WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE BEEF (Matsusaka Wagyu) & ROASTED CRAB Bento Box in Matsusaka Japan

You're gone now Once you've seen all the things, all the places I hope it means that you'll come home to me Once you've traveled the world There's Tokyo Tower over there. This is just a really nice view of central Tokyo. Look at this Oh, what's that? It's like someone's house with a massive swimming pool fountain I hope not because I'd definitely be really jealous of that. Okay about to head to the Shinkansen station I'm going to Nagoya today. So right now i'm beginning a five-day food tour This is actually in partnership and sponsored by food. So they're basically taking me to Four different very exclusive food tours and it starts in Nagoya today I'm gonna meet up with with Ben spending the night in Nagoya and the food tour starts tomorrow Of course, that's when the official food tour starts But come on We're food touring all the way all the way there all the way everywhere and one of my favorite things Ever about Japan is riding on a high-speed train and of course eating a bunch of bento box So that's what we're gonna do right now Let's go My favorite bento store Wagyu box is always the best can't go wrong with this. So we'll do a little surf and turf beef and crab Also, I literally just left my suitcase like outside of the store wouldn't do that any other country Japan No biggie This is another one of those boxes where it heats up on its own This thing is heating up now that steam is coming. Oh my gosh, it's burning hot right now While we wait for this though beef bento karaage wagyu You really can't go wrong with any sort of wagyu bento just like the other ones the flavor of the beef is really good There's not that much so a ton of rice just a little bit of beef Still good though got these like crazy alien looking squid dealies I wouldn't say these are that good. It's like stuffed squid So the outside kind of like tastes like squid jerky and inside is rice like sticky rice on the inside It's kind of a little weird. Not the best Whoa Roasted crab leg in a bento box. This thing smells like the crab just was roasted over the fire Great smoky aroma. It's coming from this box This tastes better than some of those crab legs you'll find on those cheap Chinese buffets It's not a lot of substance so you get a few pieces of crab and there's little bits of crab on top But the rice again is really a ton of it Actually, the flavor of this rice is really really good. It's not just plain rice. I think I seasoned maybe a little bit of a seafood stock. They're really really tasty So even though there's not a ton of meat rice is pretty delicious on its own Just remarkable deliciously sweet Incredibly smoky just tastes like it just came off the grill It's amazing how they're able to get that fragrance that flavor into a bento box. That's why I love Japan the best part Brain and organs all here. This is like natural seafood crab miso This might be the best bento box i've ever had in japan Welcome to Matsuzaka home of the most expensive beef in the world. It's gonna be a great day tomorrow Matcha Arigato gozaimasu. To get off the train. We're in Taiki town and we're near Matsuzaka right now This is a little farmhouse. We're staying at tonight We have like traditional matcha and then little welcome matcha and mochi the double m's the m and m's and traditional Japanese home and the concept of this is called mintaiku you can stay at these houses and you can also experience kind of like the agricultural side of traditional japanese, um homes, but This is my first time staying in a traditional japanese home It's so lovely sweet and just refreshingly fragrant A lot of people my sip doesn't feel like it's bitter. It's just so gratifying So besides the do-it-yourself sushi we have the skewers and you see there's a lot like at local 7-elevens This is so cool Bunch of stuff to choose from and nikiko here was actually a member of parliament in japan Kind of a big honor to have her cook this piece of eel I might have overstuffed this a bit For some reason this just tastes so good But because it was made like at someone's home where I rolled it myself. My rolling skills are amazing It's probably not it but seriously So yummy dive into some of the oden Fish cake these little jelly noodles No calories. I kid you not all my favorite things for hot pot Crunchy and scrumptious Miso soup Fresh vegetables from the farm right outside this house put into the miso soup tofu seaweed spring onions potatoes loaded miso Such a rich umami flavor of the miso you put miso anything in front of me Miso want to eat it. All right, we're gonna eat up Uh, then we're gonna see our rooms go to bed tomorrow the most expensive beef in japan Matsuzaka, we're gonna see where it all came from. Welcome to my room Good morning after a great night at this lovely airbnb. It's even more stunning in the daylight, right? There's like tea fields over there. It's like a bunch of vegetables growing all