Wisconsin Foodie

– Announcer: This week on Wisconsin Foodie: - Luke: So this is Wagyu beef.

– Kerry Drath: Yep, yeah.

- So, this is different than, like, traditional beef farming because the genetics are so important, correct?

- Yeah, the genetics are important in the Wagyu, of course, and ours are a hundred percent full-blood Wagyu.

It's all DNA-tested back to Japan.

- This is like the Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jones.

- Yes.

- This is the Holy Grail of beef right here.

– Nathan: This is the only beef with Omega 3 and Omega 6s, as much pound per pound as salmon.

If you've never experienced it, you have to experience it.

But once you've had it, you will love it.

- Yeah, here we go.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

Thank you so much, gentlemen.

I had to come to the expert about this Wagyu beef and that's you, the chef at Rare Steakhouse, downtown Milwaukee.

– Todd Leech: We have what's called an Olive Wagyu, which is considered by most to be the rarest steak you can get.

– Luke: That is one of the most overwhelming pieces of beef I've ever eaten.

It's beautiful.

This is incredible.

– Todd: Yeah, it is.

– Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheery whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubbles popping] And grass, and grass.

– Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends only in Wisconsin since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swissconsin," and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site high-quality butchering and packaging.

The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore, know your farmer, love your butcher.

- Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is the largest local hunger relief organization in the state.

With your help, we ensure your neighbors in need don't have to worry where their next meal may come from.

Learn more at FeedingAmericaWI.org.

– Additional support from the following underwriters: Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[clapping along with energetic music] - Luke Zahm: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We're a merging of cultures and ideas shaped by this land.

We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[clinking glasses] [scraping knife] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie .

[paper rustling] - So after 20-plus years of being in professional cooking environments, I find that sometimes I run out of ingredients to kind of tantalize my mind and, you know, make me feel like what I'm doing is a brand new experience.

And today, I'm actually really excited because this may not be a brand new ingredient to you-- maybe you sampled it a time or two yourself-- but I've never really had the experience of Wagyu beef.

I haven't had the pleasure of, number one, eating Wagyu beef, but number two, being in a place where I can see these animals raised and how it differs from normal or regular conventional beef.

[soft music] So, I've heard so much about Wagyu beef, and I've never actually seen an animal on the hoof.

Is it possible for me to take a look at 'em today?

– Kerry Drath: Well, absolutely.

We're gonna go move some of our cow calves down here in another pasture today.

– Luke: Right, put me to work, let's do it.

Let's do it, yep.

[Kerry Drath laughs] [soft music] So, this is Wagyu beef?

– Kerry: Yep.

– Luke: On the hoof?

– Kerry: Yep, these are Wagyu beef on the hoof.

- So, typically, Wagyu, I'm assuming in my mind, like, grain-fed all the time, like, you're constantly pushing food at these animals, but this is definitely contrary to that opinion.

– Kerry: Absolutely.

These animals here are all pasture-raised.

We have few hundred acres that we do pasture on here.

So they do get rotated.

The pasture's the most important thing on 'em because it's the complete diet of these animals.

I mean, you can't get much more natural than this here.

[cow moos] They just can't always wait for the new pasture to open up.

And we do that about every, about three days or so, we just keep moving 'em along.

– Luke: Yeah, so this is different than, like, traditional beef farming because the genetics are so important, correct?

– Kerry: Yeah, the genetics are in the Wagyu, of course, and ours are a hundred percent full-blood Wagyu.

It's all DNA-tested back to Japan.

– Luke: Sure, wow.

– Kerry: That's what we do.

– Luke: Talk to me just for a second about the history of Wagyu, right?

So like, there's a little bit of contention around it because-- - Kerry: Mm-hmm.

– Luke: The Japanese government, it's a closely guarded secret.

- Yes, it is.

And it's, I think they call it-- They don't want that to get out at all, but there was some that was shipped over here into the United States years ago.

And that's basically what we have.

They will not let any more Wagyu come out of Japan over to here.

So, these are the ones we have here.

But we do have the lineage of these here.

