Grown exclusively in the Mie Prefecture in Japan, Matsusaka cattle are raised so their fat achieves the lowest melting point possible. The finest cuts of Matsusaka wagyu have a melting point of 12 degrees Celsius, 8 degrees lower than Kobe.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 The fat in this Matsusaka Wagyu is so soft,
00:07 it melts as soon as you touch it.
00:09 The finest cuts of Matsusaka Wagyu
00:20 have a melting point of 12 degrees Celsius.
00:23 That's eight degrees less than Kobe.
00:26 And while prices for fine diners in Tokyo
00:28 have never been low, for the first time,
00:31 this beef is being sold outside of Japan, in Paris,
00:35 where just 100 grams sells for $530.
00:40 These cows are so valuable that in 2002,
00:44 one fetched 50 million yen, over $330,000 at auction.
00:49 To reach that low melting point,
00:53 farmers in Matsusaka painstakingly raise these cows
00:57 and keep them alive longer than their average lifespan
01:00 with modern and ancient practices.
01:03 So how do you raise the most expensive beef in the world?
01:09 And why is Matsusaka Wagyu so expensive?
01:13 (speaking in foreign language)
01:27 (speaking in foreign language)
01:32 Hiroki Ito is a third-generation Matsusaka Wagyu farmer.
01:36 On his farm in Tsu, Mie Prefecture,
01:40 you will find only virgin female cows.
01:43 It's the primary requirement
01:45 for any of the 80 Matsusaka Wagyu farms
01:48 here in the Mie Prefecture.
01:52 (speaking in foreign language)
01:56 Matsusaka beef has long been praised
02:11 for its extremely low melting point,
02:14 which is half that of other types of Wagyu.
02:16 This means that when cooking,
02:20 the fat melts in a shorter time.
02:23 (speaking in foreign language)
02:27 To reach this intense marbling,
02:47 old generations of farmers like Hideo,
02:50 Hiroki's dad used to feed cows with beer.
02:54 (speaking in foreign language)
02:58 (speaking in foreign language)
03:01 (speaking in foreign language)
03:05 Although there's no evidence
03:31 that this practice increases a cow's appetite,
03:34 many associate Matsusaka Wagyu with it.
03:37 The fact that Matsusaka has kept
03:39 a relatively low profile internationally
03:41 has almost transformed this practice into a legend.
03:45 (speaking in foreign language)
03:50 (speaking in foreign language)
03:54 Hiroki doesn't practice this anymore.
04:05 Instead, he has perfected the feed
04:08 and is practicing circular agriculture.
04:10 (speaking in foreign language)
04:17 (speaking in foreign language)
04:21 The cost of feed is an important factor
04:45 that drives the prices up.
04:47 To reach that soft marbling,
04:49 Matsusaka cows need to eat a lot.
04:53 They also need to eat for a much longer time
04:55 than other cows.
04:57 (speaking in foreign language)
05:00 Matsusaka cows are raised for 30 to 32 months,
05:03 six months longer than other Japanese black cattle.
05:07 Everything adds up over time for Hiroki.
05:10 The costs of feeding, temperature control,
05:13 air circulation, and cleaning the enclosures regularly
05:16 to avoid flies.
05:18 (speaking in foreign language)
05:22 Farmers here call this raising period fattening.
05:31 For the first three to four months,
05:33 cattle eat grass to develop a strong digestive system.
05:37 This is called the belly creation period.
05:40 Then comes the finishing period
05:42 where cattle gradually switch to concentrated feed
05:45 and rice straw to fatten up.
05:47 Hiroki is now experimenting
05:51 with even longer periods of fattening,
05:53 raising his cattle from 35 up to 40 months.
05:57 But raising cows for such a long time
05:59 can also be dangerous for Hiroki
06:01 as a cow could get sick and die.
06:04 (speaking in foreign language)
06:09 (gentle music)
06:11 A cow at the end of its fattening period
06:32 is a true treasure.
06:34 Every year, Matsusaka cows get auctioned off
06:37 and one gets crowned queen of Matsusaka.
06:40 While the highest ever price for one of these cows
06:43 was 50 million yen in 2002,
06:46 this auction has never really seen a low price,
06:49 averaging around 20 million yen.
06:52 Events like the auction have also fostered another legend,
06:57 that farmers in Matsusaka massage their cows with alcohol.
07:01 This time, it is not to improve their appetite,
07:05 but their appearance.
07:07 (speaking in foreign language)
07:36 It's not just adult cows that cost a lot.
07:39 Calves can be very expensive.
07:41 Hiroki doesn't raise his cattle from birth.
07:48 At 10 months old,
07:49 calves are also sold at auctions throughout Japan.
07:52 Hiroki spends almost half of his time at work buying calves
07:57 and he's very demanding.
07:59 (speaking in foreign language)
08:03 (speaking in foreign language)
08:07 (speaking in foreign language)
08:11 (speaking in foreign language)
08:16 (speaking in foreign language)
08:43 BMS-12 is the highest marbling grade for Wagyu in Japan.
08:48 The more intense the marbling, the higher the price.
08:52 For customers in Tokyo,
08:53 100 grams of sirloin costs 10,000 yen,
08:57 but that's still much less than what Parisians are paying
09:01 at Maria Garnier, where the same cut is sold at 360 euros.
09:09 The most premium cut, tenderloin,
09:12 sells for 5,000 euros per kilogram.
09:15 (speaking in foreign language)
09:21 (speaking in foreign language)
09:25 (speaking in foreign language)
09:55 The Paris restaurant was the first
09:57 to successfully export Matsusaka Wagyu out of Japan
10:01 and include it on its menu.
10:03 Its most expensive tasting menu costs 520 euros.
10:08 Matsusaka Wagyu is heavily regulated.
10:14 To include Matsusaka beef on the menu,
10:16 the restaurant had to follow strict rules.
10:20 The Paris restaurant needed to apply for a license,
10:23 which took a year to be accredited.
10:25 To maintain it, the restaurant needs
10:27 to have a high rating on Google,
10:30 and there can't be another restaurant
10:32 serving Matsusaka Wagyu within an 840-meter radius.
10:37 As of 2023, Hiroki has shipped
10:40 only three cows to Maria Garnier.
10:43 Due to this limited supply, the 520-euro menu
10:47 with Ethel Ranch's premium tenderloin
10:49 is served to only one table per day.
10:52 This exclusivity is set to get a little bit looser.
10:56 In the last 10 years, Japan has been a major importer
11:00 of US beef, importing an average of $1.83 billion a year.
11:05 Meanwhile, millions worth of Wagyu made the opposite journey
11:10 as it reached international fame.
11:13 A decline in tourism after the COVID-19 outbreak
11:16 and a change in consumer behavior
11:18 toward cheaper meats exacerbated this.
11:21 And now, Japanese cattle farmers
11:24 are looking outside the country's borders.
11:26 The export quota for Matsusaka
11:29 has jumped from 24 in 2022 to 700 in 2024.
11:34 Of those, it's the most premium cuts that are exported
11:39 going to high-end restaurants like Maria Garnier in Paris.
11:43 This is pushing farmers who want to ship abroad
11:46 to bet on those lucrative
11:48 but dangerous long-fattening periods.
11:52 (speaking in foreign language)
11:56 (cow mooing)
12:05 (upbeat music)
12:07 (upbeat music)
12:10 (upbeat music)