Who has tasted real kobe beef, anyone?

[vitauta]

food is often on my mind, always has been--one of my favorite muses...lately, i've been thinking about special foods i've never tasted, but would like to. kobe beef tops that list. i've enjoyed reading articles about kobe beef for years, from time, but i've yet to read about the kobe taste experience from any of them.

i think a bucket list for FOOD would be a good idea. kobe beef and fresh truffles would definitely be on that list for me. morels too, now that a recent dc thread about them piqued my interest in these rather remarkable sounding and fascinating mushrooms.

what are some of the foods you would put on your bucket list of must-try foods? how about incredible taste sensations of foods you have already experienced that you would recommend for others?

so, finally, back to my original question--has anybody here had a kobe steak? if so, can you tell us what it is about kobe beef that separates it from the finest prime beef grades in the u.s.? is the experience worth the extravagant cost? is there something else out there that is also prohibitively expensive, but even more desirable or worthy than kobe beef, in your opinion, for a sensational, exotic food experience?

 

[Steve Kroll]

I've had truffles, and I've had American Wagyu beef (as a tartare), but have never had real Japanese Kobe/Wagyu beef. I've read that the difference is very minimal, though.

Most of my food bucket list centers around restaurants that I've always wanted to visit - for example, Thomas Keller's French Laundry in California wine country.

 

[jennyema]

Real Kobe Beef can only be found in Japan.

Here in America you find Kobe-style beef, from, as Steve points out, Waygu cattle.

I've had it and findit to be overrated ...

 

[Margi Cintrano]

Michelin & Kobe

Good evening.

Interesting Post.

I have not been to Tokoyo yet nor anywhere in Asia, however, I have eaten Wagyu Style Kobe at more than one famous multi Michelin Star Restaurant in The Basque Country as well as in El Bulli before it closed 31st July 2011 and in Italia, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and it was divine.

The aroma, the texture, the way it sliced, the color, the taste ... totally different. No comparison.

Carme Ruscadella owns a restaurant in Tokoyo and one in Barcelona and her Kobe was melt in mouth to die for as well as FERRAN ADRIA.
Margaux Cintrano

 

[4meandthem]

I have a nephew who is a chef. He was in charge of a steakhouse that specialized in Wagyu. I have had a ribeye and several New yorks.

There is no comparison to the supermaket steaks I usually buy. I can pick a pretty good steak from the bunch of them but when I compared mine to the Wagyu side by side mine looked horrible. Thers is so much marbeling the steak almost melts in your hand while slicing and handling them.

Hands down the best steaks I have ever had the opportunity of eating.
I ate the ribeye in his restaurant and it was cooked in an infrared oven that got to 1500 degress if I remember correctly. It cooked the steak in a minute or two. The New Yorks were done a Weber grill and cut from the whole strip he brought home. He sent me home with a few to boot.

They are super flavorful and very tender from all the marbleing. Very rich though.

As far as bucket list goes.........Tapas in Spain is right near the top of the list. Beef in Argentina at one of the Gaucho style places is on the list. I have done enough fine dining on this continent to be satisfied. Greece is another place. I would eat that country dry!

 

[Dawgluver]

We ate at Morimoto's restaurant in Philly years ago, had the Chef's tasting menu. One course was purported to be Kobe beef, which Chef cooked in front of us. It was not as wonderful as it should have been. The other courses were much better. The whole experience was an expensive blast though!

 

[Cerise]

Haven't tried it, yet. Went to a Japanese steak house/restaurant, Kobe, outside of Palm Springs, but no Kobe on the menu -- Filet Mignon & N.Y.

Kobe Japanese Steak House

 

[jennyema]

O guess because it's so fatty and tender. I thought it was good but DEFINITELY not worth the $$$$$$$$

 

[spork]

It's hard to describe. Maybe one of our molecular gastronomists can better explain it. I've had slices of it dipped in a kalbe sauce, grilled for two seconds on both sides Korean-style (very trendy in Japan). It melts with only a few chews to a paste consistency. Wa-gyu is Japanese for eastern-cow. I like it, but muscular beef cooked till both its fat and collagen turns to jelly is just as good.

BUCKET LIST
Great thread! I think fugu sashimi is on mine because I might actually kick the bucket consuming it.

 

[Kayelle]

I had a Waygu hamburger recently in Hawaii but maybe ground meat isn't a fair test. Other than costing ten times a normal burger I wasn't impressed.

