Food writer Larry Olmsted of Forbes.com couldn't help but notice the trend and decided to bust everyone's bubble in a three-part expose of the so-called domestic Kobe beef industry. In this country, much of the Japanese cattle has been cross bred with domestic stock and diluted, often heavily, to intentionally produce a result more in keeping with the traditional texture and taste of American beef (and to reduce costs). Between the time the USDA changed its rules last August and the end of 2012, exactly five head of Kobe beef cattle were shipped to the United States - five. It’s not that it is so much better in Japan - it is so much better when it’s real. There is very little real Kobe beef here at high prices, but there is none at low prices. If you see Kobe beef on a menu in London, you know it is fake,” said Hirokatsu Hirai, Senior Director of Japan’s S Foods, the largest exporter of Kobe beef. Bred from Kobe cattle and raised on a traditional Japanese-Style Diet, Wagyu is then dry-aged over 18 days to develop extra flavor and extra tenderness. Unfortunately it is the reality of the current situation. “As you have seen, most of what you get in the US is not real, not authentic Kobe beef. distributed the fat is throughout the entire steaks, the signature of this beef. "So, we can call pretty much anything we want Kobe," Olmsted says. The bottom line is that Kobe beef is a specialty product of exceptional quality, and if that is what you want to buy, you should be able to get the real thing. The beef you’re looking at is almost definitely not real Kobe. Fresh Beef Chuck Ribs Bone-In Whole, Avg. Sie erreichen unter all den Wagyu-Rindern weltweit (es gibt mittlerweile auch deutsche … To say Kobe is a drop in the beef bucket is a gross overstatement - the total amount of Kobe beef shipped to the US through the first 11 months of 2013 was just 3,217 pounds or less than 300 pounds per months for the entire country. If they don't know or hesitate, this is a sure sign that it is not authentic Kobe beef. It continues to be heavily viewed to this day, and since it was the most read of the hundreds of online pieces I have written, I safely assume it is a topic that interests a lot of people. 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 authentication number. The single most important element of my original piece was the fact (as in fact, not opinion) that no beef from Japan, not one ounce in any form, was allowed to be imported into this country by the USDA, starting back in 2009. My number one goal for the first year is to be able to educate people as to what real Kobe beef is all about. Because the region was so isolated, however, these original wagyu cattle were not transferred for work in other … Only a few hundred pounds of real Kobe beef is imported into the U.S. every year. So yes, Kobe beef is excellent, and the very strict rules under which it is produced, only from one very particular breed, limited in age and size, only in the Hyogo prefecture, with specific feed and then strict grading, ensure that the real thing is consistently delicious. The good news? The Kobe steaks I had and the many more I saw never had bands or borders of fat, as is be common here, but rather were speckled with fat through and through - I described them to a friend as looking like they had been hit with a fat shotgun, so evenly dispersed were the tiny amounts of fat. Odds are, it will never be as tender as real Kobe beef. Because the “Kobe” label is only trademarked within Japan, it is often misused by American sellers. Tell us what you think! The new book Real Food, Fake Food (Algonquin, July 2016), covers the gamut of food frauds and scams... [+] American consumers face today. Reviews. This is another important change since my original article - at the time Macau was the only country to which Kobe beef was being exported at all, and even that was only the case since February 2012. There are now 9 restaurants in the US and a number of distributors in Europe that have been added. To research these changes, I visited the Kobe region of Japan, in the Hyogo Prefecture, where I met with cattle farmers, distributors, scientists, government and trade association officials, visited butcher shops, attended a cattle auction and watched government inspectors grade beef carcasses at a slaughterhouse. It’s been almost two years since I wrote Food’s Biggest Scam: The Great Kobe Beef Lie, here in the pages of Forbes.com. Also, and this is very important, Kobe beef fat contains high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, which melt at much lower temperatures than saturated fatty acids - including on your tongue. Read the Kobe Beef in America - is it real? While Kobe cattlemen in Japan have both patent and trademarks on the different terminology for Kobe beef, U.S. law does not recognize or protect these trademarks. “Kobe beef is the rarest among Japanese beef, but there is a contradiction between how well known the name Kobe beef is and the actual amount of beef,” said Hiroo Miyanishi of Japan Agriculture’s Livestock Section. Join the discussion today. I have had weekly columns in USA Today and Investors Business Daily, published thousands of articles in leading magazines from Playboy to Popular Science, and am currently the Contributing Travel Editor for Cigar Aficionado Magazine and restaurant