MaIn IngredIent beef

Wagyu? Is it really

It's lunchtime in rural Sussex and there's an air of expectation in the Michelin-starred kitchens of Ockenden Manor, and not just because the brigade are about to get slammed by a check for a table of 25 at any minute. A corner has been set aside for head chef Stephen Crane to cook up some Red Wagyu/Sussex cross, a locally reared version of the most expensive and sought after beef in the world, for the very frst time. As lights and cameras are set up to capture the moment and the fuel efcient Synergy Grill that's been wheeled in especially for the occasion comes up to it 400 o C heat, Joanne Knowles from Trenchmore Farm hovers in the background.

'I wasn't expecting all this,' she says, observing the hive of activity her product has inspired. Crane carefully slices an array of beef cuts and arranges them on a metal tray, some familiar like fllet, rump and

sirloin, some not so familiar like tri-tip (an extension of the point end of the rump) and spider steak. 'It's the 'last' muscle on the animal,' says Crane with a wry smile. A look of mild alarm crosses the face of Synergy Grill sales account manager Phil Wright who has realised that in a few minutes he's going to be sampling what is efectively a cow's sphincter muscle.

Earlier that morning, I met up with Knowles at Trenchmore, located just seven miles from Ockenden, for a tour of the farm. Started originally in 2010 as an apple orchard (Knowles, a former project manager, along with husband Andrew who used to design packaging for the food industry also produce Silly Moo cider), Trenchmore became a cattle farm when the felds adjoining the orchard became available in 2012.

Due to the wet spring weather, the handsome red coated cattle were yet to be put out to graze for fear of trampling the grass into the soft clay soil and were still housed in their architecturally striking Roundhouse home. The open sided, circular cowshed topped with an umbrella-like fabric roof stretched over a metalwork frame is designed with the animal's welfare in mind. 'It's much less stressful for them, they can see each other at all times and the design creates a chimney efect which draws of the steam created by the animals so they don't get damp, which they really don't like.'

Knowles has been selling pure Sussex beef direct to local chefs including Crane while the Wagyu herd is being built up (although Dave Mothersill at The Salt Room in Brighton has already put Red Wagyu/ Sussex cross on his menu). 'One of the challenges with wagyu outside of Japan is that the gene pool is very small as you can no longer take

wagyu embryos, semen or live animals out of Japan. You'd like to have some variance so that they're less prone to disease and are healthier, so cross breeding is a good thing and Wagyu is not dissimilar from Sussex which has great marbling and a really good favour.

'We inseminate our Sussex cows with Wagyu semen from Australia and America. Those we don't get into calf, because it's not an exact science, Tiger our Red Angus bull takes over and that is an exact science. He's a good boy,' says Knowles with a laugh. Knowles also plans to breed from the pure Wagyu bull that was grown from a embryo shipped frozen from America and implanted in a cow in the UK once he matures, and to harvest eggs from the herd's pure Wagyu cow that will be fertilised and implanted in other cows in order to grow the herd.

Knowles explains, is done because the animals spend their lives indoors and are prone to stiffness and lack of appetite (the alcohol helps stimulate their appetite; to achieve high Japanese style marbling they need to eat an incredible amount) and is nothing to do with indulging them like pets which is the common misconception. Instead, Knowles is experimenting with growing barley grass in a chitting shed on the farm in order to finish the cattle and produce that all important marbling in a more natural way. Back at Ockenden, Crane expertly grills half the meat on the Synergy Grill and pan fries the remaining half. 'Working with Trenchmore is great for me, I'm learning about all these new and different cuts,' says Crane who has been serving the farm's Sussex in items like the 'Trenchmore beef bites' of homemade bresola, diced tongue and oxtail croquet that accompany a rich white onion soup for several years.

We gather round and taste the meat, comparing the Synergy grilled pieces with pan fried. Both have superlative favour and the texture of butter and you could easily confuse the scary sounding spider steak with a piece of sirloin, but those of the grill with their razor sharp bar marks and unmistakable smoky charred favour win the day. 'I have to admit, it's a great bit of kit,' says Crane.

As lunch service heats up, it's time to get out of the Ockenden brigade's way but before we all go our separate ways, there's one more question I want to ask Knowles. It seems that farming Wagyu is far from being a straightforward business, and especially in the sustainable way Trenchmore is run (the farm was shortlisted for one of the Sustainable Restaurant Association's Food Made Good awards this year), so why bother? Knowles doesn't hesitate, and simply says, 'It's the most delicious beef. If you can, why wouldn't you do the thing that's going to be best?'.