around here We're gonna come back to this place and have lunch. But right now heading off to the famous matsuzaka farm Yes, I see And there's the matsuzaka cow right there. Oh Really nice to meet you 88 years old whoa. Oh looks so good. And that's a strong handshake there. Oh Because he ate the meat. Yeah, because he eats the meat every day and this farm is Literally where matsuzaka beef originated and tochiki san's entire life's been raising these cows Yes Wait, is it mostly why I thought they're all female all of them. Yes. Yes One thing is matsuzaka beef is the reason why it's so expensive and so exclusive is because they're all Virgin female and they believe to have the most tender of meats and how many cows does he have on on the farm? Only two so one of these cows will go for about thirty thousand dollars He only sold one at any time. He only has a few Only a few cows on the farm and you've been doing this since you were 15 years old Foreign 17 years old that's a long learning. That's a long education. Okay, let's go Oh slipper for the cows wow, why do cows need slippers Oh So it's to prevent the feet from damage, yeah So imagine this is the hoof of the cow right here And this is completely handmade from grass dry grass Oh, this is how they walk through the field i've heard of horseshoes i never i've never heard of cow shoes before I've heard cow bell not cow shoes I'm gonna go have some tea and talk a little cattle This is actually really exciting because i've always of course loved wagyu and I learned about matsuzaka beef a couple years ago And to be able to sit with a like legit living legend, you know Someone who's been doing this his whole life just to be able to understand more about why this beef is the most expensive In japan, let me introduce you. This is olivia. She's gonna be translating for us. First of all It's it's a pleasure. So it's time to meet you and to talk with you a little bit Thank you and matsuzaka tea is also very popular very famous And how did you go into this profession The cow He said that he really liked the cows since he was little instead of having pet he preferred to have cow instead around this area, there's a like association who Joined the farmer the butcher from there. He start to you know, like try to learn how to raise I say why do you think matsuzaka beef is the most expensive and best? beef in japan Wow Foreign So before this area they raise the cow only for working for the field it's a worker cow instead of for eating right So the lady who operates the the restaurant because they have a different meat so she asked him to make the cow edible Like yes, okay that is the very start of the So the chigi-san was really the founding almost the founding father for matsuzaka beef Before his ancestor. Oh ancestor It's meiji period meiji period. Okay, and what did what did he just write? This is the letter from the the lady operate the restaurant. Oh Wow, how old is the letter? From meiji period. Oh my god, really basically, uh, what you guys son is uh saying is that His ancestors literally got a request and this is the actual letter from the restaurant during the meiji period where the restaurant owner asked His ancestors to give them a cow that's like tender so they can serve it in the restaurant. This is amazing This is like beef history right here Only for this one restaurant and so this letter is over a hundred years old How did you or your ancestor figure out how to create the process of raising matsuzaka beef You know feeding it the best foods and rubbing it with wine and giving a beer How did they learn how to do all that or how did they? invent that So they they process the food for the cow instead of giving it raw Oh Okay, okay you're actually making the food not just like here go graze around here's a carefully prepared meal for you He said that if you feed the the cow with the raw grass, yes It's getting yellow. Oh, really? Is that still the case today? Do you still cook and make the feed for the cows? No No more cooking for you cows. There's a lot of Uh, I guess a story is about how japanese wagyu is fed Beer gets massaged Is that is that real? To the cow they don't want to waste yes It becomes addicted Oh, okay Massage he said that if you give massage to the to the cow, it's gonna help him Circulate circulation is better. Okay. This is a misconception that Japanese cow because it's fattier is not healthier for you to eat, but that's not true, right? In human body So so literally it just spilled in your mouth. Yes And the classic way of cooking wagyu or matsuzaka is sukiyaki, right? Why is sukiyaki so good for? uh Really because you have to eat with the sauce, right? And he said but if you cook in sukiyaki way The fat is melt and then you can taste the real meat. Oh Okay, that makes sense. Like yakiniku you do get a different like it's just melt melty fat So sukiyaki it melts the fat already you get the actual taste of the beef That makes a lot of sense. All right, so here's what I found out This is kind of a