness and a flavour that reminds me of lamb when I was growing up. This is real lamb."

He will be braising the shoulder whole and seasoning the meat with mushrooms and sweet vinegar.

The other guest chef, Anthony Fullerton from Paladarr, already has a whole side of rare-breed Scottish Highland beef dry-ageing in the cool room and will be preparing a four-way tasting plate including a braise and a carpaccio.

Up in the Central Highlands, near Daylesford, another two events have rare-breed animals on the menu.

Big Shed Wines at Glenlyon will be grilling various prime cuts of Scottish Highland beef on the barbecue (Sunday, March 20, 12.30pm-4pm).

Meanwhile, across the hills at Bullarto, the gates are opening for the Fernleigh Farms Open Day (Sunday, March 20, 10am-4.30pm), with chef George Biron supervising the spit-roasting of a rare-breed Dorset Downs lamb as well as rare-breed pork and beef.

Guests will be invited to see how rare-breed Wessex Saddleback pigs are raised for the table, and then wander through the organic carrot and potato fields or take a walk through the surrounding eucalypt and blackwood forest. Lunch will be a picnic-style affair under the eucalypts - bring a blanket. Buy lunch from the rare-breed spit-roast and salads made from organic vegies grown on the farm.

Just down the road in Daylesford is Cliffy's Smokehouse Day (Saturday, March 19, 11.30am). Details have yet to be confirmed, but a variety of poultry, fish and smallgoods will be smoked and eaten on the day.

Further north, in Rutherglen, is Grazing on Beef (Saturday, March 12, 6.30pm). This dinner is the result of a beef carcass competition held by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria and the Department of Primary Industries.

Sixty-three cattle are presently in a feedlot on a 65-day fattening regimen. In two weeks' time they will judged on the hoof, slaughtered, and judged again as they hang on the hook.

The winning carcasses will be aged, butchered and served in a five-course beef dinner for100 people. One of the dishes confirmed at this stage is carpaccio of scotch fillet of beef, cool-smoked over redgum, served with olive tapenade and Rutherglen wines.

Another advocate of using the whole animal is George Calombaris from Reserve. He's basing his Breaking Down the Beast (Monday, March 14, 7pm) dinner on memories of family Christmases in Cyprus.

"It was a family experience - of sharing and eating together," he says. "We'd roast a whole lamb stuffed with quails and sausages. What wasn't eaten on the day was made into sauces."

Calombaris is commemorating these convivial experiences with goat cooked five different ways. Dishes include air-dried goat-and-fennel sausages on polenta injected with mascarpone; and loin of goat with sweetbreads wrapped in prosciutto with a salad of cold, pickled goat's tongue. All dishes will be matched with classic, rustic Italian wines.

The big issues of air-ageing and grain versus grass will be covered by Ian Curley at The Point on Albert Park Lake in his session Meet the Meat (Saturday, March 19, 5.30pm).

Starting with 100kg of beef hind and forequarter, he will break down the joints into their respective cuts, showing the carnivorously curious exactly what to look for when buying really good meat.

"Don't be fooled by bright-red steaks - they can be tough," he advises. "Meat that is darker around the edges will probably be aged and therefore will be more tender."

Curley's meat session will be followed by a two-course meal including a whole sirloin - roasted medium-rare - served on a bed of mashed potato with roast bone marrow, a red wine jus, a choice of mustards and wine.

Langton's Austrian-born chef, Walter Trupp, started working in the family hotel in an Alpine ski resort at the age of 14. In the summer he worked in a butchery. In the intervening 20 years he has constantly practised and developed his meat knowledge.

"Meat is muscle, and different muscles do different things on the animal," Trupp says. "Some are tougher and need braising - but often these have the most flavour. Some of the other muscles do less work, are naturally more tender and can be grilled, roasted, fried and served pink."

Boning and Filleting (Saturday, March 19, 10.30am-2.30pm) will help meat lovers gain knife skills as Trupp bones a chicken four ways, a duck three ways and a rabbit two ways. Lunch will be whole chickens stuffed with a parsley mousse carved at the table and served with madeira sauce.

Serafino Di Giampaolo is another European-born chef keen to pass on his knife knowledge to the next generation. Participants at Knife Skills (March 12 and 19, 9.30am-4.30pm) will use 15 types of knives to slice, dice and julienne their way into better knife confidence.

Although not purely a meat event, the skills learnt at this course will be indispensable to any serious cook. In Di Giampaolo's words: "Proper slicing will not only add to the presentation of meat, it actually improves the flavour."

For those who want their meat served to them in a more laid-back environment, consider The Great Game Sausage Sizzle at the Albert Park Hotel (Sunday, March 13 and 20, 4pm-7pm).

Each week, chef Sacha Pascual laboriously makes 200 sausages by hand. He even goes as far as enriching his sausages with duck fat to give added succulence and uses only quality imported salt.

Guests at this value-for-money event will be able to choose six small snags from a list of pheasant, pork, venison, rabbit, wagyu beef, lamb, scallop and bacon, kangaroo and chicken, washed down with a pint of ale and a glass of durif.

Slightly more hands-on will be the Belgian Beer Cafe's Beerfun, Eat with Your Hands (Sunday, March 20, 12.30pm-4pm) at which barbecued sausages and free-range chicken will be served at shared tables, with beer, in the tradition of the European beer hall, a cutlery-free event that Matt Preston describes with delight as being "Brueghelesque".

"This year, an amazing array of people are coming out of the woodwork to share not just their love of meat," Preston says, "but their bodies of knowledge in handling, cooking and preserving meat.

As Stefano De Pieri once said, 'There are a handful of people in this world who are standing up against the supermarket food culture. They are like the monks in the Dark Ages who maintained the seeds of knowledge and literature while the barbarians destroyed everything else around them.' I think we got most of them to do events in the 2005 festival."

Edited February 8, 2005 by Shinboners (log)

[Shalmanese]

I'll try to speak to the Forbes people re:aging. This is a very good question. Why don't you post it on the general forum? I'm lazy and will be doing some work this afternoon!

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In case anyone cares, I was at the farmers market yesterday and spoke to the Wagyu seller. He says that all the meat is aged for 21 days before it's sent to the market.

[PCL]

Shal, which farmer's market is it in Sydney? Name of producer/seller?

The one's I've been to here in Melbourne don't seem to sell the stuff. I do have my butcher, but I"m also interested in comparing prices.

I haven't spoken to my Forbes people for a while, they're on a looooong holiday...<pout>

[Shalmanese]

It's the fox studios farmers market, here every wednesday. The seller is condobolin wagyu, their (very sparse) website is here. Their prices at the farmers market are:

$79/kg for tenderloin

$69/kg for ribeye

$39/kg for rump

[Tae.Lee]

i've seen wagyu at the barossa fine foods stall in the adelaide markets, recently i've also seen wagyu sausages there, though i haven't tried them yet..

[Shinboners]

In today's Epicure, there was an article on "Expensive Tastes" in Melbourne. On the section about the Grossi Florentino and Wagyu steak, they mention that there are 12 grades of Wagyu beef. The best grade (#12) can cost $145/kg (David Blackmore's Victorian Wagyu).