Wagyu beef demand has increased in recent years as more grillmasters become aware of this beautifully marbled Japanese cow.
Wagyu has surpassed USDA Prime as the most sought-after form of premium steak.
However, obtaining real Wagyu has its drawbacks, with butchers, steakhouses, and supermarkets using the Wagyu moniker on meat that bears little similarity to the mythical beef that the buyer desires.
McDonald’s is also incorporating the Wagyu designation into some of its burgers.
We’re breaking down what to look for when buying for Wagyu online to ensure you receive the authentic Wagyu experience rather than a McWagyu letdown.
Learn what red signs to look out for and who the top online Wagyu suppliers are to get real Wagyu beef from.
Contents
- The Best Places to Buy Wagyu Beef Online
- What to watch out for when ordering Wagyu
- What you need to know about Wagyu
- What are the main types of Wagyu?
- FAQs
- Is Costco Wagyu beef real?
- Does Trader Joe’s sell Wagyu beef?
- How much does 1 piece of Wagyu cost?
- How is Costco Wagyu beef?
- What grade is Costco Wagyu?
- Is Japanese A5 Wagyu worth it?
- What meat is closest to Wagyu?
- Is American Wagyu beef the same as Japanese Wagyu?
- Do butchers sell Wagyu?
- How much is 2 lb of wagyu?
The Best Places to Buy Wagyu Beef Online
The easiest approach to purchase Wagyu beef online is to select a trusted distributor who can supply you with all of the information you need to place your order without any surprises.
To make things simpler, we’ve produced a list of the top eight online Wagyu vendors in the United States.
1) Holy Grail Steak Company
They offer Japanese Wagyu and Kobe, as well as American and Australian Wagyu.
The Holy Grail Steak Company was started by self-described wine sourcers who linked with some of the greatest meat producers in the United States via the chef community to whom they supplied high-end wine.
The Holy Grail Steak Company follows the Golden Rule of Cow, which states that a steak only tastes as well as it was grown.
You can read a more extensive write-up and Holy Grail Steak Co review here.
Their business name alludes to their never-ending quest for the holy grail, the perfect steak.
Holy Grail Steak Company sells Japanese, American, and Australian-raised Wagyu and is the sole online source for real Kobe Beef.
They have a variety of cuts available, including Ribeye, Strip Steak, and Fillet Mignon, as well as grill packs and their newly introduced Wagyu burgers.
They also provide ultra-rare Wagyu meat such as Omi meat, HidaGyu, Hokkaido Snow Beef, and Miyazaki beef, which some believe to be better than Kobe steak.
2) Snake River Farms
What they sell: American Wagyu
Snake River Farms is one of the country’s greatest producers of American-bred Wagyu beef, and they are our top pick for best mail-order steak business.
Their meat is a hybrid of imported Japanese Wagyu and European strains, and they sell a wide variety of Wagyu steaks, roasts, briskets, hotdogs, and beef ribs.
Snake River Ranch in Idaho was founded in 1968 and has long been a premier supplier of high-quality beef to restaurants and award-winning chefs.
They also have a Gold Grade selection with at least Japanese Beef Marbling Grade 9, for that extra soft feel.
In our Snake River Farms review, we tried the black grade American Wagyu Beef Brisket.
The beef is transported frozen through courier, and if you purchase before 1 p.m. EST, it will be dispatched the same day.
3) Crowd Cow
What they sell: Japanese Wagyu & American
Crowd Cow has both homegrown American Wagyu and authentic Japanese imported Wagyu, as well as some uncommon cuts.
Crowd Cow takes pride in the quantity of information they can provide on each piece of beef they offer.
Their listing describes where the meat originates from, the breed mix, and how it was grown and prepared.
They offer a wide range of cuts from domestic Wagyu both Purebred or Wagyu-Angus cross, A5 graded Wagyu imported from Japan, A5 Wagyu from Kagoshima the winners of the most recent Wagyu Olympics, and even the legendary Olive Wagyu from cattle raised on a special diet of caramelized olives.