revelation for me and maybe for you guys as well I want to actually taste real matsuzaka beef if you want the best matsuzaka beef It can only be found in matsuzaka because there's so so few of them. They can't be shipped anywhere else So what I ate in tokyo the matsuzaka beef was the younger cow younger cows 30 months So they haven't really got the best the best flavor. So if you want the actual best best of the beef, this is where you go a little more information If you guys are coming here to matsuzaka tokusan is the is the term that's used to describe tokusan the original best quality Cows here in matsuzaka and we're eating that today This is the tokusan mark look for this if you want the best quality the 40 month cow were older That is the best quality matsuzaka beef you can have. Thank you so much because this has been Like I I thought I knew stuff about wagyu Or matsuzaka I did my research and I ate so much of it last time I was in tokyo I really knew nothing but thank you Thank you so much This environment is so great like there's a tea garden in the back and just great farmlands and hills everywhere No wonder the best cows are grown right here I mean even the surrounding is so serene and peaceful and obviously they are adorable and so it's kind of sad But they are giving a really good and loving life here gotta go and we're actually gonna go taste the authentic matsuzaka beef now sukiyaki style but seriously if I could be 88 and look and Feel as good as this gentleman right here. You're pretty lucky. Maybe the secret is in the beef Oh, yeah, i'll take the basket for sure put me to work Oh, I gotta work. I gotta eat. I mean if I don't work, I don't eat gotta work up an appetite I'm going with sukiyaki san. We're gonna go harvest some shiitake mushrooms and then we're gonna start cooking the beef We would have more uh shiitake mushrooms this time but monkeys came How did the monkeys get in Oh just a little little space Oh Wow Small monkeys. Well, maybe it's a trend but i'm also a monkey and i'm taking the mushrooms Okay, so check it out. These are the shiitake mushrooms I was surprised i'm doing something wrong here Oh, at least they didn't take this at least the monkeys weren't so greedy or Yeah, where they're so full already All right, I think that's everything the monkeys left us Not even a full basket. I don't even have a basket. He said if the if the monkey's not, um, yeah taking all the Uh, the mushroom, it's a whole basket three three baskets the monkey took two and ninety percent of a basket Bad monkey harvest my own cabbage That felt really cool sukiyaki I mean that was easy hard work's done already by him. I just gotta pull it out of the ground fresh spring onions. Oh, yeah Let's go since the monkey stole the other vegetables this monkey should help carry some to the table All right, we're sitting down for The classic sukiyaki meal and this is our matsuzaka beef Of course, it's got this red logo mount fuji and the sun and this is when you know That this is the localized highest quality of matsuzaka beef the tokusan the slow go right here That's what you look for when you're in this region Of course We got the thinly sliced version for the sukiyaki and right before that the mushrooms we picked Just a little bit of fire a little bit of soy sauce. Itadakimasu boy she dash Something so simple It's so flavorful so glad the monkey did not get this one This is like laid out perfectly little side dishes egg and the classic way to eat sukiyaki Yes, sukiyaki sauce is really just some soy sauce and some sugar and then you dip it in the egg and that's it So it retains a lot of that great beef flavor and after learning all the stuff I learned today about Matsuzaka beef and wagyu in general. I feel like i'm gonna experience everything again for the first time i'm passing on precious cargo It's yukiko-san here open Wagyu this is worth more than people's jewelry right now Like this is a good pound or so a pound of matsuzaka will go for about 500 us dollars And you can see here this is really cool they put a piece of fat here just in case you're barbecuing it instead of butter You're gonna use matsuzaka beef fat the pattern like fine art. That's what makes good japanese wagyu What it is like it just looks like it should be haunted a museum So while yukiko-san is doing the buttering and the fat all the fun stuff I'm gonna start uh putting the cracking the egg into the bowl Okay, so apparently to make really good sukiyaki you've got to cook everything on the pan first ingredients Oh first piece of matsuzaka beef Is going in And we're just stir frying all this together the otake sauce like I said, it's just sweet soy, it's usually what's inside a sukiyaki sauce So the vegetables and the meat is cooked first on the hot pot And you're gonna see a little bit of caramelization from the sugar and that smell it's just getting to be pretty darn incredible And then you're gonna dip it in the egg and this is done for a couple of different reasons And one of the reasons is