What Breed Does Kobe Beef Come From?
Cows that drink beer, are massaged with rice wine and listen to classical music?
For meat lovers, Kobe beef is considered the epitome of fine dining.
Merely what is Kobe beef, where does Kobe beef come from and why is information technology and so expensive?
Photo used with permission courtesy of @somewhere.in.jp
So, what is Kobe beefiness exactly?
Kobe beef, sometimes misspelled every bit Colby beef, comes from the Tajima-gyu brood of cattle plant in Nihon's Hyōgo Prefecture, of which Kobe is the capital and the meat'southward namesake.
Introduced as work animals in the rice tillage industry during the 2nd Century, Tajima-gyu became isolated from other breeds in the pocket-sized pockets of arable country within Japan's mountainous landscape.
Herd isolation and distinctive feeding techniques are said to have led to unique differences in taste and texture.
Kobe beef is renowned for its superior flavor, tenderness and high amount of intramuscular fat, giving the meat a marbled appearance. Information technology is ofttimes cited every bit beingness healthier than commercial beefiness considering of its high concentration of monounsaturated fats and omega-3s.
Its prized value must besides be credited to the mysterious rearing techniques said to aid the meat's delectable flavor and texture.
There are three major stories that crop upwardly time and fourth dimension again and take accomplished somewhat of urban legend condition.
- The get-go is that the cows are given beer to induce appetite.
- The second is that they are massaged daily, sometimes with sake (Japanese rice wine), as a proxy for exercise in the tight living quarters and to further accentuate the marbling that Kobe beefiness is and then well known for.
- And the third is that classical music is played to them as a relaxation technique and at feeding fourth dimension, so they associate the music with eating and hence the music improves their appetite.
While there is no hard prove to suggest that whatever of these techniques improve season or texture, they certainly give the imagery of the cows living as kings, adding to the decadence of a Kobe beef repast.
Wagyu vs Kobe
So, what is wagyu beef and what is the departure between wagyu and Kobe beef?
Wagyu but means Japanese cow or cattle. It is a holistic term that is used to refer to whatever meat from Japanese cattle and, despite mutual misconception, wagyu is non a breed itself, nor does the term have any relation to quality. So when we talk about 'wagyu meat' or 'wagyu steak,' it only means information technology came from a Japanese cow.
Wagyu cattle are classified into four breeds – Japanese Black, Japanese Brown, Japanese Poll, and Japanese Shorthorn.
Tajima-gyu cows, from which Kobe beef comes from, belong specifically to the Japanese Black breed.
Just meat of Tajima-gyu cows that fulfill strict lineage and quality criteria can be termed 'Kobe beef.'
This means that all Kobe beef is wagyu beef, just just a very modest proportion of wagyu beef is Kobe beefiness.
In fact, just around 3,000 heads of Tajima-gyu cattle are certified every bit Kobe beef each year. Kobe beef contributes to but 0.06% of beef consumption in Nippon, and merely a very small fraction of that is exported.
You can already begin to empathise how rare real Kobe beef actually is.
Photo used with permission courtesy of @somewhere.in.jp
Wagyu beef grades and Kobe beef grades
Equally Kobe beefiness is a blazon of wagyu beef, Kobe beef is graded using the wagyu grade arrangement. This system uses a combination of messages and numbers and is used to rate the quality of Japanese beef.
Wagyu is given a letter grade (A through C) for yield and a number form (one through five) for quality.
Yield grade
Yield form determines the 'cutability' of the meat, meaning the proportion of meat that can exist obtained from a certain part of the moo-cow's carcass.
Grade A : Above standard
Grade B : Standard
Grade C : Beneath standard
Quality form
Wagyu beef quality is determined past evaluating four dissimilar categories: the thin strips or flecks of fatty known as marbling; the colour and brightness of the beef; firmness and texture; and the color, luster and quality of the fat.
The beef is assigned a number course from 1-5 for each of the categories.
v: Excellent
4: Good
3: Average
2: Below average
1: Poor
Inside the marbling category, in that location is additional grading based on the Beef Marble Score (BMS). The BMS allows the distinct marbling of the beef to be graded to an even effectively degree of accuracy, and is given a number class of 1-12.
This shows merely how important marbling, known as 'sashi' in Japanese, is to the quality of wagyu and the overall melt-in-your mouth experience of high quality Japanese beef.
Grade BMS No.
5: Excellent eight – 12
iv: Adept 5 – 7
three: Boilerplate 3 – 4
2: Below average 2
1: Poor 1
The best score that tin can be obtained is A5, and within that A5-12, the latter being extremely rare.
According to writer of 'Existent Food, Faux Nutrient' and food announcer Larry Olmstead, "USDA Prime, our highest marbling class, equates to about four (on the BMS scale). About domestic Wagyu or hybrids would score 6-9, while Kobe ordinarily ranks 10 or college."
Quality scores are taken extremely seriously and are done past no less than three independent highly-trained assessors, whose scores are combined to establish a last score.