We can show you later on all the registration papers.

– Luke: Wow.

– Kerry: So, the consumer knows exactly what they're getting.

You can go ahead and test any of our hundred percent, full-blood Wagyu.

It'll go back, right back to Japan.

– Luke: I mean, I know that I've gone to the grocery store and I've seen things advertised as Wagyu.

– Kerry: Mm-hmm.

- But how many hundred-percent genetically-certified farms are there in Wisconsin?

- There's really not that many, a hundred percent certified full-bloods in the state of Wisconsin, or even in the nation.

– Luke: So, this all kind of started as a pivot to reinvent the farm after dairy.

– Kerry: Yes.

– Luke: And this is so specialized, like this is, this is highly sought after.

Kerry, can you talk me through a little bit about your family's legacy here on this farm?

I know that this has been going on for 10 years, but your roots run way deeper than that.

- Way deeper than that.

Yeah, my grandparents bought this particular farm, here in, I wanna say, 1943.

– Luke: Okay.

- And then, my dad was raised here, of course.

And then he bought the neighboring farm and then I was milking cows with my dad forever.

And then, Nathan came back to the farm about 10 years ago, or a little bit longer than that, and then we switched over to Wagyu.

We sold the dairy cows about 10 years ago and switched over to Wagyu.

– Luke: And that was, I mean, why Wagyu?

– Kerry: Well, if you're gonna raise an animal, you may as well raise a very good one because you're going through all the work anyway.

So may as well have a good breed and, and good, good food.

I mean, you know, the tenderness of that Wagyu.

It's easy to do that part.

- I actually don't know the tenderness of the Wagyu.

- Oh?

- I mean, and I'm hoping actually, we can kind of work up to that a little bit today, if that's okay.

- Sure, That's absolutely okay.

I bet you we have a steak someplace we can even make for you, or you can make.

- Yeah, oh, I can make it?

- You get to make it, how's that?

- That it's a lot of pressure.

- It should be.

- I don't know if I like that.

- Yeah.

- Hey, Nathan, how's it going?

- Hi, Luke, how are you?

- I'm great, I'm great.

So, we were out in the field, and Kerry was kind enough to, like, walk us through some of the things that make this Wagyu beef really exceptional.

Now, I gotta actually see something that I can touch.

Do you have any steaks-- - Yes, I do.

– Luke: That I can see?

Awesome, great, check it out.

- We have some, great, let's do it.

- Right, here we go.

Oh, man, get outta here!

Are you kidding?

Look at these.

[laughs] This is like Christmas.

- You're hanging onto a Tomahawk cut steak there.

And this is actually just a ribeye.

- Just a ribeye?

- That's just a common ribeye for us that comes through here.

- Okay, first and foremost, this is not a common ribeye.

This thing is, you can see here, like, two-thirds of this thing is maybe beef, but the rest of that is fat.

And Wagyu fat is so different than, like, the gristle that you would find on a normal cow, correct?

- Oh, totally.

- Totally.

- It's a softer, lot softer fat.

It starts cooking at about 104 degrees.

- You were saying that Japan declared these a national treasure?

– Nathan: Yes, back in the 1990s, they shut all the genetics out, and they consider it a national treasure.

So, no more genetics actually physically come out of Japan, and you can see why.

No other beef does this in the world.

This is the only beef with Omega 3 and Omega 6s, as much, pound per pound, as salmon.

It's the good fat.

People think, "Oh, that's too fatty to eat."

It's a whole different experience.

If you've never experienced it, you have to experience it.

And if it's just one time, it's only one time, but once you've had it, you will love it.

- This is like the Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jones.

- Yes.

- This is the Holy Grail of beef, right here.

I've been a chef now for 20 years, and I never actually worked with Wagyu beef.

I never have.

I've ever been in a situation where I've had it available, number one, or number two, had a story that's local enough to be able to connect with it because the storylines are really important to my food.

And number three, this stuff is expensive.

It's premium.

This is, this is about as high-caliber as it gets.

So, this is a great representation of a Wisconsin farmer reinventing themselves to do something the best in the world.

