About a week ago, I read a comment by a Hong Kong foodie asking about, "?"
My chuck eye.... Kato-san gave me 50g more for free!
The rump eye that Kato-san cut for me. He gave me 50g more for free on this, too!!! ha ha ha....たくさんおまけがもらちゃって幸せ！
ccording to Japanese's Ministry of Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery (農林水産省),"賞味期限" (Shoumikigen), "best before", 美味しく食べることができる期限 （food that can be consumed deliciously, Gosh bad translation! Sorry...), meaning the product can still be consumed post the printed due date but no guarantee on taste.
There is another term called, 消費期限 (Shouhikigen) "use-by date", meaning consumption post the printed due date is not recommended.
So the restaurant was proposing that, "賞味期限 (Shoumikigen)", meant the date the meat should be aged, not the date to be consumed by.
HA??? 「BS じゃないの？」
I found that almost impossible to believe so I went to 中勢以 (Nakasei), which is a butcher specializing in aged beef located in 田園調布 (Denenchofu) seeking his professional opinion on this matter. (Gosh, this C9 really got her nose itched on this!). I only want to know the "truth"!
Master Kato-san (加藤さん） remembered me!!!!!
I don't blame him, this C9's last visit was filled with endless questions and she constantly asked for おまけ（Omake = discounts), even in buying a piece of meat!
Got to be frank, Kato-san is the most friendly butcher that I have ever met. In spite of this troublesome C9 kept on bombarding him with questions, further discounts and what's worse, I didn't bring enough cash and had to pay on "CREDIT" (not credit card but I needed to transfer the money into the shop's bank account 振込み), his did not show a sign of annoyance!!! (On a separate note, I immediately transferred the money to his shop the very next day!)
Always smiling, always answering my questions with full sincerity, what a nice young bloke! All he wanted was customers' 100% satisfaction. Regarding of local housewives like me, or restaurant owners or real foodies..... he simply wants you to "appreciate" his piece of meat.
Kato-san is a master graduate from Colorado University's meat science, and his father is the owner of Kyoto (京都)'s 中勢以 (Nakasei), the original shop (本店).
I asked if a vacuumed packed chunk of meat just before 賞味期限 is worth aging or not. First, he mentioned meat just before 賞味期限 is edible but better consume it within a week's time or not.
He then told me vacuumed packed meat is not worth aging at all. His shop doesn't age any vacuum packed meat for various reasons. First, the meat juice (肉汁）of the meat will leak out once vacuumed because the meat is compressed, therefore, the quality of the beef will never be the same.
Second, normally all vacuum packed meat will have its bones and fats removed, leaving just the "core meat" alone in the package. During the aging process, the bones and the fats become the "natural" bacteria protective shield for the meat, so the meat is more resistant to bacteria, hence, the "core" of the meat can achieve its best aging result.
On the contrary, if the meat is aged from having no protective shield around, the meat becomes very vulnerable to bacteria, the best desired aging result cannot be achieved.
Further, in order to age a piece of meat, the environment, the know how, the technique is rather difficult. In Japan, most restaurants don't age their meat themselves, they rely on a reliable butcher who has the proper knowledge to do it.
I just found out Ristorante Mondo Cucina (the Italian restaurant) in Jiyugaoka (自由が丘） has a special long version Nakasei Aged Meat course. 中勢以熟成肉コース ロングバージョン at a price of yen 13,000!!! (No way, this C9 can't afford to pay for such premium dinner!!!!!)
After I came home, I did more research on beef aging. Nowadays, there are 2 ways to age beef. One is the traditional orthodox "Dry Aging" and the other method is "Wet Aging" (a.k.a. Vacuum Aging).
Nakasei (中勢以) specializes in "Dry Aging". Dry aging means hanging the carcasses in a refrigerated cooler at above freezing temperature, with a predetermined humidity and a controlled air velocity. It sounds very "food science" to me!
To do so, the beef muscles are transforming into "meat" where the natural enzymes found in muscles starts to break down certain proteins in muscle fibers that can improve the palatability attributes of meat. Put it in an easier term, the meat will be softer, tender and tastier.
Another benefit of dry aging is that moisture evaporates from the muscle creating a greater concentration of beefy flavor and taste. (Similar to dried mushrooms tastes much stronger and better than fresh mushrooms). Also, dry aged beef has its unique "nutty" flavors that "wet aging" cannot achieve.
The demerits of dry aging is that during the process, a crust forms on the outside of the meat due to microbial growth where it got to be trimmed away. The dry aging process takes special care, and requires a relatively large inventory. It is very time consuming, expensive, requiring extra efforts in storage for high-quality beef.
