You cannot buy Japanese Kobe beef in this country. Not in stores, not by mail, and certainly not in restaurants. No matter how much you have spent, how fancy a steakhouse you went to, or which of the many celebrity chefs who regularly feature “Kobe beef” on their menus you believed, you were duped. I’m really sorry to have to be the one telling you this, but no matter how much you would like to believe you have tasted it, if it wasn’t in Asia you almost certainly have never had Japan’s famous Kobe beef.
You may have had an imitation from the Midwest, Great Plains, South America or Australia, where they produce a lot of what I call “Faux-be” beef. You may have even had a Kobe imposter from Japan before 2010. It is now illegal to import (or even hand carry for personal consumption) any Japanese beef. Before 2010 you could import only boneless fresh Japanese beef, but none was real Kobe. Under Japanese law, Kobe beef can only came from Hyogo prefecture (of which Kobe is the capital city), where no slaughterhouses were approved for export by the USDA. According to its own trade group, the Kobe Beef Marketing & Distribution Promotion Association in Japan, where Kobe Beef is a registered trademark, Macao is the only place it is exported to – and only since last year. If you had real Kobe beef in this country in recent years, someone probably smuggled it in their luggage. All the myths about cows getting massages and drinking beer while listening to classical music are just that, myths, but nonetheless real Kobe beef is produced under some of the world’s strictest legal food standards, whereas “domestic Kobe” beef production, along with that in Australia and South America, is as regulated as the Wild West. In Japan, to be Kobe requires a pure lineage of Tajima-gyu breed cattle (not any old Japanese breed crossbred with American cattle as is the norm here). The animal must also have been born in Hyogo prefecture and thus raised on the local grasses and water and terroir its entire life. It must be a bull or virgin cow, and it takes considerably longer to raise a Tajima-gyu for consumption than most other breeds, adding to the cost. It must be processed in a Hyogo slaughterhouse – none of which exports to the US – and then pass a strict government grading exam. There are only 3000 head of certified Kobe Beef cattle in the world, and none are outside Japan. The process is so strict that when the beef is sold, either in stores or restaurants, it must carry the 10-digit identification number so customers know what particular Tajima-gyu cow it came from.
More at the Forbes link.
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03:46 AM
PFF
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NEPTUNE Member
Posts: 10199 From: Ticlaw FL, and some other places. Registered: Aug 2001
In the USA, we have Wagyu beef, which is supposed to be the same as Kobe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu It's very good, and very expensive. But it isn't Kobe. I have only tasted it in ground form myself. It isvery good.
Edited to add: I've never personally seen "Kobe beef" on a menu in the US. But most of the diners and dives where I eat use gravy to cover up the mystery meat anyway.
[This message has been edited by NEPTUNE (edited 04-15-2012).]
Yes--Wagyu. Another fad breed trying to emulate the success of what most in the beef industry calls "black hide fever"", tho some refer to it as CAB--certified angus beef. Thankfully, that marketing scheme has begun to die down as the public became more informed and educated regarding beef. Meat from any breed, when fed correctly and select bred properly, will grade, taste, and appear at least equal to cab or Wagyu--and often is superior to both in blind taste tests. It's only when people are informed AHEAD of time via menu, waiter, or billboard regarding what they are going to taste and eat, that they feel that steak or burger is really special just because it carries the Wagyu or cab label.
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06:57 AM
Gokart Mozart Member
Posts: 12143 From: Metro Detroit Registered: Mar 2003
I thought Champagne was importable tho? And isn't scotch the same, has to be from a particular part of the world?
So where is Homeland Security and congress in all this? Shouldn't they be shutting them down for counterfeit goods? "protect the children" "save the krill". We know they have nothing better to do with their time.
[This message has been edited by User00013170 (edited 04-15-2012).]
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09:52 AM
cliffw Member
Posts: 37848 From: Bandera, Texas, USA Registered: Jun 2003
In the USA, we have Wagyu beef, which is supposed to be the same as Kobe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu It's very good, and very expensive. But it isn't Kobe. I have only tasted it in ground form myself. It isvery good.
Edited to add: I've never personally seen "Kobe beef" on a menu in the US. But most of the diners and dives where I eat use gravy to cover up the mystery meat anyway.
While nothing against Texas, id rather get locally raised beef. Support my local economy.
I fully agree with that as well, and not kust to be eating Texas beef. Local beef is more likely to be fresher, more prone to come in cuts and trims preferred in your local, and of course to fall under whatever regulations YOUR state's voters want and insist upon. (in addition to USDA)
The BEST steak, roast, and burger I ever ate came from my nearest neighbor's cow just a few years ago.. Cow, meaning a bovine that has had and raised at least 1 calf. This one was about 4 yrs old when she was injured by the bull--internally, so he had her sent to freezer camp. A rangy looking Charlais/Beefmaster cross--nothing purebred, pampered, or registered about her. Nothing special done in her feeding regimen-just grass and hay, a mineral lick block available, with maybe a few rangecubes/week. I can't describe the taste--it was PERFECT! The steak was a sirloin, and was beyond tender. Had he taken that cow to a livestock show, they'd have laughed him out of the show barn, but what's on the outside didn't matter.
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01:31 PM
johnt671 Member
Posts: 2271 From: sugarloaf pa usa Registered: Feb 2001
But have you ever had a piece of steak that was sooo awesome, you remember it for years afterwoods?
I have once, it was at a Ruth's Chris steak house. The only reason I got to go there was my father-in-law got my wife and I a $100 gift card. I still ended up having to pay an extra $60 or so for the two of us.
One of those like 3 miles from me. Always thought about trying it.
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Originally posted by iced_theater:
I have once, it was at a Ruth's Chris steak house. The only reason I got to go there was my father-in-law got my wife and I a $100 gift card. I still ended up having to pay an extra $60 or so for the two of us.
Ruths Cris was good when I ate at one in PCola Florida, but it was not as great as I had anticipated it being. I've had better steaks elsewhere for a lot less $$. Still, it wasn't bad--just not a earthshaking memory maker. That, I think is one of life's little let downs. You wait and wait for something you anticipate for a long time, and it doesn't match your anticipation--or more likely, our anticipated pre-vision of it was too "over the top" to begin with.
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