Miyazaki Kurazono Wagyu

Settled between the two biggest cities in southern Kyushu, Kobayashi City is an hour and a half from Miyazaki City and an hour and 45 minutes from Kagoshima City by highway bus. 

In Kobayashi City, visitors can enjoy a farmhouse stay or stay in traditional houses called karukaya in Suki Village, go hiking in the Kirishima mountain range, try ceramics painting, or soak in Kanogo Onsen.

Karakuni Dake is a 1700-meter tall mountain where Lake Onami can be seen. It looks so pretty that I want to try this 3 hour easy hike.

As I live in Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu, Miyazaki Prefecture isn't so far away, but I've only been to Takachihokyo (gorge) near Kumamoto and Oita Prefectures. I was confused that there is a mountain named Takachiho Mountain in Kobayashi City, in the southern part of the prefecture.

Traditional foods in Kobayashi City are carp and other fish, as well as Miyazaki beef.

Beef from grass fed cattle is tastier and safer for the cows, but it's generally more expensive.

In the southern part of Kyushu, “black beef” and “black pork” are popular, but I'm not sure that the taste is any different – it's just named that because the animals are black.

My husband and I had the chance to try thick sliced Miyazaki-gyu sirloin steaks by Kurazono Farm in Kobayashi City.

My inner design nerd appreciated the packaging. Even the “white tray” that the meat was on was black.

The two steaks were 150 grams each, around 2.5 cm thick, and marbled, but looked like they had a larger amount of fat than other wagyu we've seen (and even more than in the photos on the flyer that came with the beef).

Each steak was about the size of a deck of cards, which is the recommended serving size for meat.

I thought they would shrink up a lot while cooking, but the size stayed almost the same.

This thickness is rare in Japan and reminded me of the steaks we can find in the US for barbecue. It's too bad we don't have a BBQ grill, but I know some people in Japan own a little grill or use one in a park.

I would just be concerned about the amount of fat that drips off of such a fatty cut of meat. (The leftover oil was enough to be reused to fry eggs the next morning.)

We decided on frying the steaks in a frying pan without any seasoning as it's grass fed beef that should have a good flavor on it's own. They were fried for 3-5 minutes on each side and cooked medium rare.

For the first taste, I wanted to try without seasoning. The flavor was really rich and fatty, but I agreed with my husband that it was nicer with salt and pepper. It didn't need any other seasoning and was a really nice treat for us, just paired with rice.

I have noticed that what appears to be Kobayashi-gyu is sold at local Aeon supermarket, The Big, where 100 grams is sold for around 700 yen. We might have to try that too sometime ... 

This post is supported by Kobayashi City Promotion Company Inc., one of City-Cost's Supporters helping City-Cost bloggers to enjoy life in Japan and engage in new experiences.