Posted on 12/12/2004 6:45:34 PM PST by demsux
We're having four couples over for beef tenderloin over the holidays.
My question is: Is Kobe beef all that they claim it is? I don't mind paying more if it really is much better.
Help, please?
Woops: that should be "select", not "standard"
Kobe beef at Nick's No. 1 in Bangkok was one of the 3 best meals of my life. But, the company and the ambience was part of the enjoyment. Unless ypu're an extremely good cook, a prime porterhouse might be a better choice...
Costco sells the primo stuff. .....not in the same universe as Wal-Mart. Aged as well.
You, my friend, are speaking my language.
BTW, I can afford to have someone else cook it, but I do very well with prime and choice...and I LIKE QING.
As long as you are not some PETA type with an attitude, the beef producers are proud to show you how pampered these animals are. The "can't move" stuff is total poppycock-- moderate exercise is a must for developing muscle tone. While it is true that their living quarters and pastures are rather cramped compared to their American counterparts, they are also smaller and stouter than their American counterparts.
I've also toured Japanese dairy farms and the situation is similar-- smaller pastures (in some cases, individual paddocks), top quality feed (one load of grain rejected for impurities was actually sent to another country for human consumption) and individual records of health check-ups, milk production, etc.
"Especially if you practice the fine Japanese art of turning all of your personal luxuries into business expenses."
LOL! too true I'm sure
Angus tenderloin...be sure to get choice cut. Never get select cut. If you can get prime do it. Kobe beef is a marketing ploy.
LAst year about this time, we bought ourselves half a locally raised Angus cow. Pasture fed, no hormones or any of that sort of stuff. Locally slaughtered and packed by a Rose Valley outfit - Scheffelmeyer's, I think the name is. Worked out to $189 a pund cut, wrapped and hard frozen. Picked it all up right there at the slaughterhouse. 420 pounds of the best burgers, steaks and roasts we've had in quite a while. Puts store-bought goods to shame in terms of flavor and texture.
We're going to do a prime rib for Christmans dinner this year - thing's big enough to feed eight, so we're going to have some friends over. Yum yum.
If you're curious, you probably won't be satisfied until you try it. So...go ahead and try it.
Maybe sometime I will do likewise. A friend has allot of acreage and has about a dozen black angus on it (to get the tax break). He has offered to sell the calves for little (around 50 bucks) and the slaughterhouse will do it from start to finish for 100. Just need a huge freezer!
"My question is: Is Kobe beef all that they claim it is? I don't mind paying more if it really is much better.
The answer to that question is absolutely not. Kobe beef comes from a breed of cattle called Wagyu. In order to bear the designation "Kobe Beef", the Wagyu beef must come from Kobe, Japan, and meet the "production standards" imposed in that political area.
The problem with producing beef in Japan is the lack of land. The Japanese cannot produce enough beef for their own consumption thus there are many ranchers in the US (most of these are in California)that raise Wagyu beef exclusively for Japan and processed in Kobe.
Kobe beef? Overrated. At ten times the price because the cow was raised on expensive land eating expensive Japanese grain and beer, the quality is not noticeably better than ordinary Wagyu beef that grades out to sub-prime.
Buying Kobe is akin to paying 20,000 dollars for a Yugo(back when they were making them). When you buy Kobe Beef, you have one of two options. You can buy it shipped back over from Japan at some insane cost per pound that includes two transoceanic fares, or you can try to track down a Wagyu rancher who will sell a single carcass. Fat chance as all his production goes to Japan.
How does Kobe beef taste? If it's cooked wrong, lousy. Bland. Not too flavorful and kind of boring. If you try to treat a Wagyu (Kobe) steak as if you were cooking traditional beef, you will be sorry you did, and you will look down at your plate and just say, "Damn, I spent that much money on this?"
So the short answer is no, Kobe beef is not all they say it is and absolutely no better than good ol' domestic beef. In fact if you don't cook it properly, it's worse!!
Ooops - that's $1.89 a pound, not $189. Just get yourself an inexpensive chest freezer - 25 cubic feet would do nicely - and you'll be good to go.
Burgers never tasted so good. All you'd need to top one off would be a big slab of sweet Maui onion.
I don't know what you're talking about paying, but you can probably get some top U.S. beef for a considerably lower price, with little dropoff in taste (since I've never had Kobe myself). The fact is, you're probably going to have an extremely hard time finding USDA Prime Grade beef in your grocery store, since most of that goes to restaurants. However, if you can find USDA Prime Tenderloin, you're almost surely going to have a fabulous eating experience. Of course, you're probably goint to pay at least $15.00/pound for it, most likely more.
BTW Choice grade is next on the quality list. It's generally well-marbled and will deliver a good eating experience. Next comes select, which is good beef, but it generally comes from feedlot animals that were not in the lot long enough to fully fatten. This may include English breeds that were shipped early, or other exotic breeds that simply grow so large before they'll fatten out that they are moved beforehand (think Chianina, possibly Brahma). Also, dairy steers and heifers (particulary Holsteins) get pretty large, and will probably grade select.
"select" is actually a step below "choice", which is in between - select and prime. Only about 2% of all USDA graded meat attains the prime designation, and a majority of that is destined for restaurants
another factor to consider is yeild grade, which is based on physical characteristics of the carcass & body fat
Dry aged prime (black angus) is probably the best bet
Personally, stay away from "select", "utility", "cutter", and "canner" grades
In order - best to poorest
Prime, choice, select, utility, cutter, canner
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