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Best beef

40 Comments

A chef prepares award-winning Kobe beef, which is priced at 210,000 yen per kilogram, at Kobe Beef Kawamura restaurant in Tokyo's Ginza district.

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an utterly ridiculous price to pay for beef. Grass-fed beef is both healthier and better tasting. The whole wagyu thing is a scam!

-2 ( +15 / -17 )

Agree with Jaymann. And for those who disagree, as if it didn't need more proving how jacking up and labeling something as 'delicious', how about all the mislabeling scandals of late? All of the people who spent huge amounts of money to eat at high-class hotels and restaurants were eating products from Russia or NK or frozen foods labelled as 'fresh', injected with fat to make it 'marbeled', etc. And yet, you can still hear the collective 'umai' when the price tag is high.

A scam indeed!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Massage the cows and let them drink beer I say!!! Mmmmmmm beeeeeef......

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Among the cognoscenti of Japanese cuisine, Maesawa beef from Iwate is superior.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Good stuff, that Kobe beef!

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Nagasaki beef is better. It won top prize in the annual all Japan wagyu contest over the overhyped Kobe brands...

1 ( +3 / -2 )

While Kobe and Wagyu beef are excellent, they have their share of competitors. The best steaks don't always have to be the priciest. When ordering the finest steaks, make sure they are selected with care, aged to perfection and seared to bliss. Put together your perfect cut with a winning marinade or best sauce and you have a meal fit for a king.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Good stuff, that Kobe beef!

Tried it once. Orgasmic!

3 ( +5 / -2 )

210,000 yen/kg, or 21,000 yen/100 grams, eh? Heck, I buy really nice maguro sashimi for about 300 yen/100 grams. Why should I pay 70 times for beef? lol

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Don't get me wrong, I loved the Kobe beef I tried, it's like butter. But beef fat is the most dangerous fat for the human body. So I stay away from it (and McDonald's btw) out of respect for my coronary arteries.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Put together your perfect cut with a winning marinade or best sauce and you have a meal fit for a king.

If the steak is any good you shouldn't need any marinade or sauce. A little bit of sea salt would do the trick.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

sensei, the balance of good fat vs. bad fats in wagyu is 2:1, rather than the 1:1 of normal beef. It is not as bad for you as you might assume...

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Beef Fat contains Oelic acid, hardly the most dangerous fat. Would love to see some sources for those big words there sensei.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I wonder if anyone has ever done a blind taste test to see if one can really tell the difference in beefs?

10 ( +11 / -1 )

I wonder what is the amount of profit included in the ¥210,000. ¥100k?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The problem with Japan is they can't make or produce something good at a price that they average household can afford. Now, you try my home state of Texas and I can bet you can have a good steak everyday without going broke. So Japan can keep the millionaire's Kobe beef but don't mess with Texas beef steak.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

Think of how much land there is in Texas, and compare that with the usual place in Japan that has 12 head of cattle as their total investment. You can't compare the two.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Now, you try my home state of Texas and I can bet you can have a good steak everyday without going broke.

The point is, most Japanese people don't desire to eat beef steak every single day. For them (and me), getting to eat such high-grade beef is a rare and special treat. I happen to like Texas beef steak too, but I only want it on special BBQ occasions. Three or four times a year, tops. The same goes for everything else that I like, such as tempura or even sashimi (the good stuff, not the kind that goes round and round!). That's what makes it special to me.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

goes awesome with ketchup

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I still can't believe the price of beef in Japan! I just gave my daughter a 1.5kg inside round roast that cost me 1200 yen. Canadian beef, of course, but then beef is as common here as sockeye. Tried to find a decent pork roast when in Sendai, in October, and almost had a heart attack when the butcher showed me a 1kg roast that was more fat than meat and told me he wanted 5000 yen for it. But I keep telling my Canadian friends it's not all that expensive to live in Japan - you just have to accept the fact you won't be eating like you do back home. No big deal.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

But I keep telling my Canadian friends it's not all that expensive to live in Japan - you just have to accept the fact you won't be eating like you do back home. No big deal.