4) Chicago Steak Company
What they sell: American Wagyu
The Chicago Steak Company may be traced back to the 1865 establishment of the Union Stock Yards.
Their steaks are always wet or dry-aged for four to six weeks to build taste before being hand-carved to remove excess fat and connective tissue.
While their Dry-Aged USDA Prime steaks are arguably their most well-known item, they also provide Wagyu Boneless Strips, Ribeye, Filet Mignon, Flat Iron, and Gourmet Burgers.
Angus is bred and flash-frozen to seal in taste.Their meat is a combination of Wagyu.
To ensure both quality and accountability, Chicago Steak Company orders are sent out with their own unique registration number.
5) Debragga
They sell Japanese, American, and Australian Wagyu.
Debragga is one of the few licensed Miyazaki-Gyu beef wholesalers. This Wagyu variety cultivated on the Japanese island of Kyushu won the Japanese gastronomic Olympics, defeating Kobe beef to be declared the finest in Japanese beef.
Angus blend from Sher Wagyu and American American Wagyu from Imperial Wagyu Beef in the Midwest.They also have Australian Wagyu available.
If you reside in the Northeast, you may take advantage of Debragga’s fresh, not frozen, meat shipping, and all purchases are delivered overnight.
If you reside outside of the Northeast, you can still get fresh Miyazaki-Gyu beef sent to you, but the price will skyrocket.
6) Omaha Steaks
What they sell: American Wagyu
Omaha Steaks, founded in 1917, offers a broad variety of premium meat products, including a selection of American Wagyu selections in their Private Reserve line.
Their current steak selection consists of Filet Mignon, New York Strips, and Ribeye, but they have just added Private Reserve Wagyu Burgers to their menu.
Angus beef.All of their beef is 28-day matured for additional softness, which complements the thick marbling on the mixed Wagyu.
7) D’artagnan
What they sell: Japanese & American Wagyu
Dartagnan provides a rather diverse selection of domestic Wagyu beef graded on the Japanese BMS system and derived from a cross of Japanese Wagyu and Black Angus breeds.
They provide Filet Mignon, Ribeye, and New York Strip, as well as Tenderloin Tips, ground beef, and even Wagyu Bresaola.
They also import a limited number of real Kuroge Washu Wagyu steaks, including A5 rated boneless Ribeye and Striploin.
Dartagnan uses ice, insulated packaging, and FedEx Overnight delivery to keep its beef fresh.
8) Allen Brothers
What they sell: Domestic & Japanese Wagyu
Allen Brothers, which was founded in 1893, is known for hand-selecting its beef and employing a proprietary patented maturing technique to enhance its taste.
Humanely pasture-raised Angus cross in the Pacific Northwest by a variety of tiny family-owned farms.They provide a large selection of domestic Wagyu beef that has been graded to a minimum of BMS 6-7 for marbling and Japanese A5 for quality. Their native Wagyu is mostly Wagyu.
Wagyu Brisket, Bone-in Ribeyes, Short Ribs, Chateaubriand, Bone-in Rib Roast, Steak Dogs, and even Wagyu Beef Cheeks are among their offerings.
Allen Brothers also has a limited assortment of A5 rated Japanese Wagyu, including as Ribeye, Filet Minon, and Tenderloin.
Allen Brothers products are flash-frozen and packaged in their proprietary Prime Protection packaging before being dispatched through a number of delivery methods.
What to watch out for when ordering Wagyu
The term “Wagyu”
The sale of Wagyu beef in Japan is strictly regulated, and the quality of the beef, as well as the yield grade and the Beef Marble Score (BMS), are displayed on the package.
The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) requires Wagyu beef to be sourced from 100% genuine Japanese cow breeds.
These quality criteria are not enforceable outside of Japan. This implies that purchasing Wagyu beef in the United States is not a guarantee of quality.
Domestic Wagyu beef is certified by the USDA, although it just has to possess 46.875% pure Japanese blood to be sold as F1 Wagyu.
If you purchase Wagyu beef from a reliable internet seller, they will tell you where the cattle originates from and what genetic mix it contains.