columnist for USAToday.com. Depending on which cut it is, it costs me around $200 a pound. But that’s the tricky part. The stuff outside Japan is Kobe “Style” beef. Troy Lee, Chef de Cuisine at the Oak Door, told me that having a US-sized portion of Kobe beef would be “like eating sticks of butter.” He also explained that while the restaurant carries top-shelf regional beef from all over Japan, “The quality control they have on the Kobe beef translates to great flavor, and that consistency cannot be said for the other brands - they can be very good but it’s not guaranteed.” In my original Kobe beef story here at Forbes.com I remarked that many readers, especially and those on expense accounts, would be surprised to learn that they had never actually tasted Kobe beef, despite having ordered and paid for it. Wynn Las Vegas’ SW Steakhouse. While there are absolutely some very conscientious and high quality farmers raising pure Japanese breed cattle in the US who produce excellent beef, this niche is largely unregulated and free from governmental labeling requirements that would give the consumer any protection or useful information. As a result, “domestic Wagyu” remains very much a case of buyer beware and unless you know the farmer, really trust your beef retailer, or experiment extensively it is very difficult to know what you are buying. For a current roster see here. I say real Kobe beef because you can only get the real stuff in Japan. While “marbling” is important in all beef and the main basis for USDA grading such as Prime, Westerners are more concerned with the amount of fat while Japanese focus on its pervasiveness. Credit: Wynn Las Vegas . Some of the elaborate paperwork that accompanies Japanese beef. A single cow can be sold for up to $30,000. The first two terms clearly suggest that the product comes from Japan, just as I would completely expect Colombian Coffee or French Champagne to come from Colombia and France, no ifs, ands or buts. As of December 15, 2013 Wynn became to first US end-user certified by the Kobe Beef Council as an authorized restaurant partner (a program that also includes Nobu in Hong Kong and the Sands resort in Singapore). Many were charging very top dollar, three figures for steaks or $50 for a burger, and implicated in this scam were numerous celebrity chefs. So you can ask a restaurant here to show you the paperwork, and these are handsome looking pieces of paper, but it is awfully difficult for the average American consumer to read one. These cows are pampered to no end (stories are told of massages, classical music and beer feedings), and the end result is beef that’s so intensely marbled that it’s a full two … For visitors, I emphatically recommend The Oak Door steakhouse at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo hotel in Roppongi Hills. To be fair, I also received plenty of comments from folks who took a “so what?” attitude and I imagine they will feel pretty much the same way about the news that Kobe beef has returned to the US. In Japan, every restaurant and retail shop selling Kobe beef displays a 10-digit ID number and usually a scannable QR code that corresponds to the particular animal from which the beef was cut. 4.35 lbs. I tried Kobe Beef for the First time and it was indescribable.Songs: Maxzwell - We Roll Floppy Circus - All The Happy Days Kobe beef is one of the most coveted meats in the culinary world. The certificate includes detailed... [+] info on the steer and its lineage, the smaller cards to the left go to restaurants and retailers as the beef is cut up and for real Kobe beef, the flower logo stickers at top are added to the certificate. A5 is the... [+] highest quality rating given in Japan, and the Flower logo stamp indicates that this is also Kobe beef. But the playing field has changed significantly since 2012, so I am revisiting the topic with the new truth about the world’s most famous and coveted beef. I love every kind of travel, active, cultural and leisurely, and my special areas of expertise are luxury hotels and resorts, golf, skiing, food, wine and spirits. The Real Beef on Kobe Beef. So what is Kobe beef, exactly? Antonio Park is the first and only chef in the country to secure a license (see below) to import and serve Japanese Kobe beef. But is that kobe you're eating actually authentic? View full Product Information Disclaimer. $62.23 each ($4.62/lb) Add to list. The first question I got from friends and colleagues after returning from Kobe was, “Is it really that good?” or “Is it the best?” Since taste is a matter of opinion, the latter is a question that is impossible to answer, while the answer to the former is emphatically yes - Kobe beef is that good. The cows and bulls used to make real Kobe beef must be born and raised in the Kobe region of Japan. "You can guarantee that it was not real Kobe beef because real Kobe beef from Japan is not imported in the United States at all," he says. I have, I am the NY Times Bestselling author of Real Food, Fake Food and have been traveling the world as a journalist and passionate fan of all things fun for 20 years. Note how evenly... [+] distributed the fat is throughout the entire steaks, the signature of this beef. Strangely, while Japanese beef was banned in the U.S, the popularity of fake Kobe dishes grew in restaurants all over the country