If you've hade Kobe beef in a NYC steakhouse ... you really haven't

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Q: How can you tell when a timeshare resort really isn't the most demanded resort power in RCI? ?

A: When the salesman says it is.

Q: How can you tell the when the Kobe beef in the restaurant really isn't"

A: When the menu says it is.

Food's Biggest Scam: The Great Kobe Beef Lie

 

[ScoopKona]

Food's Biggest Scam: The Great Kobe Beef Lie

Yep. A big, big, big scam. We're not getting what we pay for when it comes to food in the US. And NOBODY has the consumer's back on this. Nobody. The government, the media, the companies that sell this mock Kobe. They all know about it. And nobody does a thing about it.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg. The entrance to the rabbit hole. The more you investigate, the worse it gets. Pretty soon you'll end up at a website describing CAFO operations and think to yourself, "Why the [censored] am I putting this in my body?"

 

[CarolF]

Interesting article.

A dozen burger joints in Las Vegas alone offer Kobe burgers.

Not that I've been to a Las Vegas "Burger Joint" but I wouldn't expect to find Kobe beef made into burgers there or anywhere else. Just wondering, has Kobe beef become a generic term for "a tender piece of meat" to the uneducated?

 

[logan115]

A few summers back we stayed at Mandalay Bay and in the "Shops of MB" or whatever it's called they had a burger joint that had "Kobe" burgers. I tried one for kicks and couldn't really tell the difference. It was a good burger, but nothing more - probably because it wasn't Kobe :hysterical:

Chris

 

[siesta]

I've had kobe beef dozens of times on numerous business trips to Japan. The ” american” kobe beef never came close, we now know why.

 

[ScoopKona]

Interesting article.


Not that I've been to a Las Vegas "Burger Joint" but I wouldn't expect to find Kobe beef made into burgers there or anywhere else. Just wondering, has Kobe beef become a generic term for "a tender piece of meat" to the uneducated?

Well, most of the casinos on the strip have a restaurant that claims they sell Kobe burgers/sliders/steaks. It's a big fat lie. But that's what they claim.

Americans don't seem to realize that Kobe is a city, and an appellation. Kobe is not a kind of cow -- it's not like how Jersey cows came from Jersey Island. The Tajima-gyu ("gyu" means cow) raised elsewhere and sold as Kobe aren't raised the same way. Hell, they're usually cross-bred with domestic steers to make the job easier. So it's not the same.

Basically, the scam is akin to putting rubbing alcohol in a Bourbon bottle and selling it as Bourbon.

And nobody is watching out for us -- the consumer. Nobody. Keep that in mind. Because they're not watching out for anything else food-related, either. They're turning a blind eye to everything and letting agricorp get away with murder. Quite literally.

Maybe Americans will wake up one day and demand that our food be wholesome. But I doubt it. People were too happy to eat pink slime off the dollar menu. Hey, it's cheap. And then when people finally learn what pink slime is, the fast food chains take the leftover slime, and sell it to companies that make school lunches. Yep. Nobody is watching out for us.

Somebody get word to Upton Sinclair. Because it's still a Jungle out there.

 

[Phydeaux]

Well, some of us that have read Orwell's "1984" look around now and are frankly spooked at what we see. Talk about fiction becoming reality

Let's hope Soylent Green isn't on the horizon.

 

[Blues]

Don't worry about it. Kobe beef, the real stuff, is awful. Typically 40-50% fat. I couldn't eat it.

I've had it. The real stuff, in Osaka, Kobe's neighbor city. My wife's uncle Akio (dear, dear man, may he RIP), took us and all the gaijin relatives to all the most expensive restaurants in Osaka. $300 a plate places, where he'd take us and his own Japanese extended family, at least 20 people total. Uncle Akio had some money

And he took a liking to me, and me to him. He really was a dear man. So I had a place of honor at the table next to him. When he noticed that I was less than enthusiastic for items like raw soft-shell crab, still in the shell, he asked me what I liked. My dear wife piped up with "he loves beef". So I got a plate full of genuine Kobe beef. Tender? Yes, very. But as I said, about 1/2 fat. I'm one who, for health reasons, trims all the fat off any steak or piece of beef I'm served. That's kinda hard to do with just chopsticks So I had to eat it as is. It wasn't terrible, but I would have preferred a nice lean piece of steak.

I also saw it in raw form, in boutique grocery stores in Osaka. Broad range of prices, depending on quality, up to $100 for 200 grams. In raw form too, you can see it's nearly 1/2 fat. The more expensive, the more fat.

If you've had "Kobe" beef and it wasn't 1/2 fat, you haven't had Kobe beef.

-Bob

 

[ScoopKona]

If you've had "Kobe" beef and it wasn't 1/2 fat, you haven't had Kobe beef.

There are many grades of Kobe. And yes, you're right, the higher the grade, the more fat it has. The Japanese grade on a scale of 1-12. Three is about the same as USDA Prime. To be sold as Kobe, I believe the minimum score is five.

What you had was likely an eight or a nine.

 

[am1]

If some is willing to pay that much for a hamburger........

 

[Elan]

I know very little about Kobe beef, but the concept of a Kobe beef burger seems totally asinine to me. If the uniqueness of Kobe beef is in it's excessive marbling, why would a Kobe beef burger be any better than any other burger with a higher than normal fat content? The benefits of excessive marbling are largely destroyed when the beef is ground. What am I missing?

 

[tlwmkw]

We went to a japanese farm where they produce Kobe beef and it was very interesting. The animals are massaged and not allowed to move around too much. They are very pampered and the stable/cow-sheds are extremely clean and well cared for. The resulting beef is astronomically expensive and I can't imagine that they would make burgers out of it. Very fatty with lots of marbling.

tlwmkw

 

[Passepartout]

I'm embarrassed to say that I have actually ordered something called a Kobe beef hamburger. It was OK, but probably no better than any other $10 sit-down joint hamburger I've eaten.

It isn't called Kobe, but at home, I grill nothing leaner than 70/30% freshly ground chuck. Don't give me no steenking lean ground sirloin. The flavor comes from the fat. Then at the end of the grilling, I melt a pat of butter on the burger patty. Fresh, cold, lettuce, tomato, onion. Served on a bun that was toasted on the grill beside the meat. Mmmmm good!

Jim