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STORY Prime Beef: Your Guide to Eating Wagyu Everything from steak to sushi
Sushi and ramen are renowned Japanese must-try dishes, but wagyu has become just as popular
There's more to wagyu than Kobe Beef, but the brand's marketing success — former U.S. President Obama made special requests to eat it when visiting Japan — has resulted in a beef boom. Big cities like Tokyo , Sapporo & Around and Kyoto have many specialty restaurants dealing in high-quality wagyu, while regional restaurants offer a chance to sample local varieties. Read on for an overview of popular wagyu dishes.
Sukiyaki
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Arguably Japan's most iconic beef dish, sukiyaki is a hotpot in which thinly sliced meat is flavored with soy sauce, sugar, rice wine and other seasonings before being simmered in a shallow pan with vegetables. Sukiyaki cooking styles differ between east and west Japan, but don't forget to dip the meat in a raw egg before eating to make the most of the wagyu's subtle flavor.
Shabu-shabu
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A healthier and more refined style of hotpot, shabu shabu consists of extremely thin slices of wagyu swished briefly in a simmering broth. The beef is then dipped into a side sauce (ground sesame and citrus soy ponzu being most popular) and eaten. This dish brings out the true value of wagyu's tender and delicate flavor.
Steak, teppanyaki and yakiniku
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For beef connoisseurs, grilled steak is said to be the best way to enjoy the melt-in-your-mouth marbling unique to wagyu. Eating steak is also a fine way to sample and compare wagyu of different grades and regions. Show-stopping teppanyaki, where a chef cooks wagyu in front of diners on an iron griddle, is a particular method of grilling steak in Japan. The meat is always cooked at least medium to medium rare so that the marbled fat reaches its proper melting point.
Yakiniku is a Korean-style grilling method — usually flame-grilled — also common to Japan. Discriminating diners can select their cuts based on flavor and texture profiles before cooking the meat themselves and dipping the meat in a sauce or salt.
Nigiri-zushi
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Though sushi is generally made with seafood, some sushi and yakiniku restaurants serve nigiri-zushi made with seared wagyu. Literally melting in your mouth, this delicacy is not to be missed.