Never underestimate the intensity of Japanese beef. Some thirty years ago I was invited to Yutaka in Kyoto, a well know steak shop serving some of the finest beef from matsuzaka. This beef literally put Japan on the map as having the most expensive beef on planet earth. So many would ask why, and without too much explanation the answer is no one could do it. These days farmers grow various cross breeds of beef and raise them in countries as far away as the moon. But somehow the beef outside Japan will never be quite the same and it’s a little like what’s happened to wine industry – confusion.

Today a good 96 percent of the beef breed cattle grown in Japan are Japanese Blacks. These cows can be found in kobe, maesawa, yonezawa, matsuzaka, and all of which are brand beefs that are highly acclaimed nationwide as well as worldwide. These cows belong to the Japanese Black group with their most distinguishing feature is the marbled meat, which is so tender that it melts in your mouth. This type of meat can only be produced by efficient feeding of high-calorie grains to the cattle and raising them with limited exercise in cattle stalls. If you over indulge in eating too much watch out – 200/250 grams is sufficient.

By the way: over the years many good chefs who trained at Yutaka have eventually opened up their own steak shops. If you are interested in a good classic steak try shima in Tokyo.