Wagyu Steak

[BWillie]

The best ****ing steak I've ever tasted. It is amazing...and unfortunately SUPER expensive. I thought it was just cow raised a certain way and massaged certain times a week. But apparently after some reading it is just a cow breed.

If it's just a cow breed, it's a little frustrating that it is 10x as expensive as regular beef. I suppose it's just a rare breed of cow at this point that is very sought after. Curious to how many of you have had it, and where? Especially in Kansas City. I've never seen it in supermarkets, and would like to buy it and just cook it my own.

[Donger]

As long as it's well done, I don't care.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by Donger

As long as it's well done, I don't care.

GTFO of here

['Hamas' Jenkins]

The vast, vast majority of what is labeled as Wagyu or Kobe beef actually isn't.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Stewie

There's a documentary called Steak (R)evolution (used to be on Netflix). It was made by a French chef (just a few subtitles) about why the French have never figured out how to raise and prepare beef. It's quite interesting and covers the beef business worldwide. There's another breed of cattle in Japan that is even more highly prized than Wagyu but really limited. The trick has always been to feed a high calorie diet and limit movement to these breeds. It's kind of like raising chickens in a cage, but for different reasons. The beer and massaging is nonsense. They do play classical music in the barns on some farms.

Peter Luger's was mentioned 2 or 3 times about serving the best steaks these cattle experts (non-US) had ever eaten. Luger's serves only Kansas beef finished with a high calorie feed, most of which is corn. They have a single supplier, so who knows who that might be?

That's not entirely accurate.
Wagyu is beef sired from the Japanese Kobe bloodlines and raised in a diet and regimen patterned after Kobe standards, but Japan maintains trademark control of the Kobe certification.

Saying Kobe is Wagyu, but better is like saying that Champagne is like Korbel, but better.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Donger

As long as it's well done, I don't care.

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

That's not entirely accurate.
Wagyu is beef sired from the Japanese Kobe bloodlines and raised in a diet and regimen patterned after Kobe standards, but Japan maintains trademark control of the Kobe certification.

Saying Kobe is Wagyu, but better is like saying that Champagne is like Korbel, but better.

There's no such thing as a Kobe bloodline. It's a region (Kobe) that raises cattle whose genetics are a lineage of Japanese black cattle. I said there's a better breed of cattle for marbling and flavor in Japan. It's well documented. Wagyu has been bastardize since the Japanese were hoodwinked into sending Wagyu bull semen to Europe as a "genetic" experiment. The Kobe cattle farmers were pissed off they were suckered into that transaction. It had nothing to do with genetics in the scientific realm, just a hitchhike on the Wagyu train. Some people are smart, some stupid.

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

That's like saying that sushi you purchased at Price Chopper isn't any different than sushi at Nobu.

FWIW, I had it for the first time back in 1995 and it's amazing.

I love Nobu!!!!!

[cooper barrett]

Wagyu beef is counterfeited as often as womens handbags, jewels, or Atlantic Salmon.

If you think your buying Wagyu beef at the grocery store...(cough) Go ahead, try the Atlantic salmon rolls from there too. You do know what Atlantic Salmon is?

Bueller is "dead on" Angus impregnated with black or red Wagyu semen is marketed by a trade group as "American Style Kobe" (all "real" Kobe beef comes from Japanese cattle from Kobe, Japan of a certain breed who were butchered and exported under the goverment's "kobe" licensed name) and it's rare as hell. Some put Wagyu, on Wagyu strains such as a Hereford cross and market calling them by the premium known names including Kobe or Wagyu or just selling them under the false pretence as Wagyu.

Just for the record, some of this I knew, some I verified and some I flat out Googled as I had seen the Greg NormanWagyu Marbling Chart but never the US version. (see below)







Wagyu has become a universal term for what is in Japan a highly protected quality standard. If you order a glass of Champagne, do you think it comes from "that" region of France? Is your coffee really from Columbia? Probably not. (Costa Rica) Just like olive oil, labels get switched or falsified daily on tons of shit. Purses, Shoes....including beef.
Savvy butcher shops call it by trade name who set the standards such as American Kobe, or American Wagyu, but distrubutors come up with names too that incorporate the Wagyu or Kobe names when they are just 4th cousins to a Wagyu cow. Then there are grading systems for each...Gold, Silver and Bronze. So how do you know what you're eating?

