How to cook the Sh13,000 Wagyu beef - VIDEO

To ordinary Kenyans, meat is meat. But to wealthy Kenyans, the Wagyu steak, costing Sh13,000 a plate, meat that is as tender as night, is what would whet their appetite.

Over the years, as many diners explore new food experiences, chefs have started introducing dishes previously only found abroad.

A Wagyu steak, one of the most expensive in the world, is now served in select Nairobi high-end restaurants. One would ask what makes this steak so expensive.

"It is all about the marbling of the beef, genetics and breeding of the cow," says Chris Wade, an Australian chef who comes to Kenya to teach the art of cooking and serving Wagyu beef.

Unlike most cow breeds, Wagyu beef has white fat which appears as fine flecks within the muscle which causes the marble-like appearance.

This fat is different from what you normally see in your normal meat, which you typically trim off before cooking.

Marbling is such an important measure of meat quality that it is graded. Marbling is responsible for the juiciness, texture, flavour, and tenderness of Wagyu.

Wagyu origin

In Kenya, the restaurants serve Wagyu from Australia and not Japan which are pure-bred and very expensive. The Australian Wagyu mostly available in Kenya is from the Black Angus and Wagyu cattle.

Wagyu originated in Japan where the cattle were used in the farms to pull ploughs. When they cooked the meat, they found that it was so tasty that it was made a national treasure. It was only allowed to be exported out of the country in the 1970s.

“It takes five generations to breed and get 100 percent full-blood Wagyu. The process starts with half Angus and half Wagyu, then 75 percent Wagyu and finally a full-blood Wagyu.

It takes a long time to get to purebred Wagyu like those found in Japan,” says Mr Wade.

“In Australia, the Wagyu cattle are fed olives, hemp seeds, and garlic that make their meat more flavourful. They are sent off to slaughter and are then graded according to their marbling. The highest grading in Australia is over 9 while in Japan it can go up to 60,” he says.

Australian Wagyu is made up of almost equal parts of meat and fat while in Japan, the fat ratio can go up to 90 percent.

The fat melts into the steak not only making it rich and buttery but also keeping it moist and tender. When cooked and prepared properly, the meat melts in the mouth after a few chews.

Kenyan cattle breeds such as Boran can grow up to 380 kilos but Mr Wade says Wagyu grows up to 800 kilos because of the fat that makes it a delicacy.

Mr Wade has been an expert in the preparation of Wagyu for more than a decade of the 25 years of his culinary career.

Having worked with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and in restaurants with three Michelin stars, the chef has made a name for himself by working his magic with steaks.

“I was nicknamed the Steak Maestro by a colleague back home and ended up naming my restaurant in Australia after that,” he said.

His seventh time in Kenya since 2019, he has found a growing market for Wagyu and an opportunity to teach how to properly prepare the different cuts and ensure none go to waste.

Cooking method

“Wagyu is expensive because it takes a long time and a lot of capital to produce it from the farm to the table,” he says. To make the perfect Wagyu, season it properly, then cook it on a pan, flat grill or charcoal grill.

“Because Wagyu has so much fat in it, it will cook faster than a piece of meat with no marbling at all. Meat that does not have marbling toughens up and has to rest longer after cooking to loosen up but Wagyu does not work like that.

It only needs to rest for three minutes after cooking. Depending on the heat source, a Wagyu steak would take at most 10 minutes to cook,” he says.

He adds that contrary to belief, secondary cuts such as chuck tender that are not well known tend to have more marbling and are then more tender to eat and pack so much more flavour.

Primal cuts such as sirloin are widely known and sought-after even though they only make up 6 percent of the animal.

“I served a couple at the Radisson Blu Arboretum a cut from the rump cap which is sourced from the most active parts of the cow which is the upper back limbs.

They said that the flavour was unbelievable which makes all the hard work worth it because I do not go to work to cook dinner but to create dining memories,” Mr Wade says.

Pairing wagyu

To bring this out, he says pairing Wagyu beef depends on the tastes and textures the chef would like to bring out on the palate.

“If the meat is soft and the accompaniment is soft like mashed potatoes, the meal will become like baby food. There has to be a crunch and things have to burst in your mouth,” he explains.

There are various ways to experience Wagyu from the head to the tail. Mr Wade makes a Wagyu pastrami which is thinly sliced pieces of brisket that are rolled up and flavoured using one of his special spice rubs and then smoked for eight hours.

It is then slowly cooked, sliced and served as an entree.

“We also make a dish called braciola prepared using a beef cut called the outside flat. We air-dry it for four months. We were serving the tongue at Radisson Blu Arboretum,” he says.

The most popular Wagyu cut that people like to eat, he adds, is the ribeye. If it has a little bone in it, it is called a ribeye. If it has a big bone on it and is massive in size, it is called a tomahawk.

“We served a 1.8-kilo tomahawk at the Radisson Blu Arboretum that cost Sh75,000 and five people shared it,” he says.

At Radisson Blu Arboretum, a five-course meal with different Wagyu cuts cost Sh13,000 per plate, per person. Another restaurant that is serving Wagyu, but with a twist is The Local Grill at Nairobi’s Village Market.

It serves a mix of Wagyu and Boran bred and fed in Ol Pengeta Conservancy that is then aged for 30 days. This makes it relatively cheaper at Sh4,900 a meal.

Linet Ndinya, the front-of-house manager says that the mix helps the meat to not shrink during cooking due to the Wagyu fat component but still has the tough Boran texture that Kenyans are used to consuming.

“This makes it cheaper for Kenyans to buy in the restaurant and butchery. We sell 200 grammes of the rump steak cut at Sh3,000 while 500 grams of the T-Bone cut costs Sh7,500. On some weekends, we can sell almost three kilos. We sometimes run out of stock because we do not keep a lot to avoid wastage,” she says,

At Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary in Karen, Nairobi, Wagyu is part of a therapeutic journey for their clients. It is offered as part of a package that includes a spa treatment.

The meal is then served in a quiet part of the sanctuary which they call ‘forest therapy’. It ranges from Sh7,950 to Sh9,650 depending on the cut.

Abednego Mutei, the Head Chef says that Wagyu is not a type of meat to be consumed every day but most of those who order Wagyu know what they want.

For those who would like to experiment at home, Chef Chris gives simple instructions that will help make the perfect steak.

“Every time you cook any steak, put a little bit of oil on your pan first. Put enough salt on the meat before you cook it. Place the meat on a smearing hot grill or pan.

The cooking time depends on the cut. Remember to rest your meat after cooking it. You can serve it with a sauce such as chimichurri sauce or rosemary and mushroom sauce,” he says.

Mr Wade said that one of the most common mistakes that people make while cooking steaks is turning the meat too many times and not giving it enough time to cook on each side.

If you turn it 55 times, the steak will not get a caramelised crust that makes the exterior of the meat crunchy as the interior remains soft and tender.

“There has been an increase in Kenyans’ appreciation and consumption of Wagyu beef which has been seen through more client requests for the precious breed in restaurants in Nairobi,” he says.

A Kobe steak is another beef variety that is pricey at around $450 (Sh63,877) for 300 grammes. These prices are due to the treatment the cattle go through to prevent them from getting tense muscles which would ruin the marbling.

They would get regularly brushed and eat special grass and grain. Above all, they are kept in a stress-free environment that ensures they are not involved in rigorous activity.

This makes it hard for importers or restauranteurs to buy from Japan which is why Australian Wagyu is preferred in Kenya.

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