Kobe beef prices... will they ever come down?

[black chef]

years ago, i heard about kobe beef... all the wonderful marbling, the excellent treatment of the cattle, the feed of the cattle, and the fact that the fat in kobe beef is mostly monounsaturated.

but then, the prices hit me...

today i ventured to the Central Market (HEB) here in houston, texas and saw that they're now carrying Premier Brand Kobe Beef all the time. i was VERY excited and actually stood there looking at it for about 3 min before the sticker shock = $38 per pound.

do you have kobe beef in your area yet, and if so, what are you paying for it?

[TATTRAT]

It will continually hover in that range as it is a boutique item. If they used selective breeding to make all stock Waygu beef, and there was the time to tend to such herds in a loving way, then it would be common place and the price would be that of commodity beef.

[black chef]

Originally Posted by TATTRAT

It will continually hover in that range as it is a boutique item. If they used selective breeding to make all stock Waygu beef, and there was the time to tend to such herds in a loving way, then it would be common place and the price would be that of commodity beef.

the section designated to kobe beef was packed, and to me, that means they aren't selling much of it.

the marbling in that meat and the intense color is simply awesome.

but i'm not rich... and right now, at this very moment, i can't justify spending $38/lb for ANY type of meat.

if it ever goes on "sale" for like $25/lb, i'm gonna consider it though...

[TATTRAT]

It is worth trying, just do it right, don't over do it.

Treat it like sachimi and you are golden. A nice ribeye, rare and rested, is heaven on a plate.

[jennyema]

All beef is reletively high in monosaturated fatty acids. Kobe and Waygu just have more.

And they have way more fat than other kinds of beef. Vey fatty, but that's the point, after all.

Not a "health food."

[Ask-A-Butcher]

At a 'high end' market near Ft. Myers Beach, the Kobe NY Strip was sitting there at $49 lb. I didn't see any Kobe Filet, probably would've been to scared to look at the price anyway!!!

[college_cook]

Prices may come down sooner than we think- I heard recently that the FDA has cleared cloned stock animals as ok to eat. This weirds a lot of folks out, but I'm not one of em, and I'd certainly buy cloned beef if the price was better. What you might see happen in the future is a few enterprising farms purchasing some really top notch cattle (Wagyu for Kobe beef?) and cloning it and selling the Kobe beef at cheaper prices. It will always be more expensive than normal beef, but I think eventually cloned meat on the market will help drop the price.

[black chef]

Originally Posted by college_cook

Prices may come down sooner than we think- I heard recently that the FDA has cleared cloned stock animals as ok to eat. This weirds a lot of folks out, but I'm not one of em, and I'd certainly buy cloned beef if the price was better. What you might see happen in the future is a few enterprising farms purchasing some really top notch cattle (Wagyu for Kobe beef?) and cloning it and selling the Kobe beef at cheaper prices. It will always be more expensive than normal beef, but I think eventually cloned meat on the market will help drop the price.

i don't know about cloned beef...

i'm sure they'll have to label it as "cloned", right?

[sattie]

I only suspect that the prices will go higher, not get lower. May get lucky once in a while to catch it 'on sale' if there was such a thing for Kobe. I think when I tried it, it was around $43 per lb. I was not that impressed with it. At least not enough to spend that kind of money again on it. And I like premium quality beef and I don't mind spending $$$ on it, so if that tells you anything. Heck, maybe I got some bad kobe beef the one time I tried it.

[Rob Babcock]

Originally Posted by black chef

i don't know about cloned beef...

i'm sure they'll have to label it as "cloned", right?

They're still arguing about that. Right now they're leaning toward no notice that beef is cloned...

But we'll see.