Gallery

The frozen delivery package arrived: a plain cardboard box, with a cow on it. I was excited, but my son was confused. "Mom, did you order meat?" "Yes! I signed up to blog about Kobayashi City in Miyazaki Prefecture so they sent us some steaks." "Mom, I keep telling you never to give out your personal information to strangers on the Internet! What if it was a link to a malware bot?" "Why would a malware bot send us these amazing steaks?" He saw the twin slabs of marbled Kurazono beef inside the box, and admitted that I had a point. I already knew the beef was from the folks at City-Cost and Kobayashi City Promotion Company. At a time when the pandemic is preventing me from traveling as much as I would like, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to write a travel blog post that involved preparing quality food. Kobayashi City is in southern Kyushu, about 90 minutes from Miyazaki City, and less than an hour by highway bus from Kagoshima City. A tourist program offers visitors the unique experience of doing a homestay at an authentic farm. Tourists can also enjoy hiking in the Kirishima mountains and soaking in the natural hot spring waters of Kannogo Onsen, and then feasting on the local specialties like carp raised in the city's renowned crystal-clear water -- and of course there is the beef, for which the prefecture was awarded top honors in the 2017 Wagyu Olympics. According to recent media reports, visitors to Miyazaki Prefecture can also take advantage of a government promotional campaign through the end of September through which hotel coupons worth 5,000 yen are sold for only 2,500 yen. Coupons can be used at 260 participating establishments in the prefecture. Maybe something worth looking into for travelers planning a visit to the region in the near future. Getting back to the beef, I looked up the farm from which our steaks had come and discovered that on the way to my table, the black-haired wagyu cattle raised at Kurazono Farm ate a far healthier diet than my own family, consisting of imported organic hay. The cattle are raised naturally, and aren't given any antibiotics or nutritional supplements. While the farm is not yet fully free-range, it aspires to be so in the future, based on the notion that reducing the cattle's stress levels can help improve the quality of the beef. I usually put a bit of olive oil in the frying pan before cooking steaks, but these had so much fat already that instead I started them on a low heat, turning them constantly, until enough of the juices emerged and they didn't stick to the pan. I expected them to shrink when cooked, and was amazed when they did not. After the steaks were done, I did not want to waste any of the high-quality beef tallow drippings, so I cooked some brussels sprouts with a little bit of salt. I served it all with sliced tomatoes. I know that saying "it melted in my mouth" is a cliche, but this beef did exactly that. I wanted to savor every bite, but....well, my son got to them first, and he has asked me to order more of these steaks for his birthday next year. Even better, perhaps we can visit Kobayashi City together in person, and eat it there. 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.