I was in Copenhagen, Denmark, one day and decided to find an old fashioned butcher shop. Like with many of the old crafts and trades, a master butcher is harder and harder to find. I asked Google Maps to find me a butcher. I found one not too far from where I was staying but far away enough from the touristy part of central Copenhagen.
The shop was called “Slagter Jens” (sort of like being called John Butcher) and in I went. As I stood admiring the orderly rows of cold cuts, meats, and open faced sandwiches, out came the butcher. He was wearing a bowler hat and white lab coat. The hat is a sign of his trade as a butcher. He had been a butcher for forty years.
Outside his shop, I had seen a sign mentioning Finland. I asked him about this. He told me that he sold steak from JN Meats, a Danish beef producer. One of the products are three time award winning steak, “Sashi” from John Sashi Nielsen— and the cattle are raised in Finland. Once they are butchered, the meat is dry aged long enough for the meat to become tender and flavorful.
I bought one slice (I can’t recall exactly but I think it was about 300DKK for 200 grams or $45 for an 7 ounce steak). I had no fridge in my hotel room so I hung it outside my window. A few days later, I had a friend cook it for us. It was utterly divine. Tender, juicy, and tasty like beef.
Apparently, Wagyu beef is not entered into the world steak competition because the fattiness obscures the beefy flavor.
I am not posting a photo of the steak cooked because no photo does it justice. Rest assured, we all wanted more of it.
