It was arguably the biggest and best gathering of Wagyu beef samples ever assembled in Australia.

A branded beef taste test conducted last Thursday in Brisbane as part of this week’s Australian Wagyu Association annual conference attracted almost 20 of the nation’s best-known Wagyu producers, with entries tested under tightly-controlled conditions.

While major capital city Agricultural Shows including Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne Royals all now include a Wagyu class in their annual branded beef judging competitions, none come close to carrying the depth or breadth of entries seen in the AWA’s inaugural competition held last week.

While winners will not be announced until the final stages of next week’s annual AWA conference on the Gold Coast, Beef Central can report some of its general observations about the eating characteristics of entries, having been a part of the six-member judging panel.

Judging of striploin samples took place across three categories, for Fullblood Wagyu (100pc Japanese genetics, typically fed 450-600 days); crossbred Wagyu (typically F1 or F2 over Angus dams, fed 300-450 days); and significantly, for the first time, a grassfed Wagyu class.

Here are some observations about the three classes from our tasting notes:

Fullbloods:

Fullblood entries presented the most challenging class to separate, in Beef Central’s opinion. All carried the characteristic and category-defining silkiness and richness that Wagyu is famous for, and lived up to the breed's reputation as the blockbusters of the red meat protein world.

All were supremely tender and juicy, with only marginal degrees of separation on our points sheets for tenderness. Flavour and overall liking was where the distinctions came in, with some carrying greater depth, and more desirable flavour than others. Caramel, popcorn, cornflake, sweetness and minerally notes were evident in different entries.

Judging the fullblood entries in the raw appearance state, after the taste component, it was clearly evident just how big these bodies are. The striploin samples were among the largest in portion-size that this correspondent has seen, covering a considerable proportion of a normal-sized dinner plate (see I-phone photo at left). Some striploins came from entries well beyond 500kg carcase weight.

Marbling expression was abundant in all fullblood entries – probably covering a range from 8s to 9+, but there was surprising variation in the marbling texture, ranging from extremely fine and ‘feathery’ to quite coarse. Fineness is generally considered a desirable trait in fullblood Wagyu marbling. Fat colour was light cream to off-white.

Crossbreds:

The biggest class, entries-wise, the crossbred entries produced much broader variation from best to worst, both in the visual raw stage and the eating quality stage. Perhaps surprisingly, the best of the crossbred entries were very close, if not equal to the fullblood entries in eating performance. There was much greater variation evident in cut size, abundance of marbling, and marbling texture, however. Flavour, also was much broader in range than among the fullblood entries. Fat colour was not dissimilar to the fulbloods in many cases.

Grassfed:

It’s a sign of the times that the Australian Wagyu Association considered it necessary to include – probably for the first time in Australia – a specialised grassfed Wagyu class. No information was provided on feeding history, or whether cattle had access to self-feeders delivering an energy/protein boost in the paddock. Importantly, there was extremely wide variation evident from top to bottom, both in eating performance and visual raw appearance. The best of the entries performed surprisingly well, producing marbling around BMS 5-6, but at the bottom end, entries looked and ate little better than generic grassfed YG steer beef, with little or no marbling evident.

One of the points that stood-out across all three classes was the variations in caramelisation that occurred in the cooking process, despite all being prepared to exacting time/temperature specifications. Some entries carried considerably more of that desirable crusting and caramelisation associated with grilled beef than others.

There was some evidence of a little over-aging in one or two entries, carrying the characteristic ‘offaly’ flavour notes and crumbly mouth-feel.      

• Stay tuned for results from the inaugural AWA Wagyu beef taste test, published on Beef Central this time next week.