that um The flavor of the egg is gonna offset the sweetness of the sauce a little bit And the second is that it's gonna cool down the ingredients that just came from the hot pot It's for me Oh, arigatou gozaimasu. Look at this the matsuzaka beef all that great marbling that beautiful pattern is still Visible after it's cooked. I just learned today We do the sukiyaki because a lot of the fat does render so it leaves more of the beefy flavor And for those of you guys who are not familiar with wagyu, there are different types of wagyu And of course probably the most popular one is Kobe, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best It just has the best marketing department good wagyu. It's it's greatest So there's a one through five and this is obviously a five even five has an index rating of between eight to twelve and twelve Of course is the best prime which is the best cut of beef in the u.s Has about six percent fat this thing minimum 25 Every time I have top quality wagyu The sensation just clobbers me It's like that first time you were ever kissed were the first time You've ever seen the sun setting into the ocean like that kind of sensation It's just unbelievably melty as soon as it touches your lips the dissolving process begins and by the time You're chewing it for like the fourth time And they're so right about the sukiyaki cooking method It's a little sweeter But you get much better sensation much better flavor from the actual beef and that flavor is so incredibly strong It doesn't just melt but that incredible beef flavor just completely dominates your taste buds when people often ask me What is the best food i've ever had in the world? I consistently say japanese wagyu top quality japanese wagyu. All right, we're getting some of this and then we're gonna Eat some with rice. Oh steamed eggs with little bits of shrimp and seafood inside Oh my god, oh wow That is amazing melting your mouth eggs a little bit of fish cake I thought the beef's gonna be the sole star of the show today, but heck yeah All right, by the way, this is so kawaii. I want to hug it when I go to bed freshly cooked rice from an actual stove Now we got a bunch of vegetables we got a pot full of matsuzaka beef grease let's eat All right, I got my full plate got a refill button on my sukiyaki more matsuzaka beef What's so amazing about the experience again besides the flavor? And also like what I love about japanese food is you feast with your eyes your nose and then it goes in your mouth And by that time, it's just the anticipation. It's just insane. I pulled this from the ground. I gotta taste it Everything it's just culinary perfection Simple stuff. It's just a great flavor But the fresh quality experience on top of that is just this incredible experience of learning all about matsuzaka beef And again, I thought I knew a lot about wagyu beef already But really I learned so much from tochigi-san this morning so much about this beef and how the cows are raised and how they Get drunk off beer then go on a eating bender then coming here and having yukiko-san cook me the perfect sukiyaki And then going vegetable picking with it to a son and this is actually rice that he grew right here on this farm Just all that combined with how amazingly delicious every single part of this meal is but going into like the local region where a very specific food is from and having it made by the People there and just being able to experience all this that is priceless. I mean, there's a price to it, but The experience really you're gonna remember that for a long long time And of course, like I mentioned in the beginning of this video I'm here on invitation by by food which is a company that it's just all about food experiences in japan So they do cooking classes. They do food tours experiences like this So a lot of great stuff you love to eat and I know you do Otherwise probably wouldn't be watching this channel or you could be watching because you like me Yeah, I know. I know you're just here for the food But they do all these great things and also what they do from every single booking They donate to causes supporting children all around the world and so far They raised about 7 million yen to fund this charitable cause so that's really awesome But check them out anything you need for booking for experiences food related tours around japan They're the ones to go to the information available for you down below again This is like one of the greatest experiences I had in japan so far learning so much. I ate with my mind And with my mouth today. All right guys. Thank you all so much for watching. I got more sukiyaki to get to Until we eat again See you later. Let's see how ben likes his first taste of matsuzaka beef. This is chelsea Ben's girlfriend Oh my god, it is amazing It's the best in my life It's what I know is good, but it's surprised me good You need to come here to have a try. These are not paid actors The testimony they give is their own well ben's paid but chelsea's not so there you go