For 120 samolians, CUT will put before you three cuts of the best steaks in the world. One is A-5 true Kobe (Wagyu) beef from the Kagashima Prefecture in Japan. The other is wet-aged sirloin from Nebraska (that ELV contends isn’t really aged at all – only cryovac’d in plastic until opened), and the other is 35 day dry-aged beef from Illinois. Can you tell which is which?
Could you taste which was which?
And the answer is…..drum roll please…..from left to right: #1 is dry aged Illinois beef; #2 is the cryovac’d “wet aged” beef; #3 is Japanese Wagyu (very fatty, very tender, very expensive). If you look closely, you’ll see the tell-tale marks of blood/protein leaching out of the wet-aged steak.
Dry aging eliminates much of that moisture and concentrates the flavor into a gamey, funky, mineral-rich beefiness that the other two steaks can’t approach. That being said, the “wet-aged” steak had its fans at my table where we did the tasting, and it was one of the better pieces o’ beef I’ve had in a Vegas steakhouse. The true Wagyu/Kobe could be cut with a spoon, but is so rich that a bite or two is all anyone should want. Although management at CUT, Spago, Craftsteak, et al have told me tales of big, beefy American guys coming in and consuming 16+ oz. steaks of the stuff.
My guess: Left to Right: dry aged, wet aged, kobe.
we’ll see how others guess before the right answer is revealed
One nitpicky correction: if the beef is from Kagoshima prefecture, it’s not true Kobe beef. CUT’s wagyu beef might be as good as Kobe beef, but true Kobe beef must come from Hyogo Prefecture (whose capital is Kobe). CUT should be commended for specifying their wagyu correctly, unlike some other restaurants in town.
thanks for the correction Larry. it’s always nice to be wrong when you can learn something.
Left to Right: 1) “wet aged” it is going to have a less dense structure and therefore the same cut should be bigger. 2) Dry aged for 35 days will lose water volume and will have to be trimmed more, but should have a stronger beef flavor. 3) Wagyu, because you can cut the same strip steak in half and still charge a fourtnue.
Thanks Kyle! You’re almost right on all counts….
let’s wait another day before the steak secret is revealed!
So…do I get a prize for being correct??