Oh, famous Burt's marveled fat and buttery texture log.

You has taken over everything from fancy sliders to expense account stakes the highest level ingredients.

Fry em all.

Put him on a plate, Serve him up.

But what separates the real stuff from Wanna be with you today?

I'm on a mission to better understand the complex world of Japanese beef.

And to start, I'm meeting with Hot One's host, Sean Evans at Sokka my to try the restaurant's viral $85 log.

You Kat's Sando.

So, Sean, are you ready?

This is the fabled $85 Wagyu Katsu Sando.

You had me at 85.

Have you had log you before?

You know, sometimes I'll end up in, uh, Lakers sweets that maybe a little bit above my pay grade end up with like, a wagyu slider.

It's very like I guess, Mookie night out.

Sort of things come across you in the past, but I'm excited.

But not like this before.

No, no, this is This is interesting to me.

Even like the precision, the order, everything about it.

Right I was surprised you.

This is the first time for myself as well.

Shall we go for it?

Let's go.

Let's go for it.

Sachem eyes Wagyu cattle Sando is made with a five Miyazaki wagyu.

A six ounce cut of strip loin is dunked in batter, covered in panko, breadcrumbs and deep fried.

The stake has been covered in Tokat assaults and sandwiched between two slices of shock phone or milk Bread.

This is bomb.

This is awesome.

Wow!

It's so rich.

Yeah, it's so tasty.

I'm gonna end up finishing this you afterwards.

But I'm going to finish this whole sandwich.

I like the crispiness on the outside, tender meat on the inside and two, it's pretty.

It is pretty.

When I first saw you, Constance Sandoz, I kind of didn't understand it because Katsu it's so casual and normal and it's like chicken cutlets and pork cutlets is always in Bentos.

But to mix it with something like Wagyu that I feel like there's almost an academic correct way to be consuming something so high end that combining them confused me and I wasn't sure if it was like sacrilege is to be like deep frying wagyu meat.

But now that I've had it, I don't know.

I'm solo.

Magic is here.

Why do you think a lot of you is not only super coveted, but also this expensive?

Like this is this is an expensive sandwich.

I have no idea.

I'm gonna be real with you.

Have absolutely no idea.

Neither.

Me neither.

I was hoping you got an answer.

I guess I'm gonna go do some research.

I would figure this out.

Don't leave and figure out how.

Good luck.

Right now, we'll miss you.

In hopes of answering some of my questions, I'm meeting journalists Larry Olmstead for a true log.

You crash course.

Larry's the author of the book Really Food, Fake Food and an expert on how really wog You found its way into restaurants in the U.

S.

Japan Premium Beef Butcher Kota Fujii has agreed to show Larry and I some of his finest cuts of meat.

Hi, Larry Goto.

Thank you so much for joining me today at Japan Premium Beef to help me kind of uncover the mythos behind Wagyu, which I know very, very little about.

And I thought maybe we could start with some terminology.

That's perhaps misused.

Or maybe Miss Categorized?

Sure, I think the biggest confusion comes from Kobe beef, which is the most famous of Japanese beef.

Kobe beef is wah go, but not all wagons.

Kobe beef.

I think it's it's easy to compare to, say, wine.

You have good wine from Sonoma and Napa, but they're just different places.

Kobe is a place, and all of the major kinds of Japanese wagyu are named for the region's.

They come from God.

It's so going back a little bit to the cows that are involved.

I hear that they're treated very well, that they're given massages, and that perhaps has something to do with their structure.

And like the marbling, that is a myth.

Some of them are my size.

Some them are given beer.

Those are the things you hear that that's really just up to the rancher.

It's not certainly not all Japanese.

Wagyu is my size or listens to classical music or drinks beer.

These kind of things you here, and that is not where the marbling comes from.

You know, there is ah belief that the less stress, the happier the cow, the better it tastes.

So you know if we were drinking beer and listen to classical music.

Of course, that's not the norm, I see.

So what does kind of affect the marbling, or honestly, the flesh of what happens to the cattle?

It's really genetics.

That's the big thing.

That's what makes Wagga Wagga and therefore major breeds of Japanese cattle.

But for example, Kobe, the all of the Kobe beef is produced by a bloodline that has been 100% intact for over 700 years.

It might help to actually see a piece of cheese.

This'd a five wag.

Ooh, there's so much fat everywhere.

It almost looks like fatty tuna.

You know, at times we get a steak and people like the outside edge because that's where the fat is.

Here.

It's everywhere.

And because Wagyu is also hire an unsaturated fat than American beef, which melts at a lower temperature, it melts more quickly on your tongues.

When people say, Oh, it melts in your mouth, it's literally true.

It really does.

It does definitely feel like butter, so I know that Japan premium beef also has some domestic wagyu, which is kind of an interesting new evolution.

I think in this world of Wagyu.

Can we take a look at that?

This is New York Strip.

Okay, Don't scored.

Amazing.

And is there some kind of cross breeding that happened?