The Holy Grail Steak Company, for example, describes its beef as American-raised Tajima Wagyu Strip Steak, adding in the specifics that it is A combination of Wagyu and Angus bloodlines then occasionally over-layered with Fullblood Wagyu traits.
“Kobe Style” Beef
This literally has no meaning. You may as well get Minnesota-style bananas.
Kobe beef originates from a single region in Japan, and five of the seven conditions for certification as genuine Kobe center around it being born, grown, and killed in the Hyogo prefecture.
Genuine Kobe beef has its own 10-digit identification number, and the Kobe Beef Marketing & Distribution Promotion Association keeps track of authorized international distributors.
If you encounter beef labeled as domestic Kobe or Kobe-style at retail or your local steakhouse, skip on it unless you truly want to discover what lies taste like.
The Price
While paying a high price for Wagyu beef is no guarantee of quality, paying a low amount for it should always raise a red flag.
The limits on Japanese imports and the dwindling number of pure blood animals available in the United States and Australia keep authentic Wagyu beef scarce. This scarcity, along with Wagyu’s reputation as premium meat, keeps prices for the genuine thing high.
So, if you find a 16oz Wagyu ribeye for $24.99, chances are it came from animals with just a trace of Kuroge Washu traits, bearing as much similarity to real Wagyu beef as a Costco steak delivered beside a postcard from Japan.
What you need to know about Wagyu
There is a lot of misunderstanding concerning the phrases Wagyu and Kobe Beef in particular.
Wagyu, which literally means “Japanese Cow,” refers to four distinct breeds of Japanese cattle. However, although the phrase may refer to any Japanese cow, it only applies to Kuroge Washu beef outside of Japan.
Wagyu beef is meat from the Japanese Kuroge Washu cow breed. Kuroge Washu beef is recognized for its extreme marbling and deep umami taste.
Domestic or American Wagyu is the most popular kind of Wagyu available for purchase.
It is derived from Kuroge Washu cattle shipped from Japan between 1975 and 1997 and crossbred with western breeds such as the Angus.
A small number of Fullblood Kuroge Washu animals have reached it to the United States, although they account for just 0.029% of domestic cattle, and their meat is almost as scarce as Japanese imported Wagyu.
Japanese Wagyu is rated using a considerably tighter standard than USDA beef grading, and its export is significantly taxed.
Japanese Kuroge Washu cattle are not interbred with other breeds, unlike American or Australian Wagyu cattle. Their breeding is so controlled that 99.9% of all Kuroge Washu breeding cows can be traced back to a single bull.
Kobe beef is said to be the peak of Wagyu meat. This beef is a Japanese trademark made from cattle bred in the Hyogo prefecture.
So, although the word “American Wagyu” is completely acceptable, the term “American Kobe” makes no sense (other than as lousy marketing language).
What are the main types of Wagyu?
- Wagyu beef from the United States This meat is produced by crossing imported Wagyu cattle with domestic strains and is the most readily accessible variety of Wagyu beef.
- Wagyu breeders in the United States There are just a few Fullblood Kuroge Washu cattle in the United States. There are around 26,000 of these creatures in the whole nation, which were initially brought from Japan. Their meat is somewhat simpler to get than imported Japanese Wagyu, but only marginally.
- Imported Japanese Imports The real item is Japanese Wagyu, but its export is strictly controlled and tariffed by the Japanese Beef Association, making it both scarce and costly.
- Kobe Steak Kobe beef is the pinnacle of Japanese Wagyu and is highly uncommon. Only 33 restaurants in the United States sell Kobe beef. Before it ever leaves Japan, this premium beef may cost up to $300 per pound. When it arrives in the United States, real Kobe beef may cost up to $50 per ounce.
Wrapping it up
While purchasing Wagyu meat online is not a guarantee of quality, there are certain companies that take pleasure in obtaining the finest in real Japanese, American, and Australian Wagyu beef.
Now that you know what to look for, you can utilize our list of recommended sources to try some of the world’s greatest beef.
Do you think there’s a difference between Japanese and domestic Wagyu? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!
