WARNING RANT: Annoying Culinary Trends: The Kobe Steak Hamburger

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Okay, Kobe beef is known for being the highest quality of beef produced on the planet, specifically Wagyu cattle from Kobe, Japan and pricing around $300/pound.

In the past year I've noticed more and more Northern Californian restaurants serving "Kobe Beef Hamburgers". I've done some research and found that the majority of these "Kobe Beef Hamburgers" are being distributed from Harris Ranch, California, supposedly under supervision of Kobe beef farmers (does this ring a bell with the way Sapporo and Asahi beer being handled by Molson in Canada?). If you've ever driven on Interstate 5 between SF/LA and noticed along the east side of the freeway thousands of cattle populating large mounds of cow manure (sometimes being sprinklered during the 100F+ summer months), then you know where I'm talking about.

Where am I going with this... oh yeah: like champagne and bourbon, shouldn't regionally defined food/beverages be isolated to those areas? Or should cheap imitations to be pawned off on the masses exist in a deceptively manipulative market?

I mean: why on earth would you think that you were getting one of the highest quality beefs in a hamburger, which usually boasts some of the lowest quality parts of the cow?

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

so yeah, on that side note: Japanese beer purists, please support orion, the last of the true japanese exports.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:45 (twenty-one years ago)

does this ring a bell with the way Sapporo and Asahi beer being handled by Molson in Canada?

um, I don't know anything about steak, but gygax! are you aware that most "import" beers aren't actually imported? Were you angry to learn that not all Coca-Cola is made in Atlanta nor all Budweiser in St. Louis?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:46 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, most of the import beers i drink are, yes, imported from the country of origin.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

but is the california-raised kobe beef also made from wagyu cattle? if so, i dunno if i understand what the problem is here??

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:49 (twenty-one years ago)

eisbar: no, not wagyu cattle.

hstencil: do you drink jack daniels?

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:49 (twenty-one years ago)

i guess what triggered this was seeing "Kobe Beef" frozen hamburgers tonight at Cultural Tourist Central™: Trader Joes.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

eisbar: no, not wagyu cattle.

ok, now i see. it does seem like a knock-off then (unless there's something special about what these "kobe beef farmers" do).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

gygax!, no, I don't drink jd as it tastes like death, and would even if it was bourbon and not "sour mash whiskey" or whatever those Tennesseans call it.

As for this kobe steak hamburger thing, well it's probably no worse than naming your son after a piece of meat. Next thing you know he'll end up treating women that way.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

eisbar: well, the wagyu cattle in kobe are beer-fed and massaged twice a day. who wouldn't want to be a wagyu cattle?

hstencil: exactly my point wrt: JD.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:54 (twenty-one years ago)

no it's not the same point, gygax!. I don't drink JD because it's not really bourbon, I don't drink it because I don't like the taste.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:55 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: Italian/Californian Sparkling Wines vs. Champagne

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I love Jack Daniels. I hate you all.

― dean? (deangulberry), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:56 (twenty-one years ago)

how much are these things going for anyway?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean if someone is willing to pay $75 for a frozen burger made from California cows, why not laugh instead of rant?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:57 (twenty-one years ago)

But you <3 Sparks so it's all good, right Dean?

I don't know h, it was TJ, probably $3-4/lb.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:57 (twenty-one years ago)

that's not even a premium. Let them rip off the name.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 02:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't love Sparks, gygax, I love you and your queer hamburger musings.

― dean? (deangulberry), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 03:02 (twenty-one years ago)

watch it, you are turning me on!

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 03:05 (twenty-one years ago)

the old homestead kobe beef burger is $41.

― Nick Apollo Forte (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 03:10 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.tomgoetz.com/japan/japscan03.jpg

GYGAX AND I IN THE TUB (note: filename "japscan")

― dean? (deangulberry), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 03:14 (twenty-one years ago)

the old homestead kobe beef burger is $41

i hope it's bigger than 1/7th of a pound (ie, market rate for authentic kobe beef = $300/lb.)