Perhaps in order to create this almost hybrid?

Yeah, there is.

And one of the reasons is because it is so fatty and so rich.

And, you know, we're a culture that typically you eat a steak a person when you go out where, you know, in Japan it would be sliced up and you would get some slices.

We don't really do that.

Especially at home as much in the U.

S.

By by crossbreeding with the Angus, you reduce the amount of fatty nous s.

So this is kind of the gateway drug where you get the that that fatty anus experience.

But you still get to eat a bigger piece of red meat that we're used to.

Hi.

Any special occasion?

Well, Larry, thank you so much for enlightening me and Kota.

Thank you so much for presenting this incredible slab of me for us.

So appreciate it Any other way?

For my next stop, I'm heading to Old Homestead, the oldest continuously running steak house in the country where a $350 hunk of Wagyu is served like a New York strip.

There's only one person worth treating to a meal this pricey.

And that's my friend and former mentor, Philip DeFranco.

Phil has just returned from his trip to Japan, and we're both anxious to see if NYC is most expensive.

Steak is really worth the price tag.

I'm Mark Cherry.

One of the colon is here with the old homestead, and I'm correct.

Suri, the other co owner wear, are in the meatpacking district right here.

Restaurant has been here since 18 68 on.

We started with developing a great relationship with butchers.

All of the beat from out West was right over here, so we had the opportunity to have the first pick of the finest meats signature cuts.

Here are all our rib eyes of the laser, all USDA prime, and I said to Greg, Greg, we gotta go up one step.

What can we do?

We we've been hearing about Kobe beef for years, and I said, Greg, I think that if we could bring a New York style Kobe steak to New York City would be a smash.

Finally, we got the OK in 1991 and it was an amazing situation.

We charged a $150 a steak.

At that time we ran with our Kobe beef for about 10 15 years on.

Guy looked at him and I said, We got to go to the next level.

We are the only restaurant that's allowed to go to Japan and bid on prized wagon I go Suitcase of money.

I've been on it.

I get it on, we send it here.

And that's when it all exploded.

I mean, it was waiting lists Way Couldn't get the meat here as fast as we wanted.

That's what kicked off the old homestead with being the king of Beef When it comes to Wah.

Go on.

Since I spent so much time there, I got nickname Mr Waggett.

$50.

It's been featured all over the world that someone has had a prized way Girl like a New York Charlotte.

That's the melting off to prison.

Phil, thank you so much for joining me for dinner today.

So excited that you flew in all the way for me and for steak.

Yes.

I mean, it's It's kind of a 50 50 situation.

I appreciate both of you.

I know how I was able to tip the scales in my favor.

Have you ever had you before?

Yes, but I don't think I've had this specific kind.

And cut actually had a lot of questions.

About what?

You because there's a lot more to it.

Show it a little bit of research and there are about four native Japanese cows, and I believe that this is the highest class you can get.

3 50 bucks for steak.

That's intimidating.

Can I?

Dad, He's all right.

Wow, the Simpson say there's so there's so much fat in the best way.

It was fast.

It's the whole thing with Wah go is the marbling like you most Wow, Are you feeling so butter?

Just such an interesting way to describe steak, but it melts in your mouth.

I'm just told it would melt in my mouth, but I didn't understand cause of the fibers.

But what's crazy?

I've never I don't know what to think.

It's like scaring me.

It melted.

It's gone like that's not what stakes.

Supposed to D'oh!

No, ma'am.

Oh, good.

Is this medium rare it is.

I can tell my steak anything for the medium rare.

Well done.

Sorry you're in the wrong place.

3 50 We don't want to take a chance to bring.

Well, what if the customer says it's my 3 50?

Doesn't matter.

Our reputation is important.

We don't put anything but a little salt and pepper on hot sear.

Very important.

You want to see her?

Both sides see the juice is it?

Cook it a little bit more.

The medium rare rare.

That's what it's like to live fourth in your mouth.

When you think the fireworks are over, there keeps commenting.

Keeps coming on when you think it's over, that comes to finale.

Taste never stops.

You're just kids.

Imagine a phantom how much flavor this beef has The last time that I had wog Ooh, I got it at a place where they didn't survive this.

They cut it up and then you cooked it in front of you.

Okay, so you had walk you in Japan?

Yes, that's legit.

How was it was great.

I mean this This is still top notch.

Just because the cooking was handled by a professional and not me OK, every time other than this time when I when I have ordered a goof state, they they always tell me that they say this stuff about like it's from a specific part and yeah, and they only say that my solid thing and they beat them.

Suck A.

I want them to just do that with more.

Like more food.

More food salmon come from?

Yeah, was always It's mental state.

Oh, yeah.

How did you feel in general?

And in the final moments, it's a dark America.

Cattle is what we call force.

They want to rush to cattle to 1216 £100 quickly as possible to sell it.

This his 12 months, 14 months.

They do not worse.

The cattle, as you could see, the modeling is very equal.

That means it slowly hops, rain.