- Exactly, and I think you're gonna have the chance to cook one of these up later this evening.

- Okay, great.

- And you'll see how good a cook you actually are.

[laughs] - No pressure, again.

- Twenty years of experience, we should expect almost perfection.

- Almost.

- We gave you the perfect steak.

Now, all we need is a perfect cook.

- I like, I like how he said, almost perfection.

That gives me a little bit of wiggle room there.

- Yep.

- I appreciate that.

- You're welcome.

- Thank you, brother.

This is incredible, this is incredible.

I'm beyond excited, to be honest, to be able to cook with this.

I'm also beyond nervous, too, to have the two farmers with me who actually produce this, are in charge of this farm and all these facets, watching me cook a steak.

Should we give it a shot?

- You can try.

- Great, thank you.

Thank you very little.

Thank you very little!

[laughs] That's awesome.

I can try.

Watch me just stick this one in my pocket quick.

[soft music] We have some of this delicious-looking Wagyu beef.

And this is, it's hard to believe that this is grass-fed.

Literally, you look at this, and you lose your mind.

All that intermuscular fat.

It's incredible.

It's rare.

This is precious.

And I am sitting on pounds of it here.

I feel like I just won the lottery.

What we're gonna do to cook this is super simple, right?

- Yes.

- We have a cast iron pan here.

This is an aluminum-cast pan.

This goes in the, the Foodie rig with us.

I'm gonna get this thing screaming hot.

And you can kind of see, maybe you can't, you can see some of the smoke coming off the edges of that.

That tells me usually, if I had olive oil in there, this is gonna be somewhere around 425 to 450 degrees.

I want this puppy raging.

There it is, on cue, to season it.

These fellows live and die, swear by just sea salt.

So, that's what we're gonna do.

We're just gonna go sea salt.

And the idea is we want the sea salt to perfume all the flavors of this beef so that we can taste the beef, we can taste the salt, and that fat has a chance to come together and create something that is truly rare.

Little rub in there.

Oh, man, look at that.

Moment of truth.

[sizzling] Oh, man.

It smells rich.

It really does.

So, we've got this thing just as high as it'll go.

And what I'm looking for is just a little bit of those sides to start to crinkle and turn that delicious golden brown.

That tells me that Maillard reaction is happening and that fat, that protein is starting to caramelize just a little bit.

Now, one of the things that you really wanna look for, if you're buying a piece of Wagyu to cook at home, having it at room temperature means that this beef is going to be relatively uniform in temperature all the way through.

Now that's a good sear.

– Nathan: Yep, there you go.

- That, that's exactly what I want.

That nice even crispiness all the way through.

You can see those little pockets of fat in there dancing.

That's perfect.

Second side on this one.

There's his, there's his crispies.

This is a man who knows his crispies.

The crispies, the crusties.

It's time.

Let's put these on the cutting board.

So we pulled these off the heat now and I'm letting 'em rest.

And normally, at the restaurant, I always let beef rest a minimum of five minutes before I slice into it, so all those juices and all that energy, that heat, get the chance to re-amalgamate back into the meat.

Is it the same thing with Wagyu?

- Yes.

- Yes, Okay.

How long do you rest your steaks?

Well, if I'm hungry, not that long.

- 30 seconds, we eat it.

- Right, you pull it out-- - We go and eat it because that's how we're used to doing it 'cause we don't-- I mean, if you want the perfect steak, you let it rest.

– Luke: Yes.

- And then, you let it all, all the juices stay in there.

– Luke: Yeah.

- But you cut it on a plate, the juices are still there.

– Luke: Right.

- What do you think?

– Nathan: Perfect.

- Is it?

- Yeah, it's good.

[laughs] - Yeah, exactly.

I saw that it's good.

– Luke: There you go, for you, sir.

- Yeah.

- Cheers?

- Cheers.

Thank you so much, gentlemen.

Wow.

Look at it go down your fingers.

- Just roll it around in your mouth.

You don't even have to chew it.

- That was-- that's intense, that's amazing.

- Mm-hmm.

