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Enjoy North East

FAR EAST TO NORTH EAST

wagyu

RARE Wagyu beef bred by a Northumberland farmer has gone on sale for the first time.
And two of the region‘s top restaurants are to be among the first to offer the meat, known as the caviar of the beef world.
Wagyu sells for as much as £120 a kilo in top London department store Harrods, and is only available to eat at a handful of the world‘s top fine dining establishments.
But now Terry Laybourne‘s Cafe 21 in Newcastle and the new Zecca restaurant in Amble, Northumberland, run by top chef Richard Sim, are to add Wagyu-inspired dishes to their menus.
Farmer Steve Ramshaw has been breeding special Wagyu cattle at his farm near Otterburn for the past three years.
Now limited supplies of the meat, also known as Kobe after the region it originates from in Japan, is available for consumers to buy alongside restaurants nationally to allow as many as possible to try Wagyu for themselves.
The beef is renowned for its deep flavour, extreme tenderness and rich, smooth texture owing to its remarkable level of intra-muscular fat or ;marbling'. These characteristics have long made it the gastronomist‘s choice and allows it to command exceptional prices.
Steve, who runs the award-winning Northumbrian Quality Meats from Monkridge Hill Farm, says: "This is extra special quality meat. The special fat, full of essential omega 3, runs through the muscle making it extra juicy and tender.
"But this meat is not unhealthy, it contains things essential to the body and it tastes absolutely delicious."
Steve imported embryos from the finest full blood Wagyu cattle in the US, and transplanted them in his own cattle to establish a small herd of this extremely scarce breed.
In Japan the cattle are so prized they are fed beer and even given massages. Steve explains: "Apparently they think it makes the beef even tastier. I haven‘t started doing that yet, but if a customer wanted me to I would."
Steve has set up a website dedicated to the Wagyu range, with information on the breed and images of the livestock on the farm, as well as an online shop for those wishing to try some at home.
The Wagyu project has been part of Steve‘s ongoing programme of striving to produce the finest beef in the country and ultimately meat that will compete on an international level.
His award-winning organic Aberdeen Angus herd has some of the best bloodlines available. And Steve is also well known for his herd of Scottish Blackface sheep.
Learn more about Northumbrian Quality Meats by log-ging on to www.northumbrian-organic-meat.co.uk or www.wagyu-beef-direct.co.uk