World’s best steak named as a ‘melt in the mouth’ piece of Japanese Wagyu beef at prestigious awards

Talk about a high-steak match.

The winners of the World Steak Challenge 2022 were unveiled at a ceremony at Dublin’s Mansion House, following a full day of technical judging at the city’s nearby Fire Steakhouse and Bar.

A ‘melt in the mouth’ Japanese Wagyu steak was crowned the overall winner and also took home the award for the world’s best sirloin steak and the world’s best grain-fed.

The winning steak, which comes from Japan for the first time, is A4 quality, which stands for ultra-premium quality beef in Japan. Produced by Starzen Co, a company that exports Japanese steaks around the world, the ‘Akune Gold’ steak is carefully farmed, “resulting in the highest quality Wagyu steak,” a statement said.

The cow was a 30-month-old cow raised “with a warm climate and abundant water” in the Kagoshima region of Kyushu Island.

The gong for the world’s best rib-eye, meanwhile, went to a Wagyu steak from Australian beef producer Jack’s Creek, made from a grain-fed 32-month-old purebred cow.

The jury praised the piece of meat as ‘tender, juicy and full of butter flavour’. Jack’s Creek is taking shape when it comes to bagging awards — last year it won Best Fillet, Best Rib-Eye, and Best Grain-Fed.

The winning Japanese steak was from a 30-month-old cow raised “with a warm climate and abundant water” in the Kagoshima region of Kyushu Island.

A full day of technical judging for the competition took place at Dublin’s Fire Steakhouse and Bar

The award-winning steaks were unveiled at a ceremony at Dublin’s Mansion House

Elsewhere in the awards, the winning fillet steak was unveiled as a steak produced by Italian company MFC Carni that is ‘known for its intense flavours, sweet aroma and unique tenderness’. The steak came from a grain-fed Poland cow and obtained by crossing Polish Holstein and Black Angus cows.

The award for the best grass-fed steak in the world went to a thoroughbred Dexter – an Irish breed of beef – steak from Linden Foods in Northern Ireland. Sold in Marks & Spencer, this 30-day matured rib eye steak was described by the jury as ‘very tender and rich’.

This year’s competition, now in its eighth year, received more entries than ever before from steak producers and suppliers around the world.

Overall, Ireland took the most medals with a total of 54 gongs, followed by England with 36 prizes and Finland with 28 prizes.

This year’s competition received more entries than ever before from steak producers and suppliers around the world

The awards were blindly judged by a panel of more than 60 independent experts, including Richie Wilson, the TV chef and chef at Fire Steakhouse, and Ioannis Grammenos, chef and ‘meatologist’ at Heliot Steak House in London.

The awards were presented this year in conjunction with the official host partner, Bord Bia, an Irish government agency that promotes the country’s food; the equipment partner, Synergy Grill Technology; and the judges partner, Fire Steakhouse.

Commenting on the awards, Ed Bennington of World Steak Challenge said: ‘We are delighted to have a new winner for this year’s World Steak Challenge. It’s very exciting to have our first Japanese entry and with it the winner of World’s Best Steak. The sheer number of entries from all over the world really shows the quality of steak on an international scale.’

Overall, Ireland took the most medals with 54 gongs in total, followed by England with 36 awards

Awards were blindly judged by a panel of over 60 independent experts

Mark Zieg, Beef Sector Manager at Bord Bia, said: ‘We are proud to welcome all producers from around the world here in Ireland, where grass-fed and sustainable farming practices [are] core of our beef industry.

“We export 90 percent of our beef to more than 50 markets around the world, even as far as Japan and the US, so it’s very important to make our origin known and be recognized based on quality and taste. In an environment like the World Steak Challenge with top producers, chefs and judges, we believe this is the ideal opportunity to share our values ​​in producing top quality beef.”

Richie Wilson, Fire Steakhouse’s Culinary Director, added: ‘It was a privilege to host the World Steak Challenge in Ireland and to have Fire Steakhouse and Bar as the venue of choice for the 2022 judging process. It was an absolute honor. to have the world’s finest beef cooked and served by our outstanding team to a panel of industry experts – a huge congratulations to all the 2022 winners!’