- And you just have salt.

– Luke: Mm-hmm, just salt.

It's almost, I have to say, it's almost like nothing I've ever eaten before.

It is, ah... You can see it's really tender.

The crispiness makes a huge difference, right?

- Mm-hmm.

- It's perfect when it's got the crispies.

- Exactly.

So, you need that consistency-wise, 'cause it's almost so soft.

It's melting in my mouth.

I don't think I've ever eaten beef or a protein that's done that before.

This is truly remarkable stuff.

I'm going away.

So I came into this shoot and I've never really worked with Wagyu beef before.

I gotta tell you, I'm sold.

If you're talking about a steak of a lifetime or you're talking about a special occasion or you're talking about giving something to someone that you love very, very much.

This is exactly where it's at.

And these are the people that grow it.

[soft music] There's a lot to be said about the contrast you can find in Wisconsin.

Coming from the farm located in beautiful Ogdensburg, which is a teeny, tiny little town outside of Appleton, to Milwaukee in search of the same exquisite ingredient, gives me a lot of perspective on how connected we really all are here.

We're on the way to Rare Steakhouse, and the chef, Todd Leech, here, he sources Wagyu, but he sources it straight from Japan.

I'm super excited to see how he prepares it, how he stores it, what it looks like when it comes on the plate, but most importantly, what it tastes like when it hits your palate.

So I've been on this quest to like, understand a little bit more about Wagyu beef.

- Uh-huh.

- Because it's an ingredient set that's kind of escaped me thus far in my career.

- Right.

- And I've heard that I had to come to the expert, and that's you, the chef, at Rare Steakhouse, downtown Milwaukee.

So what can you tell me about this Wagyu beef?

- Well, we have two different kinds of Wagyu.

This is called the Japanese A5.

It comes from the southern part of Japan.

It has a marbling system that they grade.

The Japanese government grades each of the steaks.

It is the highest marbling that you can get.

It's a 10 to 12 on their scale.

And then we have what's called an Olive Wagyu, which is considered by most to be the rarest steak you can get.

It comes from an island off of the West coast of Japan, where they're known for growing olives.

They take the olive pulp and the olives from the harvest, from the olive oil, they feed it to the cattle.

So they give it this unique flavor and unique oiling to that meat.

- So, what do you notice between the two when you taste them?

- Well, you can notice, especially with this one, when you cut it, when you handle it, your hands are just covered with oil.

– Luke: Yeah.

– Todd: You can just feel it almost bleed out of the meat.

You barely need any oil to cook either one of these because there's so much fat in there that it just renders out right into the pan immediately.

So you use very little oil, no butter.

- So, if I came into the restaurant.

– Todd: Mm-hmm.

- Todd, I would like to try two ounces of both the A5 and the Olive.

- Sure.

- What does that look like?

– Todd: I would cut it across this way.

So, I'll have one big steak, and then I will cut it into however many ounces that they want and then, just will sear it from there.

– Luke: Okay, excellent.

You're gonna be hard-pressed to find a better piece of meat, or a better-looking cut of meat, anywhere in the state of Wisconsin.

- So, I'm gonna do my first cut there.

Man.

– Todd: You ready to cook?

– Luke: I wanna keep this minimal.

– Todd: I mean, there's no, like I said, there's no reason to reinvent the wheel.

So I, to do these pieces, I'd put about that much in.

– Luke: Okay.

– Todd: That's it.

That's even a little high.

- Are we talking about, like-- - Todd: Extra virgin.

– Luke: Okay, extra virgin.

– Todd: Yep, so.

[sizzling] You wanna hear that sear, first of all.

What I do is I get a nice crisp on it, and then, I turn the temperature down.

– Luke: Sure.

Oh, my gosh.

- So, the one on the left?

– Luke: Yep, that's your Olive.

- Yeah, that would be $240.

– Luke: Okay.

– Todd: For that one.

And about, that was three ounces, so $180, give or take for that one.

Now you can feel this.

– Luke: Yeah.

Oh, that's kinda firmed up.

