How to Prepare and Enjoy Olive Wagyu

How to Defrost Olive Wagyu

• Defrost. Place the cuts you're planning to serve in your fridge for up to 48 hours to allow them to fully defrost.
• Rest. Take the meat out of the fridge 15 minutes before cooking, and allow it to rise to room temperature.
• DO NOT: Do not defrost at room temperature. The fat in Olive Wagyu has a lower melting point than other beef. Also, never put Olive Wagyu in a microwave.

Cooking Your Olive Wagyu

• Bite-size portions. We recommend slicing small strips to cook a one at a time. With Olive Wagyu, a little goes a long way, so savor and enjoy as you go.
• Season. Sprinkle a little sea salt (e.g. sel gris) to taste. Pepper is okay, too. Go light so you can savor and enjoy the meat itself. It's also fine to season after cooking--whatever you prefer. This is your party.
• Cook on Stainless Steel. Sear the meat (or a slice approx. 1 inch by 4 inches) directly on the hot surface of the pan for 1 to 2 minutes per side--you don’t need any added oil whatsoever. No, really! The fat from the Olive Wagyu will melt out and provide more than enough.

Olive Wagyu from Kagawa, Japan

• The rarest beef on the planet. This beef is rated A4 and A5, which is the highest levels of quality and marbling achievable in the Japanese system (and the same level as Kobe Beef in Japan.)
• What is the breed? All Olive Wagyu from Japan comes from the Kuroge-washu breed, one of the four native Wagyu breeds in Japan, and the only one with a genetic predisposition for the fine-grained intramuscular marbling that makes Japanese beef famous.
• Where is it from? We work directly with small farms in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan's smallest prefecture, and home to Japan's most famous olive oil producers.
• An award-winning Wagyu Olive Wagyu cattle are fed toasted olive lees, a byproduct of olive oil production, which results in a bold umami flavor and high level of healthy oleic acids and other monosaturated fats. Olive Wagyu won "best" fat at the 2017 Wagyu Olympics.

About Japanese Cuts

Japanese Wagyu is cut thinner than what you might be used to, about 3/4 inch thick for the steaks and 1 ½ to 2 inches thick for tenderloin.

And there’s good reason to cut it thinner. Japanese Wagyu is seriously rich and intense! A word of advice, if we may: Don’t think of it like other steaks you’re used to.

The thin cuts are also easier to handle and cook. We highly recommend cutting 1 inch by 4 inch strips to sear and serve as you go, progressing your way through the entire steak a little bit at a time so you have time to enjoy and savor each bite. (Even so, it somehow still never lasts long enough. Trust us.)

Read Cutting Beef Like the Japanese

What to Pair with Olive Wagyu

Light, crisp chilled green salads go really well with Japanese Olive Wagyu. Sauteed root vegetables make for a good pairing, too.

And as for beverages, the main thing to to match something you love with, well, something else you love, whether for you that means sake, wine, beer, or something else. Again, your party.

And a pro tip for you: Save any fat you trim from your steaks. Chop and use to sautee veggies.

Read A5 Wagyu recipes

The History of Olive Wagyu

We’ve gone to great (and tremendously fun) lengths to bring you this Olive Wagyu sourced directly from individual farms in Kagawa, Japan.

There are only 2200 Olive Wagyu cows in the world, with only a few harvested each month. Olive Wagyu has never before been exported for direct sale to consumers.

We worked directly with 3 small farms in remote Kagawa Prefecture and with the local government to bring this exceptionally rare beef to you.

Please read more about our work with Shodoshima Olive Wagyu

Also, check out our Olive Wagyu Infographic