with people thinking they were eating the real, forbidden thing. Assistance provided included a Kobe beef dinner and two nights in non-descript business hotels). Black Gold - A Coffee and Trade Documentary. That being said, there are days when I would rather have a dry-aged strip at Keens in New York than Kobe beef. Kobe Beef aus Japan gilt als bestes Fleisch der Welt. Another big clue is price, but only to eliminate fakes, not to guarantee the real thing, since many steakhouses pass off faux-be beef at prices actual Kobe would fetch. Going back to the Wagyu, the Kobe Beef brand dates back to the late 19 th century, when Kobe became one of the first Japanese ports opening up to foreign trade. Kobe is an actual place, and its beef is one regional style of Japanese Wagyu (the cattle breed), as Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon is to all American … The bad news is that the vast majority of what is advertised as Kobe beef continues to be counterfeit, and it remains very difficult for consumers to tell the difference - at least until they taste it, though there are some options available, which I will detail below. H-E-B Prime 1 Beef Ribeye Steak Bone-In USDA Prime, Avg. Supremely marbled, exceptionally juicy, and unbelievably flavorful, Wagyu is the best tasting, highest quality beef available. To its credit, the American Wagyu Association has greatly improved its website information since my previous story, but still acknowledges that “Although our purpose is to educate the consumer about the great attributes of Wagyu we can only encourage our members to market their beef products with confidence and truth in labelling that the consumer deserves,” the key words being “we can only encourage.” They mention different purity categories such as 100% Wagyu, high-percentage Wagyu and “Wagyu influenced beef,” though you are not very likely to see that last term on a supermarket label or menu. Supremely marbled, exceptionally juicy, and unbelievably flavorful, Wagyu is the best tasting, highest quality beef available. Not surprisingly, I received comments from many folks who had paid such handsome amounts for what I termed “faux-be” beef, and they were understandably outraged because they had been ripped off, pure and simple. Is that real Kobe beef? To that end, every single restaurant in the nation that claimed Kobe beef on its menu, and there were hundreds, was lying (along with retailers). In sharp contrast, the US cattle industry produced some 29,300,000 head of beef cattle in 2013, according to beefusa.org. Kelly Cline/iStockphoto.com Sides of beef at a slaughterhouse just after government inspectors have graded them. The big change occurred - at least on paper - on August 27, 2012, when the USDA updated its rules to allow the importation of Japanese beef, including Kobe, albeit in very small amounts. Jul 11, 2015 - TweetEmailWhat’s the most tender steak you have ever had? A second and more complicated issue is the menu gray areas of “Japanese beef,” “Japanese Wagyu,” “Domestic Wagyu,” or Wagyu in general. Again, this was a big lie given the total ban on the importation of Japanese beef. These cattle were brought in as work animals to aid with rice harvesting. "Most importantly," Olmsted says, "they have to be slaughtered in Hyogo prefecture where none of the slaughter houses are approved by the USDA for export," he tells Raz. Chef Lee concurred and said, “I get people here from America all the time who say they have had Kobe beef in the US, but then 99% of the time they say they can’t understand why it tastes nothing like this. For most consumers, even the most fanatical foodies, it is actually difficult to recognize authentic Kobe meat and for this reason it's useful to know a few facts and questions to ask your waiter in the interests of palate and purse. So, you will probably be unpleased to learn that the meat in question may not have been real Kobe at all, but probably Wagyu which is very similar. So, how is it possible that Kobe beef is advertised all across the U.S.? The criteria for Kobe beef are the strictest in Japan: After meeting all the lineage and age restrictions, the beef has to pass a strict grading system that's unique to Wagyu. Monthly shipments of the upmarket Wagyu begin this month, via wholesale food distributor True World Food. Where To Find Real Kobe Beef In Las Vegas. According to the Kobe Beef Council in Japan, there is still no Kobe beef at all exported to Europe, where many restaurants engage in the same kind of false advertising that has long been pervasive in this country. Es zeichnet sich durch eine einmalige Fettmarmorierung, einen unvergleichlich leicht nussigen Geschmack und ein zartgliedriges Gewebe aus. EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change, Father’s Day Gift Guide: The Best Overnight Bags For Dad, Why You Should Consider Booking A Hawaiian Villa For A Future Stay, The New Big 5: Wildlife Photography & Conservation, Top 5 Design Tips For Making Your Home Feel Like A Luxurious Hotel, Female Hospitality Business Owners Reveal Their Favorite Travel Memories, Laura Prepon Recalls The Strangest Interaction She Had On An Airplane, Vacation In Hawaii Like A Homeowner With Destination Residences Hawaii, 4 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Tequila, This Ranch In Wyoming Comes With Its Own Air