At least 20% of the meat will be wasted during the trimming process, hence, reducing the profit margin greatly.
Kato-san trimming off the outer layer.
Kato-san trimming off the outer layer.The meat that we buy in supermarkets are by far 99% wet aging. Wet aging (or vacuum aging) ages the meat in vacuum bags stores in refrigerators. Obviously, humidity, and air velocity are not an issue. The aging process continues when a cut meat sealed in a vacuum package and be continuously kept in a refrigerated environment. Inside the vacuum bag, the meat ages and becomes tender, BUT, there is no flavor enhancement as there is no concentration of flavor occurring with the loss of moisture.
There can be distinct flavor differences between dried aging and wet aging. Meat from vacuum aged cuts has a more bloody, serumy and metallic flavor. Meat from dry aging has a more nutty, brown-roasted beefy flavor. Though, both aging methods can tenderize the meat.
Up until 1960s, dry aging meat was the prominent aging method until vacuum bags developed. Wet aging became more popular because it is cheaper, no loss in shrinkage and trimming for better profit margin, low in inventory carry cost, lesser refrigerator space, and special labor skills is not required.
Dry aging process is dying because of "cost". Post-1960s people would probably have never tasted dry aged beef, they don't know what they have missed! Just imagine, what was the "norm" in the past became a rich foodie's playmate was the point that I wanted to bring out.
No wonder my father told me steak in the old days tasted better. When mum first got her salary from her first job, she treated herself a big fat slice of beefy steak. Her memory over that juicy, tasty steak still lingers around her mouth.
chuck eye (肩ロース）
rumpSo, how can I leave the shop emptied handed!!! I ordered 2 pieces of meat. One was a piece from the chuck eye (肩ロース） and the other piece was rump eye （ランプ芯）.
Chuck eye steak.
Rump eye steak (Note the watercress was from my C9 organic garden!)When I looked at the meat neatly stored in the show case fridge, it brought back memories of the old days. My father was a beef lover, on the way home after shopped at Prahran market, he would always wanted to stop by Oceania.
Oceania is still in Melbourne, its Japanese owner specializes in sashimi and Aussie Wagyu. Dad would eyed at the piece of well marbled sirloin steak with great interest, almost drooling then turned to me, "肥妹，今晚加料好冇？" (Hey chubby, want something extra for tonight's dinner?).
Yes, I was a real chubby in the past and over the years, my 2 monsters drained out most of my fat and blood, leaving me half of what I used to be..... sad.........
Only if dad is still around, I am sure he is no coward about coming over to Japan to savor this very reasonably priced dry aged steak with me.
My heart went very sour when I started writing about dad, tears filling my eyes. It was dad who taught me the enjoyment of eating good quality food at a reasonable price. He always said, the most expensive may not be the best, the best food is defined by yourself and be judged by yourself. Even a bowl of steamed rice can be the best food for the day. Learn how to eat wisely.....................
My heart went very sour when I started writing about dad, tears filling my eyes. It was dad who taught me the enjoyment of eating good quality food at a reasonable price. He always said, the most expensive may not be the best, the best food is defined by yourself and be judged by yourself. Even a bowl of steamed rice can be the best food for the day. Learn how to eat wisely.....................
When I unwrapped the package that Kato-san (加藤さん）carefully prepared for me, I took a sniff, the acorn nutty fragrance was something that you couldn't find in the supermarket.
Cutting the meat into my desired thickness, returning them to the room temperature, pan fried them gently on low heat, take them out, let them rest for a while, then re-heat the fry pan again in high, toss a dice of Koiwai cultured butter （小岩井発酵バター）, gave them a final shot for its golden brown coating. Sprinkled with rock salt and black pepper.......
いやいやいや！ 参りました！
The chuck eye did not just melt in your mouth, the intense beefy favor, the tenderness, the juiciness the nuttiness!!!!! The rump eye was a bit more chewy than the chuck eye, but the intensive beefy favor lingers longer in your mouth. It was a great pleasure to chew on you! Even Mr. Yim said, "This piece of steak is of restaurant quality and you can open up your own shop."
GOSH! Did I hear something WRONG????? He actually praised my cooking?????????????? Is he OK????? He must have got knocked over by a 2 tons truck.
When I was so mellowed by his comment, his next sentence came, "This has nothing to do with your what-so-ever cooking skill, the steak is just too good that even your older sister can't make it wrong!" (Note, my older sister is absolutely hopeless in cooking, I really mean it!).
こいつめ！！！
I will get you for this, Mr. YIM!!!
