My Beef with Steaks

[Marat]

I am happy & proud to be "of a certain age" and I've definitely been called a couger by more than one fellow, and I don't wear perfume. None. Ever. And I don't find that statement to be true of the majority of those women.

That's why I said "some" rather than a "majority."

[Bigich13]

Don't know for sure, but I feel your pain. Grandma, (1912-2004), used to always tell me that all our(U.S.A.) good Top choice, Grade A Prime, or whatever you want to call it beef was secretly being flown to Japan on private planes because they will pay $70.00 lb. or more. Claimed small airfields in southwest Montana were the hubs. Sounds like a classic conspiracy theorist,huh.

[Atokad]

Don't know for sure, but I feel your pain. Grandma, (1912-2004), used to always tell me that all our(U.S.A.) good Top choice, Grade A Prime, or whatever you want to call it beef was secretly being flown to Japan on private planes because they will pay $70.00 lb. or more. Claimed small airfields in southwest Montana were the hubs. Sounds like a classic conspiracy theorist,huh.

Grandma had her wires crossed. Japan and the US were not even trade partners until the 50's. The Japanese will pay big money for Kobe beef, but, until just a few years ago, no-one in the US was raising Kobe beef. Infact Kobe Beef must be raised in Japan, Kobe like beef rasied in the US must be labeled as Waygu beef.

Almost all of the prime and the top choice in the US goes to the white tablecloth steakhouses in the US, Morton's, Gibson's, Tavern on the Green, Smith & Wollenskys, Ruth Chris etc.

[MaryS]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10642546/

American Kobe-style beef replaces the real thing
Authentic Japanese product returns to U.S. shores, but will consumers care?
RINCON
Matt Slocum / AP file

MABANK, Texas - For the first time in four years, a gourmet extravagance — authentic Japanese Kobe beef — is allowed back into the United States.

The question is whether anyone will care. An American "Kobe-style" brand has taken its place on restaurant menus.

"We cannot meet demand," said Todd Hatoff, president of Allen Brothers, which sells high-end beef to fine restaurants. "I don't see it going away, ever. It's not a fad."
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Kobe beef is the essence of fine dining: The meat bursts with flavor, and the fat melts like butter and coats your mouth with velvety richness. The best American Kobe-style steak will cost $80, $90, even $100 at a high-end steakhouse. A Kobe-style hamburger can run $40.

It tastes good because of the fat. The meat is streaked so thickly with fat, the Japanese call it "white steak." When it's cooked, the fat melts into the meat, infusing it with flavor.

"It's very rich, very full-flavored," said Tom Schneller, assistant professor at the Culinary Institute of America. "This is the cream of the crop."

Legend has it that Japanese Kobe cattle are fed beer, massaged with sake, even soothed with soft music. Experts say beer has been used to stimulate their appetites and that sake makes for a glossy coat, on which they are graded.

But that is not how it's done in America, where ranchers believe good genetics and careful feeding are the main ingredients for quality Kobe-style beef.

"It's a great story, and we don't go out of our way to dispel the myth, but it's really not necessary," said Jay Theiler, president of Idaho-based Snake River Farms. "The two things that make Kobe-style beef are genetics and a long feeding program."

It starts with the cows. True Kobe beef comes from the region surrounding the city of Kobe. For centuries, the cattle was used not for meat, but to provide the muscle for rice cultivation. Consumption didn't really take off until after World War II.

The American version of Kobe beef comes from the same breed of cattle raised in Japan. Called Wagyu, a Japanese name that means "Japanese cattle," they began arriving in the United States in the 1990s, often aboard airplanes.

They are fattened for much longer than the average American breed — they live about 26 to 32 months, compared to 18 months for U.S. beef cattle. U.S. ranchers often crossbreed them with Angus cattle.

The beef they produce is considered better than prime — the highest grade given by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Prime is for meat that is abundantly marbled with fat. Restaurants and hotels get most of the country's prime beef; only a small amount is sold in supermarkets.

Texas cattleman Gary Yamamoto says at least 97 percent of his Kobe-style Wagyu beef is prime. Nationwide, only about 2 percent of beef earns a prime rating....

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