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 03:18 (twenty-one years ago)

(how do you post pics on nu-ilxor?)

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 03:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe they can call it "I CANOT BELIVE THAT ITIS NOT TEH KOBEY BEEFS!"

― dean? (deangulberry), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 03:18 (twenty-one years ago)

everyone talks about how Peter Luger's is better anyway.

(I ate at the Wollensky Grill at Smith & Wollensky last week but they have a lot of seafood.)

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 03:21 (twenty-one years ago)

(does this ring a bell with the way Sapporo and Asahi beer being handled by Molson in Canada?).

To tell you the truth, I can probably only name 5 or 6 import beers widely available which are made in a different country. Kingfisher found in North America is made in Engerland, just about any beer in Engerland or Ireland is made by Molson, Coors or Labbat for export to Canada and the states. Except Guinness it seems. Thanks to our extremely screwed import laws, even Keiths and Moosehead (marketed as Nova Scotia and New Brunswickian beers respectively) are made in whatever province their sold in. Maritime provinces and Newfieland excepted.

Or should cheap imitations to be pawned off on the masses exist in a deceptively manipulative market?

Im perfectly happy drinking my German sparkling white wine, my late harvest Riesling and my Molson's brewed Moosehead.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 12:35 (twenty-one years ago)

(Did I see a diss of Trader Joe's? I demand a retraction!)

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 12:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Kobe plays for the lakers, his beef is tight yo.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

he thinks women are pieces of meat.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:01 (twenty-one years ago)

sure does.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:02 (twenty-one years ago)

In Europe stuff like this is protected by the EU regulated terroir/DOC/etc. system. Regions can lay claim to ceratin foodstuff or trade marks like Parma Ham, Scotch beef or Rioja. You couldn't even call your product something of the ilk of 'scotch like beef' (you might get away with Skotch beef I don't know).

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Though that doesn't stop supermarkets referring to Melton Mowbray pork pies which are made nowhere near melton Mowbray.

― Matt (Matt), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Unbfortunately they got turned down by the EU which is a travesty.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:50 (twenty-one years ago)

i avoided reading this thread because i thought it was about kobe-endorsed burgers, or something similar. glad i'm not the only one!

― colette (a2lette), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:54 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post

they did, didn't they? what's the state of play with the nomenclature of cornish pasties at the moment?

― Matt (Matt), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I learned (on the Alias Season 1 DVDs) from Sydney Bristow's roommate that Kobe Bryant was named after the type of steak because his parents saw the name on the menu in Japan.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Or Jersey Milk chocolate bars.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 14:02 (twenty-one years ago)

but all culinary trends are annoying, except for bubble tea

― kephm, Tuesday, 20 July 2004 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

my take on bubble tea: fuck the boba, gimme the nai cha straight.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 July 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

(x-post to Matt) I think that as a true Cornish pasty is based on its filling (spuds, onion, steak, swede), the origin is seen as irrelevant, though of course you can't really get a proper one east of the Tamar. Same with the Melton Mowbray pie, seen as a type rather than a regional speciality (wrongly, I think). Ann, the woman who runs the Lizard bakery which is patriotically painted gold and black, burned an American flag for the cameras after a New York Times food snob, I mean, critic moaned about our national dish, and only about a month after 9/11 too, so it's fair to say that some people care a lot about this. The Cornish rool, sometimes. (She didn't have a pasty for me last time I was there though because she had to go "to the opticians, me 'ansum")

― snotty moore, Tuesday, 20 July 2004 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

gygax, you're a genius! this is for you:

http://www.biology.eku.edu/FOSTER/anatomy/digestive/intestines.JPG

― j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 01:16 (twenty-one years ago)

brie to thread. real brie is unpasteurized cow's milk, aged for about 30 days. in america the brie we get is either imported from france but pasteurized ("rouzaire") or made domestically and aged at least 60 days (horrors!) or pasteurized.

― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 21 July 2004 01:27 (twenty-one years ago)

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