Our Japanese Wagyu A5 Ribeye has been a hit, and now it has a friend: Japanese Wagyu A5 Boneless Striploin. It’s eleven pounds of pure beef fantasy, the stuff of legend, with marbling like you’ve never seen.
A5 Wagyu beef is the real thing: exceedingly hard-to-find Wagyu beef from Japan.
Just like our ribeye, it is from the Black Kuroge breed of Wagyu cattle, raised in the Miyazaki Prefecture. These are the cattle with the genetic propensity to store intramuscular fat, which is aided by a strict regimen of feeding rations.
What is A5 Wagyu Beef?
The A5 score means the ultimate in excellence; beef scored for yield and quality, then within quality, specifics like: color and brightness, firmness and texture, color, luster and quality of fat.
As you can see, there are differences even within the Quality Grade 5.
Grade A indicates above-standard yield. In the Beef Marbling Standards scoring, the 5 means excellent in all the other criteria above.
Put them together and A5 means the ultimate in excellence. Less than 3% of all the Wagyu produced in Japan scores that high. But here is it: the holy grail of Wagyu beef.
There is nothing that can touch this beef for flavor and tenderness. You could say that it is the ultimate beef. For the home cook who has tried the best of everything, this Wagyu striploin sets a new bar.
Cooking A5 Wagyu Beef
Whatever you do, never, ever overcook this Wagyu beef. Keep it rare, or you lose too much of the precious fat, which is the whole purpose of Wagyu. If you render out the fat, you will just end up with an ordinary steak.
Keep in mind that the serving size for Wagyu beef this rich is small: 3-4 ounces. This is the beef equivalent of foie gras. So nobody will win the “I ate the whole thing” prize.
One key tip: before cooking, allow the steak to come to room temperature, causing the fine network of fat to warm up. You will be searing it for such a short time that some of the fat might still be cold if you do not take this step. Learn more about cooking and storing this exquisite piece of beef.