Strip And Guest Lodge, Mother’s Day Gift Guide: Most Chic And Comfy Travel Outfits, year-end list of 15 Most Memorable Meals of 2013, all are listed on the group’s English language website. The real thing is back, but only some restaurants carry kobe, so before you open your wallet, ask if it's really japanese. In practice, no Kobe beef was shipped to the US until November 2012 and even this small delivery was an anomaly, as no more would reach our shores until March 2013. Our boneless sirloin is perfect for the grill. In sharp contrast to this mishmash of much different meats being marketed under umbrella terms like domestic Wagyu, the key selling point of actual Kobe beef - and a large part of the reason it commands a high price - is that you absolutely know what you are getting, a very high level of quality and 100% pure bloodlines that is heavily regulated by the Japanese government (and Kobe beef producers themselves). An English trader obtained a Tajima cow from local farmers and ate it. Follow me on Instagram travelfoodguy or Twitter @travelfoodguy. You should not rely solely on the information presented here. Kobe beef and its high quality Japanese regional beef peers emphasize dispersion of marbling in a way few other meats do. “If you find Kobe beef for sale in the US from a company other than these, you know it is not Kobe beef,” said Miyanishi. Das legendäre Kobe Beef ist eines der exklusivsten Lebensmittel überhaupt. Prime 1 Beef Brisket Packer Style, USDA Prime, Avg. Not only is it very well located and accommodating to international guests, it also offers a full slate of top quality Japanese regional beef, from Kobe and elsewhere, along with dry aged American beef and Australian beef for comparison. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Fremont serves the food service industry, reselling high quality meats to restaurants, and not directly to consumers. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t high-quality beef — it may have been — but if it didn’t come from Tajima cattle in Japan, it wasn’t Kobe beef. In addition, there is always no guarantee that cows will meet the criteria to be sold as Kobe beef even if … Note how evenly...[+] distributed the fat is throughout the entire steaks, the signature of this beef. Delighted by its flavor, the Englishman began spreading the word among the expat community. They can’t understand why it’s so much better here.”. Fetching over $100 per pound, loyal followers swear by its heavenly flavors. ". That’s the good news for beef fans. "The Department of Agriculture cares that when you call something beef, it's beef, and that's about it. You can easily check to see if your Kobe Beef or any Japan raised Wagyu Beef is authentic by searching the Wagyu Database. And yes, I ate Kobe beef at the source, in Kobe, as well as in upscale restaurants in Tokyo, since even in Japan Kobe beef is difficult to find and only a handful of top restaurants serve it. The certification applies to the entire property, and a spokesperson for Wynn told me that Kobe beef initially would be offered not just in the signature SW Steakhouse, but also in the Wing Lei, Mizumi and Wazuzu restaurants, and possibly other outlets down the road. But most of the issue is simple math: only about 3,900 head of cattle each year meet the strict standards to be labeled as Kobe beef, and only about 10% of this is exported from Japan. Similarly, you can find plenty of great-tasting … These cattles are raised under controlled breeding environments, to ensure the real Wagyu quality. Real Kobe beef, four different cuts, at the Kobe Plaisir restaurant in Kobe, Japan. Since similar certificates are available for all sorts of Japanese beef cattle, whether it is Kobe beef or not, at best this proves that the restaurant bought Japanese beef, which is a very good start - assuming the certificate is real and corresponds to what’s on your plate and isn’t leftover from some previous shipment. The Kobe Beef Distribution & Promotion Council is the trade group for Kobe beef farmers and distributors in Japan, and the way they control the authenticity of the meat shipped abroad is to sell it only to authorized foreign distributors, of which there are very few, and all are listed on the group’s English language website. But it also is very different from the steaks I and most Americans are used to, whether they are domestic or from the many delicious beef cattle of Europe, such as Scotland’s famed Angus, France’s Charolais and Italy’s Chianina, all of which are more similar to US beef. 15.0 lbs . Because the emphasis is on the very rich meat itself, Kobe steaks are usually small and served... [+] simply and rare. Kobe beef is not easy to procure. “No Japanese cattle is exported to Europe, yet you see Kobe or Japanese beef on many menus - it’s not real. One key is the symbol used in Japan to mark Kobe beef, a round flower fringed with petals, and this icon must be on the accompanying paperwork. Kobe beef (神戸ビーフ, Kōbe bīfu) pronounced [koːbe biːɸɯ] is Wagyu beef from the Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle, raised in Japan's Hyōgo Prefecture according to rules set out by the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association. Dive deep into the multifaceted world of coffee in the award winning documentary, Black Gold . While some of these