Post by BBQ Butcher on Jan 24, 2015 5:48:13 GMT -5
A survey of magazine and newspaper articles (ProQuest/Ebsco) confirms Kobe beef hit the American market in the 1980s. Kobe comes from Wagyu cattle, orginally bred in Japan. In a country where space is premium, beef is not cheap.
"In those parts of the world where for various reasons there is no strong tradition of eating beef, there may be a slight tendency towards increased consumption caused by the general 'internationalization' of foods or, as in Japan, but the development of a new connoisseurship. In the area around Kobe, Japanese...(marbled beef) is raised on a diet including rice, rice bran, beans, beer, enhanced by regular massage."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 71)
"It seems that if you look for "quality" in almost anything, one of the places you look is Japan. If you want a fine quality automobile, you look to Japan. If you are looking for "quality" audio and video equipment, you look to Japan. In the years to come, the same may be true for beef; if you want quality beef, look to Japan. We have all heard of "Kobe beef." Even those of us who never have traveled to Japan have heard of the wonderfully tender, juicy, highly marbled and extremely expensive beef so highly prized by the Japanese. We have heard tales of how Japanese men and women feed beer to their cattle and spend hours massaging their animals to distribute the marbling evenly, occasionally taking a swig of beer and blowing it over the back of the beef and rubbing it in to soften the skin. It is true that the Japanese produce the world's most highly marbled beef, but it seems that we in America have some misconceptions about how they do it. Research scientists from both Texas A&M and Washington State University are doing extensive work with Wagyu cattle, the breed the Japanese use to produce Kobe beef. Both schools have herds of Wagyu cattle, and are working to come up with a cross that will produce the same style of beef. There are two basic reasons for such research: (1) Japan is expected to become one of the major markets for American beef in the not too distant future, and the Japanese want quality. And, (2) now that beef is okay again in this country, there is a growing demand in America, particularly in fine restaurants, for top-quality, well-marbled beef. A lot of folks would like to be able to find a really great steak from time to time; those are very rare these days in America. Perhaps the Japanese Wagyu will help. According to Dr. Don Nelson, extension meat specialist at Washington State University, the Wagyu originally was a draft animal and not very functionally efficient as a beef producer. They're not very good mothers but they marble well, so with some careful cross-breeding we hope to take advantage of their genetics to improve the grading ability of some of our cattle. When Wagyu beef is available in this country (it's going to take a year or two), don't expect it to be hand rubbed and beer fed like Kobe beef. But don't worry, the quality will be just as good. According to David Lunt, one of the researchers working with Wagyu beef at Texas A&M, much of what we have heard about Kobe beef is myth. Historically, the name refers to the Kobe area near Osaka where the most desirable beef was grown. Today, however, Wagyu are raised in several different areas of Japan. A better term for what Americans call Kobe beef, according to Mr. Lunt, is shimofuri, which means simply "highly marbled beef." "It is true," Lunt says, "that cattle are occasionally fed beer in Japan. Cattle in Japan are fed a finishing diet for at least 14 months and heifers may be fed for as many as 30 months prior to slaughter. Because they are fed so long, and particularly in summer months when the interaction of fat cover and the ambient temperature depresses feed intake, some cattle go off feed. When this happens, beer is fed to the cattle to stimulate appetite. Japanese cattle feeders do not ascribe any magical powers to feeding beer, nor do they associate the practice with an increase in carcass quality. They merely try feeding beer as part of an overall management program designed to keep the cattle on feed. True, cattle sometimes are massaged in Japan. But once again, this practice does not affect the deposition or marbling. It is a common sense practice required occasionally for cattle that are tied in one place for months and have no opportunity to exercise. The massaging is done to make the animal more comfortable and relieve stress due to stiffness that can result from inactivity. As I said, there is little likelihood that you're going to get any all-American cowboys to stand around all day massaging steers, and if there is any beer to be drunk, it ain't likely that any cow's going to get to drink it, but thanks to the Japanese and their Wagyu, we may be seeing some higher-quality beef in this country in the not too distant future."
