Literally tears of Joy!! This post is a continuation/addendum to my previous post on Wagyu. Give that a gander if you would like additional insight on Wagyu or more in-depth thoughts by yours truly.
The empty plate should give you some introspection as to my state of mind. I am going to provide you with some oversight as to what I did and in the end, provide you with some feedback. Before you ask, I ate the whole thing by myself.
Just some gratuitous pictures.
I always dry-brine my proteins.... .60% salt. This salt is fantastic BTW.
Vacuumed Sealed and will Dry-Brine in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
IC set at 133f. Before you go crazy about the temp, read this on high-fat proteins. And yes you can Sous-Vide-Process Wagyu (read my Wagyu link). Since there is no connective tissue and the Ribeye is not thick the cooking time will be 60-Minutes.
After the Processing, I gave it a quick dip in cold tap water to shock. Shocking will mitigate overcooking during the sear (read the article by SVR).
There was practically no purge in the bag. Handling the meat briefly before for sear showed that the luxurious fat and marbling had softened a wee bit.
Sear Time... I applied just a wee bit of pepper; that's all I did. I used a De-buyer Cast Iron skillet for the sear with NO additional fat added to the pan. Don't forget since I Dry-Brined there was no reason to season with salt.
Here's another picture showing a cross-section. Initial observation- The myoglobin percentage is slightly different than traditional beef, and the additional marbling can throw off appearances. Cutting into this steak was similar to cutting into room temperature butter with a hot steak knife. 
Some Thoughts From Yours Truly…
If you want to cook a whole Wagyu steak than Sous-Vide-Processing is incredible. If you plan on slicing into little strips like they do in Japan than searing (only) is adequate. In the end, you have to find out what works for you. Do a side by side test if you have too. Having SV-Processed the Ribeye the amount of time spent in the skillet was very short. Had I not SV-Processed first, the development of a temperature gradient within the protein would have been evident. With SV-Processing the Ribeye was evenly cooked from edge to edge.
Ok now let's talk Meat and taste. Hands down Wagyu is delicious and something hard to describe and has to be experienced. But does this tell the whole story? I'll be honest I went into this with some presuppositions. I thought I knew what beef tasted like and what sumptuous really meant. Tasting Wagyu and meats of this caliber tell me everything I know about what I don't know. I've eaten at some fancy restaurants too so my experience with Beef is way above average. I've eaten at Peter Lugers and Metropolitan Grill just to name a few. But..... there's always a but.
What are your expectations when you eat Beef? So with that, I will attempt to quote what a friend said in one of the food groups I belong too. Roger "I think of Wagyu as something that tastes a bit like beef but isn't really beef, even though I know it's beef it just seems like a different species.
If you are accustomed to the taste of Black Angus (or regular beef) than Wagyu will throw you for a loop. Like my buddy said above you know you're eating beef, but it doesn't taste like beef. Was I happy with the Wagyu? Damn straight I was. It was phenomenal. Within the Wagyu World, I've comes across several definitions and opinions as to what is Wagyu. I'll let you decide and decypher that for yourself.
That all being said what I ate came from Japan and from the Kagoshima Farms and was 100% Wagyu. Some of my discussions with other carnivores lead me to believe that different farms and slight variations in diet and breeds will produce different tasting beef. I won't get too specific because I have not yet sampled the other farms that produce Wagyu. Don't forget there are hybrids of Wagyu Cattle which is a whole different conversation. I cannot wait to try the Angus/Wagyu hybrid.
A great book to read and I'm only about 15% into the book is Craft Beef by Joe Heitzeber, Ethan Lowry and Caroline Sauders.
Ok now let's talk Meat and taste. Hands down Wagyu is delicious and something hard to describe and has to be experienced. But does this tell the whole story? I'll be honest I went into this with some presuppositions. I thought I knew what beef tasted like and what sumptuous really meant. Tasting Wagyu and meats of this caliber tell me everything I know about what I don't know. I've eaten at some fancy restaurants too so my experience with Beef is way above average. I've eaten at Peter Lugers and Metropolitan Grill just to name a few. But..... there's always a but. What are your expectations when you eat Beef? So with that, I will attempt to quote what a friend said in one of the food groups I belong too. Roger "I think of Wagyu as something that tastes a bit like beef but isn't really beef, even though I know it's beef it just seems like a different species.
If you are accustomed to the taste of Black Angus (or regular beef) than Wagyu will throw you for a loop. Like my buddy said above you know you're eating beef, but it doesn't taste like beef. Was I happy with the Wagyu? Damn straight I was. It was phenomenal. Within the Wagyu World, I've comes across several definitions and opinions as to what is Wagyu. I'll let you decide and decypher that for yourself.
That all being said what I ate came from Japan and from the Kagoshima Farms and was 100% Wagyu. Some of my discussions with other carnivores lead me to believe that different farms and slight variations in diet and breeds will produce different tasting beef. I won't get too specific because I have not yet sampled the other farms that produce Wagyu. Don't forget there are hybrids of Wagyu Cattle which is a whole different conversation. I cannot wait to try the Angus/Wagyu hybrid.
A great book to read and I'm only about 15% into the book is Craft Beef by Joe Heitzeber, Ethan Lowry and Caroline Sauders.
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