restaurants did serve American-style Kobe beef (the result of crossbreeding Japanese cattle with American cattle), the ban ensured that authentic Kobe beef never made it onto … H-E-B Grass Fed Beef Whole Brisket, USDA Choice, Avg. There are 3000 Kobe beef cows produced every year in Kobe, which only amounts around 0.06% of whole beef market in Japan, and that is one of the reasons making Kobe beef valuable. Reporter: This past august the usda lifted the japanese beef ban. As for Wagyu, while the word can literally be interpreted as any cattle in Japan, it has widely come to be used to mean several specific historically Japanese breeds (including Tajima-gyu, the only one that can legally be labelled Kobe beef). In 2012 the only authorized US importer was Fremont Beef Company of Fremont, NE which received all of the carcasses shipped to the US that year. Ingredients Beef. UPDATE: Several of the food frauds examined here at Forbes.com, including Kobe Beef, Seafood and Parmesan Cheese as well as dozens of others, from wine to honey, are covered in detail in my new book, Real Food, Fake Food. From Kobe steak raviolis to Kobe beef burgers, you name it, Kobe beef seems to be popping up everywhere — except it's not Kobe beef. discussion from the Chowhound General Discussion, Beef food community. Die sensationelle Marmorierung macht das Fleisch zu einer Delikatesse, die im Mund zergeht. But many more eateries do not, and offer items such as “Kobe burgers,” for what appear to be reasonable prices, such as $15, an almost surefire sign that this is a scam, since Kobe beef fetches over $200 a pound (and often much more) in Japan. Kobe beef is considered the most abundantly marbled in the world, brimming with the creamiest, most decadent, most flavorful streaks of fat a steak can have. We taste A5 Kobe Beef (A5), the highest grade of beef in Japan and have our taste buds ignited. In the US, about 90% of Domestic Wagyu are rated from USDA as USDA Prime, which is the highest rating for a beef. highest quality rating given in Japan, and the Flower logo stamp indicates that this is also Kobe beef. I tweet @TravelFoodGuy, © 2021 Forbes Media LLC. Is that real Kobe beef? This is a relatively new program outside of Japan (there are many more partner restaurants within the country) that should eventually provide much greater levels of consumer protection at restaurants, and the Council is currently in talks with some additional US eateries, including at least one in New York, to go this route, but as of this writing, Wynn is the sole such outlet in the nation. Shop H-E-B Wagyu Beef Tenderloin Steak Center Cut Thick - compare prices, see product info & reviews, add to shopping list, or find in store. hide caption. It is a decadent experience best taken in small quantities, which is why you are typically served small portions of the meat, never the equivalent of the huge T-bones, rib eyes or tomahawks served in US steakhouses. The story of Kobe beef begins with the importation of wagyu cattle into the isolated Kobe region. Write a Review. Einzig und allein reinrassige Tajima-Rinder aus der japanischen Präfektur Hyogo mit dem Verwaltungssitz Kobe dürfen diese Bezeichnung tragen. For example, the oleic acid Kobe producers claim is responsible for the unique taste melts at 65°, far lower than human body temperature, while some of Kobe’s other fatty acids melt at even lower temperatures. I have seen various food products made or processed around the world, including US beef cattle, and I can say that based upon my experience, the incredibly high consistency and quality control standards for Kobe beef live up to its impressive reputation. So, unfortunately, that $35 Kobe burger you ate last spring wasn’t the real deal. The most expensive and fetishized beef in the world is about to come to Canada for the first time. At that time, beef was not commonly consumed in Japan. $26.84 each ($6.17/lb) Add to list. That story assumed a life of its own, becoming one of the most widely read food stories of the year and garnering well over a million views. If you want a steak with the best sear, our boneless ribeye is the way to go. If you're eating it in the United States, then it's not. 13.47 lbs. Be the first to write a review! According to Daisuke Terao of Japan Agriculture, “Right now it is not being sold at retail in the US - there is no way for individual consumers to buy it.” In 2013 two more authorized distributors received shipments, American Meat Company and ITOHAM America. From steaks to sliders, Kobe beef seems to be popping up on menus nationwide. So how can you tell whether or not the beef being offered at a restaurant is the real thing? Only 3,000 cattle a year qualify as true Kobe, making authentic Kobe beef exceptionally rare. To be sure, some of the Kobe beef being imported right now is ending up in other quality restaurants around the country, but given the total lack of labeling regulation in the US, where pretty much anything can be sold as “Kobe beef,” the burden of proof remains on the consumer, at least outside of Wynn Las Vegas. What we've thought was Kobe beef was most likely U.S.-raised beef, Olmsted tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz, not the expensive delicacy raised in Japan. Under Japanese law, real Kobe beef actually comes from a particular breed of cow known as Tajima.