Japanese beef must grade at the same level across all quality criteria to exist given that status. For example, beef that is assessed equally A for yield and five beyond three of the four quality measurements, and four for ane, tin only exist given a score of A4.
For wagyu beefiness to be classified every bit Kobe beef, it must have a yield and quality score of A4 or A5. But that's non all.
Photo used with permission courtesy of @somewhere.in.jp
What are the requirements for real Kobe beefiness?
To be classified as authentic Kobe beef, there are diverse boxes that must exist checked.
Kobe beefiness cows
Remember that Kobe beef must come from a Tajima-gyu cow, belonging to the Japanese Black breed. Not only that, but it must be of pure-brood Tajima-gyu lineage, be a steer (castrated balderdash) or virgin cow, and have been built-in and raised in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.
During its life, information technology must have been fed just grains and grasses from within the Prefecture, and upon its death, be candy in approved slaughterhouses in Hyōgo, and have a gross carcass weight of 470kg or less.
Kobe beef quality
Call back the yield and quality scores for wagyu we talked near to a higher place? Kobe beef must achieve the highest grades of A4 or A5. In improver, the Beef Marbling Score (BMS), must exist 6 or above.
Grade BMS No.
5: Splendid 8 – 12
iv: Practiced 5 – 7
This ways that A4 wagyu with a BMS of 5 does not see the criteria to be called Kobe beefiness.
Kobe beef actuality
Kobe beefiness must exist assigned a ten-digit ID number, and so that its authenticity tin exist traced back to the individual moo-cow it came from.
Only when all of these requirements are satisfied, can a piece of wagyu be chosen Kobe beefiness or Kobe steak. If you've always asked yourself, why is Kobe beefiness then expensive? Then this is it.
Photo used with permission courtesy of @somewhere.in.jp
Kobe beefiness toll and wagyu beef cost
Kobe beef is rare and expensive, fifty-fifty in Japan.
Kobe beef cost per pound in Japan (about 450 grams) is about $300, but you lot can pay around $500 for the best cuts of meat at finer establishments.
Given its scarcity and toll tag, almost Japanese accept never tasted it, and those who have generally reserve it for a very special occasion.
In the US, you can look to pay $50 per ounce (less than 30 grams). While wagyu can exist half that.
Heir-apparent beware – the big Kobe beef and wagyu scam
With its reputation for excellence and consumers ready to open their wallets for a taste of it, information technology's unsurprising that restaurants the earth over have tried to cash in on the Kobe beefiness name.
While there are strict laws in place on the usage of the term 'Kobe beef' in Nihon, such standards are largely unrecognized abroad, meaning that restaurateurs exterior Nihon are not bound by the same stringent guidelines, leaving them to get creative with their menu descriptions.
You've no incertitude encountered bill of fare items such every bit American Kobe beef, Kobe burgers and Kobe beefiness sliders.
The reality is almost all beef marketed as Kobe beef outside of Japan is non really real Kobe beef.
American Kobe beefiness
American Kobe beefiness is an oxymoron.
Kobe beef must come from Tajima-gyu cattle that were born, raised and slaughtered in Hyogo Prefecture and take only been fed from grains and grasses from within the Prefecture, and hence whatever beef produced in the United states of america, whether from Tajima-gyu cattle or not, cannot be Kobe. Plain and uncomplicated.
The usage of terms such as 'American style Kobe beef' or 'American Kobe mode beef' seems to be a clever semantic variance being employed by a number of restaurants who want to leverage Kobe beefiness's reputation, while trying to mitigate any potential consumer-related backfire.
That said, there have already been several class action suits filed confronting restaurants in America who were allegedly selling fraudulent Kobe beef, and afflicted consumers are demanding their money back.
According to Attorney Kevin Shenkman, who served as class counsel for suits against a number of these restaurants and dining groups, explains:
"These businesses are passing off their beef equally existence Kobe beef when it is anything but Kobe beef and they're charging premium prices to consumers who are paying those prices because they think that it is in fact Kobe beef and it's not."
Yet despite growing media attention, it seems to take fabricated little divergence to consumer sensation or spending in the Us, where menu items like Kobe sliders have already taken a foothold in the new age of foodie-ism.
The term Kobe, and even wagyu, is used and then liberally on menus in America that customers take almost come to expect these 'premium' options from merely about any neighborhood chophouse, without considering glaring facts.
Photo used with permission courtesy of @somewhere.in.jp
Wagyu beef and Kobe beef in the United states of america
From 2010 to August 2012, the import of any Japanese wagyu beef from Nihon, Kobe or otherwise, to the The states was banned due to concerns over human foot and oral cavity illness believed to have originated from livestock in Nihon.
Even prior to that, just boneless, fresh Japanese beefiness could exist imported and none of information technology was Kobe, as slaughterhouses in Hyōgo Prefecture (from which just authentic Kobe beef tin can come from) were not canonical for export by the USDA.
