Kobe
I love food! I want to try every kind of food out there in the world! I’m not scared to taste anything once! So when I heard about Kobe/Wagyu beef that is a Japanese beef (that is basically the best in the world) I immediately wanted to get my hands on it! But that’s easier said than done.
So first you should know that there is a difference between Kobe beef and Wagyu beef. Kobe beef is basically a variety of Wagyu beef. Wagyu refers to any cattle that is bred in Japan or the Japanese-style. But they are still very different in such ways like taste & the marbleizing of the beef. Think of it like this, every ribeye is a steak, but not all steaks are ribeyes. A similar rule applies to Kobe and Wagyu beef. Every Kobe steak is Wagyu, but not all Wagyu beef is Kobe. Make sense?
The only four TRUE strains of Wagyu cattle are Japanese black, brown, shorthorn, & polled. When most talk about Wagyu they usually are referring to the Japanese black cattle. About 90% of all Wagyu is.
When these cattle began being breed in the late 1800’s, breeders took extraordinary care of them. Special feeds were created out of forage, grasses, and rice straw, then supplemented with corn, barley, soybean, wheat bran, and in some cases, even beer or sake. It is sometimes said that herders would massage their cattle to alleviate muscle tension caused by cramped spaces.
Because of these breeding methods, Wagyu beef is the most marbleized steak in the world. This marbling makes the steak rich & buttery tasting that has never been seen in any other kind of beef. It literally will melt in your mouth!
Wagyu & Kobe beef have been trademarked in Japan but it doesn’t extend outside the countries boarder. So you can bet that many shady restaurants, grocery stores, and wholesalers will attempt to sell non-authentic Wagyu beef and steaks as “Kobe,” “Kobe-Style,” or “Wagyu” in order to charge higher prices. If your wanting to try REAL Kobe beef then you better open up your pocket book because it’s not cheep! You also want to make sure your not getting ripped off!
Just because something says “kobe” doesn’t mean it is. Just because your “Columbian” coffee says its “columbian”, it’s probably not real columbian coffee beans. Get the point? You, in fact, could not get Kobe beef in the USA at all a few years ago. As of today only a handful of restaurants & retailers carry the REAL Kobe! HERE is a list that will tell you were REAL Kobe beef is distributed. If you’d like to read more about Kobe Beef & why it’s scarcely distributed, Larry Olmsted had written a fantastic article about this exact topic!
Although the Kobe restaurant in St.Louis, Missouri was amazing & so entertaining, I’m sad to say that they did in fact not have real Kobe/Wagyu beef. They did though have amazing tasting food and an incredible fillet mignon! If its your birthday, like it was mine when we went, they’ll even sing to you & bring you a dessert! It was defiantly the best restaurant I have ever been to! But you can bet your bottom dollar I won’t stop searching until I find REAL Kobe beef to taste. My ideal way to try it would be to travel to Japan and experience the cultural as well! Maybe one day! It’s defiantly on the bucket list!
I hope you found this educational and opened you to a whole new world of food you never knew about! Below is a quick video of our experience at the Kobe restaurant and it doesn’t disappoint! Enjoy!