Frankly, the best beef I've ever eaten in my life was in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The flavor of their beef is just beyond compare. It was tender, but in my opinion, flavor always rules.

 

[vitauta]

ultimately, flavor always does it for me, too. any guess as to what makes the argentine beef superior in taste--breed of beef cattle, feed, handling, environment...?

 

[Cerise]

food is often on my mind, always has been--one of my favorite muses...lately, i've been thinking about special foods i've never tasted, but would like to. kobe beef tops that list. i've enjoyed reading articles about kobe beef for years, from time, but i've yet to read about the kobe taste experience from any of them.

i think a bucket list for FOOD would be a good idea. kobe beef and fresh truffles would definitely be on that list for me. morels too, now that a recent dc thread about them piqued my interest in these rather remarkable sounding and fascinating mushrooms.

what are some of the foods you would put on your bucket list of must-try foods? how about incredible taste sensations of foods you have already experienced that you would recommend for others?

so, finally, back to my original question--has anybody here had a kobe steak? if so, can you tell us what it is about kobe beef that separates it from the finest prime beef grades in the u.s.? is the experience worth the extravagant cost? is there something else out there that is also prohibitively expensive, but even more desirable or worthy than kobe beef, in your opinion, for a sensational, exotic food experience?

Interesting post. I agree re a Food Bucket list, Vit.

Kobe, maybe. French Laundry - no interest. It would be nice to imagine sitting at an outdoor cafe in France & munching on a croissant, but I can do that here. Will give it some thought.

 

[powerplantop]

ultimately, flavor always does it for me, too. any guess as to what makes the argentine beef superior in taste--breed of beef cattle, feed, handling, environment...?

It has a lot to do with the land / grass that they are grazed on. I love argentine beef, wish I had a supplier in the US for it.

 

[powerplantop]

so, finally, back to my original question--has anybody here had a kobe steak? if so, can you tell us what it is about kobe beef that separates it from the finest prime beef grades in the u.s.? is the experience worth the extravagant cost? is there something else out there that is also prohibitively expensive, but even more desirable or worthy than kobe beef, in your opinion, for a sensational, exotic food experience?

I had it in Japan. It is very expensive. The part of the meal that I liked the best was the sashimi course. It almost melted in my mouth just form body heat.

I have had Wagyu in the US and in Chile. The US stuff some was really good and some only so so. Some of the better Korean BBQ places sell it. The Wagyu from Chile that I had was really good. This is a photo of the steak I had in Chile.


Wagyu Closeup by powerplantop, on Flickr

 

[Cerise]

Last night I watched "Chopped." One of the ingredients was fiddleheads. Love fruits & veggies, but have not seen or prepped them. I walk thru Asian markets & see so many ingredients I've never tried. Would like to experiment more.

 

[Margi Cintrano]

Powerplant,

Thank you for such an interesting post. I remember you had mentioned Chile to me on another thread, when I spoke about Chileños being Purists about their Steak ... and Argentinos preferring their´s with Chimichurri marinade.

I had Waygu in Sao Paulo, Brazil at an Hacienda where the Wagyu breed cattle are naturally raised by a Ribera Sacra, Galician Spaniard native; Balermino Fernández Iglesias who also is a winemaker and restaurateur owning several restaurants. His restaurant is Madrid Capital is a marvel and so is the one in Sao Paulo, called Rubaiyat.

www.rubaiyat.br

Kind regards.
Margi.

 

[powerplantop]

Margi,

I spent 9 months in Chile and loved it. Thank you for the info if I go that way I will check them out.

This is a good read. Food's Biggest Scam: The Great Kobe Beef Lie - Forbes

 

[Dawgluver]

Really interesting article, PPO.

 

[jennyema]

Last night I watched "Chopped." One of the ingredients was fiddleheads. Love fruits & veggies, but have not seen or prepped them. I walk thru Asian markets & see so many ingredients I've never tried. Would like to experiment more.

They are ferns and very seasonal. You can buy them at higher end produce places in the early spring.

 

[Kayelle]

ultimately, flavor always does it for me, too. any guess as to what makes the argentine beef superior in taste--breed of beef cattle, feed, handling, environment...?

For the most part, Argentine beef is raised on the grasses of the Pampas, with Gaucho's as cowboys, much the way our beef was raised here in days gone by. I guess you could say that Argentine beef is the mammal of the free range chicken.