---"U.S. Studies Adopting Japan's Kobe beef" Merle Ellis, Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1990 (pg. 8)
"In those parts of the world where for various reasons there is no strong tradition of eating beef, there may be a slight tendency towards increased consumption caused by the general 'internationalization' of foods or, as in Japan, but the development of a new connoisseurship. In the area around Kobe, Japanese...(marbled beef) is raised on a diet including rice, rice bran, beans, beer, enhanced by regular massage."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 71)
"It seems that if you look for "quality" in almost anything, one of the places you look is Japan. If you want a fine quality automobile, you look to Japan. If you are looking for "quality" audio and video equipment, you look to Japan. In the years to come, the same may be true for beef; if you want quality beef, look to Japan. We have all heard of "Kobe beef." Even those of us who never have traveled to Japan have heard of the wonderfully tender, juicy, highly marbled and extremely expensive beef so highly prized by the Japanese. We have heard tales of how Japanese men and women feed beer to their cattle and spend hours massaging their animals to distribute the marbling evenly, occasionally taking a swig of beer and blowing it over the back of the beef and rubbing it in to soften the skin. It is true that the Japanese produce the world's most highly marbled beef, but it seems that we in America have some misconceptions about how they do it. Research scientists from both Texas A&M and Washington State University are doing extensive work with Wagyu cattle, the breed the Japanese use to produce Kobe beef. Both schools have herds of Wagyu cattle, and are working to come up with a cross that will produce the same style of beef. There are two basic reasons for such research: (1) Japan is expected to become one of the major markets for American beef in the not too distant future, and the Japanese want quality. And, (2) now that beef is okay again in this country, there is a growing demand in America, particularly in fine restaurants, for top-quality, well-marbled beef. A lot of folks would like to be able to find a really great steak from time to time; those are very rare these days in America. Perhaps the Japanese Wagyu will help. According to Dr. Don Nelson, extension meat specialist at Washington State University, the Wagyu originally was a draft animal and not very functionally efficient as a beef producer. They're not very good mothers but they marble well, so with some careful cross-breeding we hope to take advantage of their genetics to improve the grading ability of some of our cattle. When Wagyu beef is available in this country (it's going to take a year or two), don't expect it to be hand rubbed and beer fed like Kobe beef. But don't worry, the quality will be just as good. According to David Lunt, one of the researchers working with Wagyu beef at Texas A&M, much of what we have heard about Kobe beef is myth. Historically, the name refers to the Kobe area near Osaka where the most desirable beef was grown. Today, however, Wagyu are raised in several different areas of Japan. A better term for what Americans call Kobe beef, according to Mr. Lunt, is shimofuri, which means simply "highly marbled beef." "It is true," Lunt says, "that cattle are occasionally fed beer in Japan. Cattle in Japan are fed a finishing diet for at least 14 months and heifers may be fed for as many as 30 months prior to slaughter. Because they are fed so long, and particularly in summer months when the interaction of fat cover and the ambient temperature depresses feed intake, some cattle go off feed. When this happens, beer is fed to the cattle to stimulate appetite. Japanese cattle feeders do not ascribe any magical powers to feeding beer, nor do they associate the practice with an increase in carcass quality. They merely try feeding beer as part of an overall management program designed to keep the cattle on feed. True, cattle sometimes are massaged in Japan. But once again, this practice does not affect the deposition or marbling. It is a common sense practice required occasionally for cattle that are tied in one place for months and have no opportunity to exercise. The massaging is done to make the animal more comfortable and relieve stress due to stiffness that can result from inactivity. As I said, there is little likelihood that you're going to get any all-American cowboys to stand around all day massaging steers, and if there is any beer to be drunk, it ain't likely that any cow's going to get to drink it, but thanks to the Japanese and their Wagyu, we may be seeing some higher-quality beef in this country in the not too distant future."
---"U.S. Studies Adopting Japan's Kobe beef" Merle Ellis, Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1990 (pg. 8)