Kobe vs Wagyu: Understanding Japanese Beef

[Music] great UI Yosh I welcome to akitoki mas and today I'm gonna be talking about one of the number one things people want to try when they go to Japan and that is beef now when you hear the word beef most people are gonna think in their head man when I want to go to Japan I'm gonna try Kobe beef now let me tell you something about Kobe beef Kobe beef is the prime grade cut of beef that people automatically associate all Japanese beef with when they go to Japan Kobe beef is actually less than 1% of the Wagyu beef Wagyu is Japanese for you know Japanese beef so Kobe is less than 1% of the Wagyu beef that is produced in Japan it comes from a Japanese black cattle in the co bay region it has very specific qualifications - known as Kobe beef and not just flag you beef now Wagyu beef can be just as good if not better tasting than Kobe beef itself so when you go to Japan keep an open mind that having a high-quality Wagyu beef may actually be better in the end than having and seeking and spending tons of money just trying to get Co baby specifically when I went there I had both Kobe and just regular a5 Japanese Wagyu beef now you may ask yourself if what is a 5 well in Japan beef is greater than a scale from A to C based on the yield how much you get out of the cow when you turn it into delicious meaty morsels then a quality score from one to five and that quality score is based off of a lot of things first being the firmness the texture the quality and the fat marbling also known as the BMS so I believe that is one second I figured it out I wanted to make sure I wanted to make sure before I I blame Li possibly lied to your faces what BMS stand for and it's super easy which is just beef marbling standard it's how many veins of fats are marbled within the actual meat itself now to become Kobe beef it needs to be cattle raised and the Kobe prefecture of Japan it has to have a standard of a or B with a quality score of four or five with at least a BMS standard or the beef marbling standard of 6 or higher now the beef marbling standard is actually from 1 to 12 I'll put a picture up so you can see what I'm talking about but that is one of the grading criteria is in order for it to become authentic high quality Wagyu beef and be known as Kobe beef and it needs to have the authentic Japanese chrysanthemum chrysanthemum chrysanthemum the Japanese chrysanthemum seal stamped on the meat itself and this will certify that cut of meat as being authentic Kobe beef now as I mentioned before when I went to Japan I had authentic Kobe beef and I had a 5 lag you be at a Wagyu restaurant the Kobe beef in comparison for the amount I got was significantly more expensive than just the a5 Wagyu beef don't get me wrong they were both pricey I believe it was like $15 for a skewer of Wagyu beef and it was small little chunks I'll put a picture of it they were they weren't very big was like fifteen dollars that and then I got a plate or a serving for two people of a5 Wagyu beef and in comparison eating the two of them the Kobe beef was way less delicious than the actual a5 Wagyu beef not to say that it wasn't good but between the two if I to pick them again it would easily go for the a5 Wagyu beef then the strict Kobe beef and here's the reasons why when you eat Kobe beef you put it in your mouth and it essentially immediately falls apart and by that I mean the temperature that the fat melts is essentially the temperature or higher in your mouth so when you put it in your mouth it instantly obliterates and coach your mouth with this fatty oil it's almost like if you were to eat a piece of semi melted chocolate that was like almost already melted you popped in your mouth and the chocolate just melted completely and you got that coated film of chocolate covering your mouth it was like that but with beef now there wasn't really much chewing going on it was kind of like it melted you gave it a couple chews and it was gone it was extremely savored extremely filling for those small pieces because the fat content was so high it was basically like eating a small morsel of meat and an entire stick of butter at the exact same time with every single one of these pieces feel the heaviness you feel the richness of the meat there's not much actual chewing involved it's a lot you know more fat rendering in your mouth now the Wagyu that I had in Tokyo I went to a Wagyu restaurant I believe I paid around $55 I might correct it visually if I'm wrong I paid $55 American for a plate for two people I actually walked to a Wagyu restaurant it was close to my hotel I went there I asked for a menu and I said what is the most expensive cut of meat you have on here and they didn't have the most expensive cut of meat on there which actually looked like it was cut for more people look like there was just different of a 5 beef instead there was a second-tier option that was a little bit cheaper and it was just smaller portioned out and that's what I ended up by getting the meat itself with a5 Wagyu beef it was the highest quality you could possibly get on their grading standard I was at a restaurant that had a grill in the middle similar to a bubble similar to like a Korean barbecue in America or Korean for that matter where they basically brought me my plate of meat they gave me some seasonings and they gave me some sauces which was I believe soy sauce and then a like a ginger sesame oil and basically I salt and peppered both sides and I threw it on the fire and cooked the pieces myself and it was excellent I highly recommend going to one of these restaurants for your first Wagyu experience you can do the tempeh akhi one state's attempt by Aki which is the hibachi style where they you know serve you like salads and soups and chop up the meat in front of you with some vegetables and it's a significantly more expensive