– Todd: Yep, yep.

That one, I'm gonna pull this one.

– Luke: Yeah.

– Todd: Yeah, this one's good.

– Luke: How long do you let it sit, chef?

Five minutes?

– Todd: Five minutes, yeah.

- Five minutes, yeah, ideally.

- Longest five minutes of my day, for sure.

[laughs] I can feel it; I can feel it all working.

Like, when you work around food a lot, and you get in here, and you get that smoke coming off the olive oil, and you can hear that sear, and you know what that tastes like in there.

I know that this is going to be a flavor blast.

That salt, that black pepper, it's gonna take me right here, right away.

– Todd: So, this is the A5 on the right.

And this is the Olive Wagyu on the left.

– Luke: MM-MMM!

– Todd: That's some good eats there.

– Luke: And this is the Olive, correct?

– Todd: This is the Olive, right.

Try the A5 first.

- Okay, I'm going for this one right here.

Oh, yeah.

- See?

- Mm-hmm.

- You can smell it.

You can smell the beef in it.

- You can.

- Yeah.

Now that, it's just like a glass of wine.

Once you chew it, it kind of releases the flavors.

And you move it around a little bit.

It's like eating a beef, a piece of beef that you can't even-- See why I said it was so hard to explain it?

- That is one of the most overwhelming pieces of beef I've ever eaten.

It's beautiful.

I don't want like-- I'm, mmm!

We don't need to be crying in Rare Steakhouse, [Todd laughs] but there's nothing that can prepare you for that sensation.

There's absolutely nothing.

That first moment it gets on your palate and you, you're overwhelmed with the fact that, like, "Okay, I get this salty..." You get the sear, you get a little bit of that crust.

– Todd: Right.

– Luke: And it's familiar.

– Todd: Right.

- It's a feeling that you understand.

But then, as you work it around your palate, you're in uncharted territory.

- See why I said it was so hard to explain?

Until you actually eat it, it's almost impossible for someone who's never eaten it to explain it to 'em.

Try the next.

- Oh, gosh, I don't even know if I want to.

I'm scared now.

All right, here, I'm gonna go for this one.

- That's why we sell 25 pounds a week.

- This is like no other dining and culinary experience I've ever had.

It hits your palette, and you're immediately taken away into that salt, beef.

Again, this is good, but then it slides into a place where you, you can't put words on it.

It's soft, it's luscious, it's rich.

– Todd: It is.

– Luke: It's dynamic on your palate.

And the thing that I'm regretting is after I had had that bite in my mouth for maybe seven or eight seconds because I eat too quickly, I swallowed it.

This is not meant to be swallowed.

This is meant to be chewed.

It's meant to be savored.

It's meant to be enjoyed.

So, I would say, you know, for the point of perspective, if I'm going out to eat a steak, I'm gonna go with the A5.

- I agree.

- If I'm going out for an experience that is something like I've never experienced before in 20-plus years of cooking professionally, the Olive is where it's at, man.

- It's good.

– Luke: Holy smokes!

- Yeah, you see what I mean by only serving four ounces, six ounces.

- Yeah, yep.

– Todd: I mean, it-- you don't need that much.

- No, this is incredible.

– Todd: Yeah, it is.

- Hey, Todd, thank you so much for bringing me in your kitchen today.

- Absolutely, thank you for stopping in.

- Oh, man.

What a pleasure.

And this is worth its weight in gold.

[soft music] So, we pulled these off, and I'm letting 'em rest because, normally, I like to knock everything over when I'm doing a food shoot because it's easier.

- So we will have some-- [Luke sneezes suddenly] - I'm so sorry.

[Luke sneezes again] Back up.

[laughs] You could direct air traffic with these bad boys.

[Luke cracking up] Go, go.

Anything else you'd like to say?

- No, not at all.

– Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheery whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubble popping] And grass, and grass.

– Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends only in Wisconsin since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swissconsin" and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site high-quality butchering and packaging.

The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore, know your farmer, love your butcher.

– Additional support from the following underwriters: Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you'll find past episodes and special segments just for you.