Whether you’re hosting a small get-together for friends or a big family party (and please be safe when hosting large gatherings this year) you want people to remember your Thanksgiving meal. We advocate for sous vide turkey, but why not bring something totally new to the table?
Instead of the normal turkey-and-ham proteins at Thanksgiving this year, we have a different idea: Wagyu beef.
Like many, you might believe Wagyu beef is an item only the finest restaurants can — or should — bother with. That used to be true. Wagyu beef was prohibitively expensive when it initially reached popularity, but prices have come down significantly over time. It’s still a premium protein, just affordable now.
You can get Wagyu from a ton of sources online, but our top pick is Vermont Wagyu. We tested a few items in our review of the Breville PolyScience HydroPro Plus and were simply blown away by Vermont Wagyu. (Fun fact: I’m a former chef and have worked in several high-end kitchens. Vermont Wagyu is, hands down, the best domestic wagyu I’ve ever had.)
We really love that Vermont Wagyu focuses on restorative agricultural management, low-stress handling of its livestock, and data-focused breeding of its Japanese Black Cattle. Vermont Wagyu has pasture-raised, grass-fed cattle and the farm promises no hormones or steroids are used on its cattle and it limits the use of antibiotics.
All the farm’s data is verified by the America Wagyu Association (AWA). Bulls are 100% full-blood wagyu with DNA certified by the AWA, too.
We spoke with Vermont Wagyu about Thanksgiving, and the staff there tell us November 22 at 8am ET is the ordering cutoff to receive product ahead of Thanksgiving. Vermont Wagyu doesn’t carry primal cuts like a rib roast, but you can get ribeye steaks; there may not be a loin roast, but you can get tenderloin steaks. We really like Vermont Wagyu NY strip steak, which introduced incredible marbling to what is often a tough cut.
And that marbling is why Wagyu beef stands out. Marbling is the distribution of fat cells throughout a muscle, and the Wagyu breed has unique (read: better) marbling that gives the beef a much silkier texture.
Vermont Wagyu ships direct to your doorstep, and all meat ships frozen and is packaged carefully so it remains frozen through the shipping process. And don’t forget the best way to cook proteins from frozen is sous vide, so this may also be your excuse to buy our favorite sous vide machine, the Joule.
Head on over to Vermont Wagyu and slip a few steaks into your cart. Consider how awed your Thanksgiving crowd will be when you float a platter of sliced wagyu ribeye steaks onto the dinner table. Don’t be offended if they don’t thank you because they’re too busy devouring it all.
Best of all, you can get 10% off your first order by signing up for Vermont Wagyu’s newsletter. Simply enter your name and email in the popup when you visit the site. Just don’t wait too long — the last day to order and receive product in time for Thanksgiving is Thursday!
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