Then there are those who raise specific breeds of Wagyu from Japanse Wagyu cattle and resell it as Wagyu when it is just 1 of the four breeds, 2 that made it to America, accepted as Wagyu. To be fair these pure breeds should be required to be called "Domestic Wagyu Beef" but the term American Wagyu is really standard. Confused yet? Me too.

I have been sent beef (2 strips) from a ranch down near SAUTO east of I-49 and & west of MO-7. Reserve Cattle, I got a Brisket from them later, and it was an excellent piece of meat. They market American Wagyu as "100% Pure Blood" black Wagyu but they also sell semen, embryos, and cattle. I'd think that would mean anyone can impregnate any cow and suddenly it's offspring is Wagyu depending on your marketing....*** They do sell mail order.

My local butcher sells local raised beef under the name Kobe Wagyu. When asked, this afternoon, he said they raise nothing but red and black Japanese registered Wagyu cattle and raise them aiming for the qualities recognized by Kobe standards. Was it horse shit? Do they really massage them? Maybe, but they said that 90% of sales are high end restaurants. He explained that other than doing blood and sample testing (just joking) the USDA uses the Japanese 10 point grading system (3-12) and USDA "Prime+ is a 3+ and American Wagya crosses are 5-7 with domestic being 8-10 range.
He then showed me the below chart: He Googled it!

Japanese and domestic reach higher marbling scores but often loose grade score. Kinda like a "choice" with an "11" marbling rating. Wagya can rarely produce a A rating and a 11-12 marbling score unlike Kobe. Something in the fake beer? I'll let you guess where Kobe licensed beef marbling ranks. (anywhere from 6-12 just like Japanese Wagyu

To be Kobe it must:

Be a steer (castrated bull) or virgin cow,

Have only been fed grains and grasses from within the Prefecture.

Have been processed in approved slaughterhouses within the Prefecture.

Have a fat marbling ratio (called BMS) of level 6 or above.

Have a Meat Quality Score of A-4 or A-5 (the top grades).

Have a gross carcass weight of 470kg (1036.17) or less.)


Back to the butcher store: I bought a couple of "Prime+" ribeyes (starting to oxidize) that he offered me that were out of the case for employees or to be frozen and donated. That's why I go on Sat. afternoons. You know what tonights dinner is.


***Technically Wagya's like an affirmative action program, if it has Wagyu blood you can call it Wagyu. Trade groups like Angus and American Kobe have been working to set standards but you do know that that grading depends on who's doing it?

Some of this info was sourced and if I have some of it wrong please correct me as I am a city boy who's wife's father tried to put cowboy boots on.... He ranched about 400 acres.

He looked at doing Wagyu when it first became profitable in the states (early 90's). He wasn't a change kinda guy. 4 Straight ford F150's after only 1 Chevy and 4 Mercury Marquis... I did talk him into a four wheeler, shocked the shit out of me when I saw it in the equipment shed. There were no keys in it and he left the keys in everything.

[cooper barrett]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

That's not entirely accurate.
Wagyu is beef sired from the Japanese Kobe bloodlines and raised in a diet and regimen patterned after Kobe standards, but Japan maintains trademark control of the Kobe certification.

Saying Kobe is Wagyu, but better is like saying that Champagne is like Korbel, but better.

There are four Wagyu bloodlines that are domesticated. Japanese Black, Japanese Brown, Japanese Shorthorn, and Japanese Polled

The cow that Kobe is made from is Tajima-Gyu (Black cow) that is raised in Kobe to exacting standards and if when slaughtered, does not pass the certification or Kobe standards then it can still be graded as Wagyu.

So All Kobe is Wagyu, but not all Wagyu is Kobe

"all Champange is sparkling wine but not all sparling wine is champange"

[TimBone]

Both wagyu and Kobe taste the same once you douse 'em with some good ol' A1 steak sauce.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Donger

As long as it's well done, I don't care.

Ketchup?

[Reerun_KC]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

If you're looking to purchase so that you can prepare it at home, Snake River Farms is an outstanding source for all of your beef needs. Do a search for a coupon as well, as they're always on the internet.



http://www.snakeriverfarms.com

This beef was from snake river farms.

Legit.

[Ebolapox]

...... Greg Norman is a meat man?

[Fire Me Boy!]

There’s am American Kobe supplier near me. I’ve bought a few steaks. They’re excellent, but super pricey.

[Otter]

Very good steak although I don't think it's much better than a good tenderloin.