Do you raise cows?
I raise wagyu cows.
What does wagyu mean?
“Japanese cow.” Locally bred and born, raised and slaughtered in Japan: the best cow in the world!
What is it the best at?
It gives the best meat in the world.
What's so special about that meat?
Marbled meat with highly infiltrated fat, heart-healthy, succulent. And with a very low fusion temperature.
What temperature are we talking about?
The temperature of the tongue. There the Matsusaka meat sheet is melted.
¿Matsusaka?
It is the city where my farm is located: that is why the trademark of my beef is Matsusaka Beef, the best beef in Japan.
Here we know Kobe beef.
Of the more than two hundred brands of wagyu, Kobe Beef – meat from cows raised in the city of Kobe – is the most popular outside of Japan.
But in Japan, on the other hand...
The champion is Matsusaka Beef, mine, followed by Kobe Beef and Omi Beef.
At what temperature do you melt your meat?
Normal meat melts at 40ºC or 30ºC; Wagyu, at 25ºC... I have managed to melt my Matsusaka meat at... 12ºC!
This quality, what is it due to?
I go around Mie Prefecture and look for suckling calves between seven and ten months old, and buy them to raise on my farm.
Under what criteria do you buy a calf?
I analyze the calf's face, its forehead, its eyes, horns, nose, back, hindquarters... And I use my intuition.
He's looking at me.
I can't help but look at people like calves.
And how do you raise them?
With my method, on my Ito Ranch farm, learned from my elders: I grew up seeing my father's back, as my son saw mine.
Do you massage your cows?
My grandfather loved his ten cows, he petted them. Hence the legend of the massage.
Do your cows drink beer?
My grandfather diluted vitamins and supplements in a bottle of beer, and placed it on the cow's mouth.
And the cow, delighted!
Maybe I recover this practice, and that good music also sounds.
What other care do you provide for your cows on your farm?
Individual housing, virgins (they will not give birth), rice straw forage harvested with organic fertilizer from the cow itself, fermented for a year... For 35 months, when 25 months is common, and thus the fat becomes unsaturated, the most healthy, in very thin and infiltrated vestas.
Since when does Japan produce wagyu beef?
We Japanese traditionally ate little meat, the cow was only a draft animal for farming. As Japan became westernized, my grandfather's generation began raising cows for meat.
We are talking about the days of World War II.
My grandfather started raising cows 70 years ago, and we Japanese are diligent, self-demanding and seek excellence.
Have you found it?
I want to produce the ultimate meat. It is my challenge to never let up on my path. I'm always looking for something better, better...
How many cows has he already raised?
Thousands, thousands. I slaughter about 350 of my cows each year. I don't want more, I don't want quantity, but maximum quality.
How much meat comes from one of your cows?
About 400 kilos.
Which cut is the best?
All. A very fine cut of loin or sirloin is unforgettable. He rolls his eyes at you. And it revitalizes you. If you eat the best, you are healthy.
And what do we drink while?
Sake de Matsusaka.
Remind me of one of those cows: one.
The queen of Matsusaka: I reserved it for competition, but I have sacrificed it to now bring its meat to Europe and for Ferran Adrià to try it.
Where can I eat your meat?
In restaurants in Tokyo. I serve the imperial house. But now I'm leaving Japan for the first time! This 2023 I am selling three cows from Ito Ranch, my farm, to Europe.
Whom?
To the Akaneya group, my strategic partner in Europe: you will serve my meat at your Marie Akaneya restaurant in Paris. Its owner, the Catalan Ignasi Elías, came to meet me and my cows at Ito Ranch.
And in Spain, what?
In Madrid, at the Pilar Akaneya restaurant, they will also serve Matsusaka Beef, although not yet at their Barcelona restaurant, Carlota Akaneya.