experience and it's super cool to have someone cooking yourself but being able to do it yourself and be able to season it you know with the trifecta of ingredients salt pepper and fire is something something a little special a little bit more personal for the experience so I highly recommend doing that for your first time having Wagyu beef now you might sell it yourself well I might not be able to cook this myself how many times on them super-easy salt pepper both sides pieces are thin throw them on the fire minute or two each side until they basically see her and get like that nice golden-brown crispiness put it in your mouth and enjoy it you just eat all that meaty delicious goodness well what if I under cook it well you really can't under cook it and steak tartare which is essentially you know raw beef as a delicacy around the world that it's used for high quality cuts of meat this is a5 Wagyu beef this is the highest cut of meat almost in the entire world you could eat it raw and you'd probably be absolutely fine there you wouldn't have a problem so under cooking it and like possibly getting sick really isn't a problem so sear at both sides try to get it to that nice medium-rare line practice a little bit dip it in some of the sauces they give you and just have a blast I think you'll enjoy the experience significantly more than if you were to go to like a hibachi style thing the restaurant that I went to I will link in the description below if I'm not mistaken it was on an unnamed the road or a road that's pretty hard to pinpoint the actual location but if I give you that corner and I give you that strip of street you'll definitely be able to find it really really easily and when I went there I ended up by chatting with some businessmen across from me that clearly they could tell I was a foreigner and they were just having a grand little time talking to me and they significantly broken Japanese that I dunno and my little little translator on the phone and they were just having a blast I thought it was just super fun and we were asking me about my experience and my trip there and then I started buying me some alcohol which I don't know if it was it was definitely not sake it was not a rice wine I could kind of tell it was some type of grain alcohol I guess maybe it was soju or something along those lines but you know got a little tipsy with some of the some of the local businessmen there and they I thought I was hilarious one because I was become obviously more intoxicated and at the same time I was standing up with my Canon c100 you know videotaping my meat being cooked on the open flame and then taking out my iPhone and taking pictures and whatnot so just kind of seeing this for never do crazy foreigner tourist stuff there really got a kick out of him the more intoxicated I became the the more entertained they clearly were let's talk about the actual flavor of the regular a5 Wagyu beef with a salt and the pepper it was perfect salt pepper a little bit of smokiness from the fire of the little grill pit it was absolutely delicious with the soy and sesame which may seem like they had might have been overpowering for the meat were not they were like a very light flavor that they added a little bit of uniqueness and a little bit of punch it just helped break up having different flavor profiles while you were while you were eating it if I was to describe the meat flavor in general I'd have to say it was the most delicious piece of steak I've ever had in my life so think about the best steak you've currently ever had and probably multiply it by about 10 and I would say that a 5 Wagyu beef was around there for me I've never had anything like it in my entire life I've never used a term melt-in-your-mouth before but it legitimately melts in your mouth but with this a5 Wagyu and comparison of the co bait there was a little bit of more texture a little bit more bite so you had something kind of you know chew on and swallow versus kind of just just swallowing your food like a snake but yeah so between the two of them they're both very very delicious don't get me wrong I have nothing against co-pay it's just not my particular cut of beef it was more meaty versus more savory coming from America where the beef marbling over here for the fat is pretty terrible in comparison to Japan's thank you guys for watching make sure to subscribe and like the video if you enjoyed learning about the high quality Wagyu beef versus the Kobe beef now hopefully you have some information if you go to travel to Japan for any reason to see if you want to do either just a regular wag you experience or if you want to do a Kobe experience where you really want to track down that khob a cut of beef depending on your taste profile of course make sure to subscribe and hit the little bell if you want to be updating the future about more Japanese content I have lots of content coming out for the hanami soccer reviewing or also also known as you know cherry blossoms for the March to May season in Japan different places to go like the aquarium different culture differences between being an American going to Japan and experiencing it for the first time and yeah tons of extra content and delicious goodness for your faces for your viewing pleasure per se so I hope you guys like for the content and I will see you guys next time thank you for watching it you Kentucky mas and I hope you enjoyed cow

Channel: Itadakimasu!

Views: 192,332

Keywords: japanese beef, japanese, abroad, japanese blog, vlog, street food, tokyo, kobe, beef, michelan, anime, soma, expelled, Nakiri, Kiss, Shokugeki, Pork, Venison, Ikumi Mito, A5, Wagyu, wadakin, matsusaka, mie, japenese beef, food guide, steak, cheap, expensive, deal, best, 白人, イギリス人, 和牛, 海外の反応, Akihibara

Id: 81sQOynVo-U

Length: 13min 1sec (781 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 28 2017