A5 KAGOSHIMA WAGYU FILLET

A5 Kagoshima Wagyu fillet is for dinner tonight. This beef steak from Japan will cross off another line on my bucket list. The ninety dollar a pound price tag makes this fillet a special treat. What is A5 Kagoshima Wagyu? Let’s break it down. A5 is a Japanese grading system similar but more complex than our USDA classification. “A” of “A5” means the yield grade, while “5” shows the quality grade. Getting an A5 grading means you’re getting the best grade possible. Kagoshima is a prefecture (Japanese division like our states) of Japan. Wagyu translates to cattle. In this case, the highly prized black cattle. This steak is characterized by its high grade of fat marbling

We found this beef at Alexanders Prime Meats & Catering in San Gabriel California. We had a little reservation on the authenticity of our purchase today. How do we know we are getting beef from Japan? There is a little faith involved here but Alexanders is a reputable butcher. They had a certificate of authenticity posted on the counter. Unfortunately this certificate was in Japanese. One look at the beef proved that this was a very special beef. The helpful butcher showed us several steaks. Take a look at this New York strip and the marbling of fat. Wow! We passed on this cut and got a smaller fillet.

Because the steak does have such a high level of marbling it should not be cooked as we are accustomed. I normally cook steaks at a very high heat on the bbq grill and this would probably not work with all this beautiful beef love.  I asked the butcher for suggestions. He suggested we pan fry it I do want to mention that we also bought some beautiful dry aged USDA Prime steaks too. Alexanders is a destination market.

We are home and it is time to for dinner. We are using our trusty black iron frying pan tonight. The combination of stove top and oven will cook our one half pound fillet. This is a variation of an Alton Brown method. The oven is preheated with the cast iron pan to 500 degrees. With oven mitts we carefully transfer our smoking hot pan to the stove top put on high flame. We carefully lay the salt & peppers seasoned steak to the smoking pan. We count sixty seconds and flip the fillet  over for another 60 seconds. After two minutes total we transfer to the oven. A long 2.5 minutes bake in the oven is patiently endured. The steak in then removed to rest for 6 minutes on a foil covered plate. This method cooked our steak to perfection.  Oh my!

I love this money shot. We take our first bite. This may be the tenderest steak I have ever eaten in my life. It literally melts in your mouth. The beef flavor is mild. What you do notice is lusciousness in each mouth bite. The beef love (fat) is a very special component in this flavor profile. We have finally experienced the true Japanese Waygu beef. What a treat. Was this the best steak ever? It was very special and enjoyed immensely. I still have a love for my corn-fed, dry aged, USDA Choice steak. It is hard to beat the deep beef flavor. This was something different and very special.

Alexanders Prime Meats and Catering
6580 N. San Gabriel Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91775
(626) 286-6767