It is amazingly cheap to live in Japan, if you live and eat like the locals. It's not so bad! Beef can be a rare treat, but it's all the more tastier for it, IMO.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Kobe beef has a nice niche. But, the best beef that I have ever had was in Colorado, USA. With as much land and cows as they have, it also happened to be inexpensive. Speak of the worst beef and China comes to mind. Gristle beef if you are lucky; road kill if you are unlucky. The chef decides.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Kobe beef is the best beef I have had--and I thought I knew beef! Terribly expensive, J. beef costs 2-3 times Midwest prices. J. beef beats U.S. beef (I think).

Hamburger is different. The price and quality of ground chuck available at the local grocery store is distinctively better in U.S. than in J. (I think.)

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Kobe beef and Japanese beef in general are amazing. You practically don't have to chew it it is so tender and juicy! I started drooling the minute I saw the photo!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Japanese beef is the best I've had. Just wish the price went down a bit, but makes sense since it's the epitome of paying for quality.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Way back when we first came to Japan, me wife was buying ground horse meat before we could read kanji. About first six months, it was horse chili, spaghetti, etc. Heheheheheheeee, very good, and since, I've eaten bazashi. I still prefer beef. Don't know if I've ever had Kobe beef, but that Yamagata stuff is hard to beat! I was in Kansas one time, and host served us Kansas beef roast. It was the best roast I've ever had. I just like good food. Japan is the best place I've been in the world for good food on a general basis, everyday good food I mean.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Never had kobe beef, but I love black and red angus beef, texas longhorn, and a big fat juicy t-bone is my favorite.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Steak Gusto is not bad... that's about the level of my budget...

2 ( +3 / -1 )

if im going to pay that much for beef, id want to have at least more protein than fat in my order, not the other way around. even if i had bill gates wealth i could thing of 100 better foods to spend my money on than Kobe beef. yes ive tried kobe beef, nice but certainly not worth the price

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Saw an interesting show once about a Canadian Chef who flew to Japan to try the "best beef" in the world. Turns out he did not like it, but he learned enough about Japan to realize it was not important what he personally thought about it--what was more important is that the prevailing opinion in Japan said it was good, therefore it was. I vaguely recall the price was $US700/kilo, so this 210,000 yen per kilogram must be 3 x as good!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

"Grass-fed beef is both healthier and better tasting"

Jaymann healthier?

probably, as grass feed beef has better omega3 to omega 6 ratios of essential fatty acids than grain feed cattle*.

Taste wise, that is the eye of the beholder. I had some Kobe beef once that was just too fatty for my preference, I've had other Kobe beef that was just perfect. The best beef I've ever had in Japan is Yamatogyu - that stuff is the absolute bomb, unbelievably tender yet quite lean. Its heaven

*As for why ratios of omega 3 to 6 matters..........Anthropological research suggests that our hunter-gatherer ancestors consumed omega-6 and omega-3 fats in a ratio of roughly 1:1. It also indicates that both ancient and modern hunter-gatherers were free of the modern inflammatory diseases, like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, that are the primary causes of death and morbidity today. Modern industrial diets have ratios not of 1:2 but 1:10 - 1:20 but its not so much grain fed beef fueling this as grain fed beef is minor contributor, rather the skewed ratio is heavily the result of vegetable/seed oils, the ones we were told were healthier than "artery clogging saturated fat"! Ditch the seed oil margarine - eat butter. Eat beef. Saturated fat is not the enemy. Corn oil, soybean oil and seed oils are.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Get your roasts at Costco, it you have one near you. It's worth the membership fee.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Okay, I admit I spoke too quickly. But the idea of chomping down that much pure fat scares me no matter how good it tastes.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The steaks are Australian Black Angus! Good steak = no fat!

Learn about steak!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Kobe beef, overhyped.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"210,000 yen per kilogram"

Something is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

articles on superior Grass-fed beef.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/beef/9311062/Grass-fed-meat-promises-to-revive-health-benefits

http://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-health-benefits-of-grass-fed-meat-part-2/

That it is tastier is probably left to those of us who eat a lot of beef and know...

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Kobe beef is a scam for sure - massively over priced and not the equal of quality NZ Grass-fed beef.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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