What does wagyu taste like?
Wagyu tastes like the richest, most buttery beef you've had: fat is marbled all through the meat, so it melts on your tongue and eats more like butter than steak.
Wagyu
beef that melts like butter
Wagyu means Japanese cattle, a group of breeds raised to lay down fine, lacy fat inside the muscle. When it cooks, that fat melts and bastes every bite, so the meat tastes sweet, beefy and deeply buttery, and feels almost soft. Top-grade Japanese A5 is so rich you only want a few bites, which is why it comes in thin slices or small portions. American wagyu is usually crossed with Angus, so it's beefier and chewier, more like a very good steak with extra marbling. Either way, it's about richness, not big seasoning.
Where you’ll see it
Seared in small pieces at steakhouses and sold by the ounce, as a pricey upgrade on burgers, in carpaccio or tartare, seared on sushi, and sliced thin for Japanese hot pot or yakiniku (tabletop grilling).
Order it if you want a few bites of the richest beef on the menu and don't mind paying for it.
Quick questions
- Is wagyu the same as Kobe beef?
- Kobe is one kind of wagyu, from a specific breed raised in Japan's Hyogo prefecture. All Kobe is wagyu, but most wagyu isn't Kobe.
- Why is wagyu so expensive?
- The cattle take longer to raise, top Japanese grades are scarce, and the heavy marbling is what you're paying for. American wagyu costs less but is still a premium cut.