We just completed the long stretch of holidays with Hari Raya and Labour Day being carried over to Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!), eating, cooking, and eating some more.
The long festive week got us thinking about how to improve our home meal plans: How can we add variety to our favourite dishes and meat?
More importantly, can we eat Wagyu beef every day?
The good thing about Wagyu beef is how much healthier it is compared to lean meat. Raised without antibiotics and chemicals, Wagyu beef contains the good, essential type of fatty acids — monounsaturated with omega-3 and omega-6. Wagyu beef is one of the few meats you can eat often without worrying about cholesterol levels, inflammation, heart disease and stroke.
10 Day Wagyu Beef Eating Challenge
Since our heart can take it, we’ve put together a list of 10 ways you can enjoy Wagyu beef. Our list is ordered according to recommendations from our Japanese associates who supply Iga Beef as well as our own suggestions. However, feel free to eat Wagyu beef in your own order of preference.
- Shabu-Shabu
- Steak
- Yakiniku
- Stir Fry
- Stew
- Curry
- Minced
- Burger (Ground)
- Sandwich
- Raw
Day 1: Shabu-Shabu
Like all activities that requires group effort to take off, start your Wagyu beef journey with a communal dish where everyone dips their Wagyu beef slices into a hot pot. Shabu-shabu uses a dashi base so you are introduced to Wagyu beef without the broth or sauce (like sukiyaki) overpowering your meat. You might assume that the paper-thin slices of beef means that they must be tender, this isn’t true. Low quality beef is still chewy and lack the distinct umami flavour of Wagyu beef.
Recommended Cuts: Shabu-Shabu Slices, or your preferred cut thinly sliced
Day 2: Steak
Steaks are heaven on a plate when they’re tender, and Wagyu beef promises this. No other beef comes close to Wagyu’s superior marbling. Now that you’ve tasted thin slices of boiled Wagyu beef, it’s time to enjoy it as a medium rare steak. Medium rare is the best way to enjoy Wagyu beef for its tenderness and umami. Definitely skip the sauce and condiments to avoid messing with Wagyu beef’s natural flavours. It’s also fast and simple to prepare at home (here’s a cooking guide!).
Recommended Cuts: Rib-Eye, Tenderloin, Sirloin or your preferred cut
Day 3: Yakiniku
On the third day, try yakiniku. Grilling slices of Wagyu beef on a charcoal or mesh grill sounds and smells delicious. Even without the steak juices, this is seriously succulent meat. Call up your group of friends and/or family again for another round of savouring Wagyu beef together.
Recommended Cuts: Assorted Yakiniku Slices, or your preferred cut thinly sliced
Day 4: Stir Fry
Today, we will enjoy a familiar, everyday dish: the stir fry. Elevate your favourite stir fry with Wagyu beef. No matter how delicious your sauce is, chewy strips of beef are sure to ruin it. Not to mention the laborious task of tenderizing beef with salty and sour concoctions and a mallet. Just go with Wagyu beef, which guarantees meat that’s velvet-soft and more flavourful.
Recommended Cuts: Knuckle, Bolar Blade, Oyster Blade, Inside Skirt
Day 5: Stew
Go low and slow on the crock pot without wasting half a day. How? Even with humbler cuts like the neck and shin, Wagyu beef turns buttery soft so much faster, with juicier results. Save time, effort and stress of burning your stew by using Wagyu beef.
Recommended Cuts: Neck, Shin, Brisket, Chuck Cuts
Day 6: Curry
Now that you’ve eaten healthily for the past two days, you can indulge in a rich curry! You can use big cuts just like you did in stews and simmer your beef curry in a pot. Rendang is our favourite Wagyu beef curry (here’s a simple recipe) to make to truly appreciate Wagyu beef’s soft-like-butter texture.
Recommended Cuts: Top Round, Neck, Shin
Day 7: Minced
Isn’t all minced meat already tender because they’ve been chopped into fine pieces or blitzed in a food processor? Not so, because quality still matters. Wagyu beef is superior when it comes to juicy flavours, so use it for Bolognese, pies and meaty stuffing. Also, having prepared Wagyu beef in big chunks and slices, now you get to have a go at its minced form.
Recommended Cuts: Minced (please ask our butcher), Chuck, Round
Day 8: Burger (Ground)
Let’s go further and emulsify Wagyu beef until it becomes the most indulgent burger patties you will ever have. Just go easy on the pickles and sauces to let the umami of Wagyu beef stand out. Ground Wagyu beef can also be used for kebabs, meatballs and croquettes.
Recommended: Burger patty, Chuck, Round
Day 9: Sandwich
The days of pulverizing raw meat ends here. We return to Wagyu beef in steak form on Day 9. Katsu sando with Wagyu beef involves cooking a cutlet of the best beef in the world coated in panko breadcrumbs, followed by placing this crunchy, beefy katsu between two slices of Japanese milk bread. It’s the most gourmet sandwich you will ever have.
Recommended Cuts: Rib-Eye, Sirloin, Striploin, Zabuton
Day 10: Raw
On the final day, experience Wagyu beef at its most natural, dare we say finest, state. You can eat a slice on its own to fully appreciate its texture and taste, or dip it in some wasabi and soy sauce. For a Korean style of appreciating raw Wagyu beef, try yukhoe. Remember to practice top hygiene while handling fresh raw beef.
Recommended Cuts: Eye Round, Tenderloin
Now that you have a 10-day plan on how to prepare and eat Wagyu beef, come over to Wmart Supermarket to pick up your meat! At Wmart Supermarket, we sell Iga Beef, an exclusive brand of Wagyu beef directly imported from Japan and certified halal. Graded A5, Iga Beef has the highest level of marbling, making it more tender and better quality compared to other Wagyu beef.
Visit Wmart Supermarket or contact us for more information on Wagyu beef.
Need any help?
Got a question about our Wagyu beef? We’re always happy to hear from our customers! Visit our online store or contact us directly for the latest stock and promotion!