Therefore any restaurant claiming to be serving Kobe beef in any class in the United States before August 2012 was being a bit artistic with their menus.
While the USDA's ban on Japanese beef importation was lifted on 27 August 2012, only very small quantities of Kobe beef are distributed to select buyers. Most Kobe beef remains in Japan for domestic consumption.
Even the term 'wagyu' is very loosely applied in the Us. While pure-bred Japanese cattle do be in the United states, meat demand only exist 46.9% Japanese to be labelled wagyu.
Ofttimes wagyu in the United States is cross-bred with Angus cattle and may exist more Angus beef than wagyu. However, even this very broad definition of wagyu simply applies to farmers and abattoirs; it does not extend to restaurants.
Then essentially restaurants can sell any beef as wagyu or Kobe beef, and many do.
Where to get existent Kobe beefiness
Fortunately, there is a lot y'all can do to protect yourself as a consumer and to avert being duped into paying for something that is not the real deal.
Check the price tag and skip the Kobe beef burgers
As journalist Larry Olmstead who has washed significant research into Kobe beefiness fraud says, "High prices don't guarantee that y'all are getting Kobe beef merely low prices virtually guarantee that you're not."
Price is a expert first indicator. Every bit much equally nosotros'd all like to recollect nosotros tin get a premium Kobe steak or burger for an extra $10 at the local gastro pub, unless you're paying a couple of hundred bucks for it, it's non Kobe beefiness.
And no 1 in their right mind is going to grind up tiptop-quality wagyu, much less prized Kobe beef, into a hamburger patty in the offset place. There is substantially no such thing equally ground Kobe beef.
The late nifty Anthony Bourdain described Kobe sliders every bit the worst dish in America. "What makes Kobe good is texture. You lot lose all of that immediately (in a Kobe slider).
"In that location'southward no style that yous could appreciate the things that make Kobe interesting and expert and expensive in a little burger or a meatball drowned in sauce. I mean it'south silly."
Just even when the dish appears to be prepared in a logical style and the price seems right, this doesn't guarantee that you're existence served what yous ordered. For that we need to dig a footling deeper.
Ask your server
Any restaurant serving real Kobe beef should be able to tell you exactly where it came from, its precise grade, their distributor, and be able to produce the 10-digit hallmark number.
Kobe beef is not easy to procure. If they don't know or hesitate, this is a sure sign that it is non authentic Kobe beefiness.
Bank check if the restaurant, retailer or wholesaler has actually imported Kobe beef with this like shooting fish in a barrel online search play a trick on
Kobe beef is highly coveted and regulated in Japan; they don't simply ship it anywhere without knowing exactly who it is going to and where it volition stop upwardly. Fortunately for consumers, this data is available freely online.
In the United States, there are currently only twoscore restaurants that accept admission to genuine Kobe beefiness.
You lot tin can find a list of overseas accredited restaurants and distributors here.
You can also search by the 10-digit authentication number to check that it is a legitimate number.
In addition, yous can check when the beef was exported and the company it was imported by here.
If the data y'all are given by an institution cannot be confirmed here, something is amiss.
The about expensive beefiness in the world
Given its toll and reputation, yous might call up that Kobe beefiness is the almost expensive beef in the earth. But, in fact, it's not fifty-fifty the about expensive or about prized wagyu.
That accolade goes to Matsusaka beefiness, which domestically in Nihon is generally considered to exist the best Japanese beef due to its higher on average fat content, a key indicator of quality wagyu. While Kobe beef must take a BMS of 6+, Matsusaka must be 10-12.
The most expensive beefiness in the earth though is reportedly from a farm in Northeastern France where a butcher who runs his ain abattoir creates anile steaks from his Blonde Aquitaine stock through a process of hibernation. Through the process, in which cold air is blown at 75 km per hr onto the meat in a -45 caste Fahrenheit environs, the beef may be kept for an indeterminate amount of time without loss of quality.
A 2000 vintage cote de boeuf (rib steak) costs around $3,200.
Conclusion
All this information may sound confusing, merely at the end of the day, information technology'south quite simple. Do your inquiry and avoid inexpensive (and expensive) imitations.
Become directly to the source and select an accredited Kobe beefiness restaurant, retailer or wholesaler in your country from the list or save your pennies for a trip to Nihon for the guaranteed real bargain.
And the beer, massages and music, I hear you ask? While I hate to put a dampener on a good story, it basically has to be put down to myth.
It'southward certainly plausible that some farmers take used such techniques (and perhaps that is where such legends derived), simply information technology's definitely not an industry-broad standard.
In the words of Yoshinori Nakanishi, a Kobe cattle farmer who's been in the business for nearly forty years, "Neither I nor any beef farmer I know would ever dream of giving cows beer."
Approximate they'll just take to let the taste speak for itself. Luckily for them, 1 bite of the famed "melt-in-your-mouth" fare usually requires little convincing.
Have you tried Kobe beef? Would you like to? Allow us know in the comments!
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Source: https://notesofnomads.com/kobe-beef/
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