Two words: Beef Sushi
This was bought at a stand in Takayama, which takes a lot of pride in the local beef (which was, indeed, excellent). I'm not sure it's completely raw-- another place had a poster showing similar sushi pieces being roasted with a blowtorch, but alas, they were closed for renovations. I couldn't see exactly how this was prepared, but the color here mostly comes from a thick soy-sauce glaze put on the meat before it was served.
Even if it wasn't actually raw, it was certainly extremely rare. And goooooood....
Comments
I've had horsemeat sushi in Kumomoto a few years back and it was absolutely delicious. Well, at least until the point when someone explained that I was eating raw horse.
Posted by: MartinC | September 12, 2007 11:34 AM
Steak Tartar is of course made using raw beef.
Posted by: Matt Penfold | September 12, 2007 11:43 AM
Not something you want to eat on a regular basis unless you know where your beef is coming from (and that it isn't contaminated with the wide variety of microbes contributing to food poisoning that are so often found on meat in the U.S.) Personally, the idea of eating raw beef makes my stomach start to clench already.
Posted by: Natalie | September 12, 2007 12:21 PM
Ishigaki is also famous for their beef... I never thought a raw slab of beef could be sooooo tasty.
Posted by: mollishka | September 12, 2007 12:25 PM
Carpaccio!
*drool*
Posted by: Opiwan | September 12, 2007 12:59 PM
Raw beef is the best thing ever. Well, as long as it's clean, obviously. Good for your digestion, too!
Posted by: Andrew | September 12, 2007 1:10 PM
Carpaccio!
*drool*
Seconded! OMG, teh yum.
Posted by: G. Williams | September 12, 2007 5:07 PM
So you weren't joking about the meat produt pictures?
Posted by: Dennis | September 12, 2007 5:43 PM
Horse sashimi is great - but watch out; some sushi places will serve you a combo with one piece with a slice of tender red meat and one with a slice of the belly fat. The red meat tastes great while the fat, well, doesn't. At all. One of the very few things I really prefer not to eat at a sushi place.
If you think raw beef or horse makes you nervous, try the raw chicken liver with shalottes and a sweet dipping sauce - you really have to trust the restaurant has a high-quality supplier...
Posted by: Janne | September 12, 2007 9:19 PM
I had raw horse meat on several occasions when I was there in 1998-- it was the weirdest thing on the menhu at my regular Friday night bar, and people would send me plates of horse meat just to see if I'd eat it. It was fine-- the texture is about the same as maguro (tuna) sashimi, and if you dip it in soy sauce and wasabi, it tastes like soy sauce and wasabi.
Posted by: Chad Orzel | September 12, 2007 9:25 PM
Go to one of many bowling banquets or golf league parties in the upper midwest and you will find raw beef and onions. Some raw beef on rye with raw onion, salt and pepper. After having grown up with that, along with tongue sausage and sulz, and all these "foreign things" look pretty good. Looking at the meat though Chad, it looks like it was either marinated for a long time or slightly heated. Did it have some jellylike consistancy?
Posted by: Markk | September 13, 2007 5:53 PM