Sashi
Japanese term for the visible fat striations within meat — essentially the Japanese word for marbling, with connotations of quality and visual beauty.
Sashi (サシ) is the Japanese culinary term for the visible fat marbling within meat. While "marbling" is the English equivalent, sashi carries additional connotations in Japanese food culture — it implies beauty, quality, and the visual art of well-marbled beef.
When a Japanese butcher or chef evaluates a piece of Wagyu, they'll talk about the sashi in terms of: - Density: How much sashi is present (relates directly to BMS score) - Fineness: Whether the sashi is fine threads or coarse deposits - Distribution: Whether the sashi is even throughout or concentrated in areas - Pattern: The overall visual impression — the best sashi creates almost abstract art in the cross-section
Sashi is evaluated both quantitatively (through BMS scoring) and qualitatively (through the experienced eyes of graders, butchers, and chefs). Two cuts with identical BMS scores can have meaningfully different sashi quality — one fine and weblike, the other coarse and clumpy. The former will almost always eat better.
Understanding sashi helps you evaluate Wagyu visually when buying. Look for: - Fine, evenly distributed white flecks throughout the red meat - A web-like pattern where fat threads connect to each other - No large, solid areas of either pure fat or pure lean
The term is increasingly used in English-language Wagyu marketing, and knowing what it means helps you separate genuinely knowledgeable sellers from those recycling buzzwords.