Australia has claimed the title of the World’s Best Steak at the 2023 World Steak Challenge.
Beef producer Jack’s Creek took home the accolade at a special dinner in London last week at steakhouse Smith & Wollensky.
Its winning grain-fed wagyu black angus cross sirloin was also named the World’s Best Sirloin and World’s Best Grain Fed Steak, as well as Oceanian’s Best Steak.
Jack’s Creek cattle are bred and raised on the natural pastures that surround Willow Tree in central New South Wales. They are then finished on a blend of grains, hay and silage.
Now in its ninth year, World Steak Challenge is run by The Grocer’s publisher William Reed and partnered by Irish food board Bord Bia, with help from Synergy Grill – which supplied the grills on which the steaks were cooked.
The London awards dinner followed a two-day judging process held in September at Vlees & Co steakhouse in Amsterdam.
Other standout award winners included Itoham Yonekyu Holdings, which won the World’s Best Wagyu and also Asia’s Best Steak awards for its A5 Wagyu sirloin from the Japanese Black (Kuroge Washu) breed of cattle.
Meanwhile, the World’s Best Rib-Eye was awarded to New Zealand’s Alliance Group for its 55-day aged ribeye, with the company also taking the title of World’s Best Grass-fed Steak.
The World’s Best Fillet Steak and Europe’s Best Steak was a 28-day aged Norland Heifer fillet from a German Rotbunte and Charolais/Limousin breed from Danish Crown.
South America’s Best Steak was a rib-eye from Azul Natural Beef with Creekstone Farms’ Ribeye wet-aged rib-eye steak from a Black Angus breed being named North America’s Best Steak.
A total of 346 medals were awarded to steaks at this year’s awards, including a record 134 gold medals, with 120 steaks given silver medals and 92 steaks bronze medals.
Australia took home the most gold medals, with 18 steaks from the country awarded the accolade. Ireland had the greatest medal haul overall, with 67 steaks given a gold, silver or bronze award.
“This year’s competition saw the highest standard of entries yet, with a record number of gold entries, but one particular steak stood out from the pack,” said Restaurant editor and World Steak Challenge judge Stefan Chomka.
“The global nature of this competition and the high quality of entrants demonstrates a true desire across the world to produce some top-quality cuts of steak that are testament to the hard work that goes into beef production.”
A full list of World Steak Challenge winners can be found here.
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