26 Jul
Okay,I’m gonna’ set the matter straight here and you might get mad, scratch your head, or come at me like a crazed Samurai- but there is no such thing as Kobe beef cattle, not in America, not in Japan, not anywhere. Period.
29 Mar
Brangus, American Wagyu (or should I say Wagshuyu), even Longhorn- most cattle we eat today have a number of varieties within that hide of theirs. Why cross breed?
Think of it as a chef would his spice rack- what characteristics does the dish need to take on? Once this is in mind herbs and spices can be chosen accordingly so the finished product will have an Asian, or Arabian, or Spanish, or French feel and taste. There are three types of cattle- Work; Beef; Dairy. All these types are good for certain things so let’s break them down in the cattle pantry.
Work (Draught) Cattle:
These cattle have been raised to work; some are double-muscled like the Charolais, Piedmontese, and Belgian Blue. You can tell a double muscled breed- they have an Austrian accent and have come to “pump you up”! Seriously, double muscle means well…muscular.
Other non double muscle draft breeds are cattle such as the Limousine, and the famed Wagyu breeds of Japan (from which Kobe style beef comes from). These animals mature late but when they do have well developed muscle and depending on breed have great marbling potential and an excellent flavor profile. Think about intramuscular marbling for a moment- this is the power plant that drives the muscle. Each muscle fiber needs energy and the fat that is attached to it is its fuel reserve. A draft animal that is genetically poised to do a lot of work and is not working will put on these intramuscular reserves and Voila- marbling! The draw back is by the time a draft animal matures to this marbling stage it can be Voila!- tough, unless aged correctly. Solution? (Read on my friend….)
Beef Cattle:
These are breeds like the Hereford and the Angus (red or black, they are the same genetically) they lack an enzyme that metabolizes fat and so they marble quickly and mature younger – young well marbled meat? I’d say that is a pretty good combo for eating and it is, that is why these breeds have been the preferred eating breeds for a very long time. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some of this characteristic in draught animals to get heavier marbling and more weight? Do you see where we’re going with this?
CROSS BREEDING.
So you take Angus that matures young and cross it with Tajima a Wagyu draft breed and Voila! – American style Wagyu (and at heavier marbling levels- American style Kobe). Highly unsaturated heavy marbling profile, hybrid vigor, matures younger- this cross is win win- the best of both worlds The Work & The Beef. This is where we get American Wagyu & Kobe style beef.
Another example: Brahmas are a cattle breed that sweat- not a very good eating animal, but they are hearty and they sweat- in Texas if you don’t want to die of heat exhaustion you better be sweatin’. BRANGUS! Brahma/Angus- sweating beef steer that can survive the heat and produce decent meat for the table.
Really the combinations are endless depending on the characteristics hoped for whether size, premium eating quality, heartiness, etc… Oh, yes- one more:
Dairy Cattle:
Good for, well….milk and veal. Many of the males are turned into steers and end up in beef programs as of course they don’t give well….milk. Many of the large packers have dairy cattle crossed in with the beef cattle or straight up Holstein beef programs. You can’t milk a dairy breed male, so meat is the logical end. Work and dairy breeds need longer feeding and aging to get the same break down as beef cattle. Does it bring anything to the table that the other two types don’t? Not really, sheer numbers maybe; but hey if you eat dairy cattle with eggs you’ll have a ‘meaty-yolker’ experience twice in one sitting! But this is a way to offer moderately priced protein for the table.
We can write much more here but it might steer you into boredom and we wouldn’t want you to have a beef with us! I think we get the picture, right? Now next time you see a rancher you might want to call him ‘Chef’!
Here are excellent resources on cattle breeds:
21 Sep
Peter Frampton circa 1975, right? If Frampton owned a steak house circa 2007 his tune would have been titled such. Kobe beef is showing up on more and more American menus but the fact of the matter is there is no Kobe beef in this country. WHAT?! Ok, Ok calm down now- there is ‘Kobe style’ beef in this country but even the Japanese stuff that comes over here is not from the Kobe region, in fact the Japanese themselves do not consider beef from the Kobe region as being the top beef but Kobe is so easy for us to pronounce that we have made it synonymous with the best of the best when it comes to succulent tender marbled beef. Now I’ve been talking Kobe but in the title I mentioned the word Wagyu. I will explain so we don’t have a beef, or perhaps so we do…
Kobe style bavette tournedos
What is Wagyu beef? What is KOBE beef?
The truth is there is much confusion as to what Kobe beef actually is. Simply put, it is a style of beef. There is no Kobe breed of cattle; Kobe is a city in Japan or a basketball player- not an animal (that might be debated if you ever saw Kobe take it to the hoop– but that’s a different story!). The style of beef made popular in the Kobe region involved the feeding of Wagyu cattle following a specific method to take advantage of is marbling capabilities. Wagyu means “Japanese cattle”. Many cattle that receive prolonged feeding will stop marbling and put on back fat, Wagyu just keeps marbling and the marbling is higher in unsaturated fat compared to other cattle breeds. Keep in mind the Wagyu breeds are not beef animals, they are draft animals so they need to be fed longer to get the marbling qualities desired. The main quality breed used is a black bovine called Tajima, and so with the feeding program here in the USA Tajima is crossed with another premium black bovine breed called Angus, which is a beef cattle- it matures early and marbles nicely at a younger age so you get the best qualities of both types of cattle and Voila!- we have American Style Wagyu beef. When the feeding process takes the beef to higher marbling levels it’s known as American Kobe. Even at prime levels of marbling Wagyu beef is exceptional due to finer muscle fibers and a succulent tenderness unmatched! A company that produce perhaps the best style of of this beef is in America is Mishima Ranch .
So in the words of Frampton as a rancher – ‘do you feel like Wagyu? Oh that’s true…’
On The Back Burner 