A Wagyu rib eye is such a flavourful unctuous cut of meat that it would overpower a Pinot Noir. It happens that I have a brother who raises Wagyu cattle so I am lucky enough to enjoy that glorious meat on a regular basis. I have learned that a big, bold, brassy Bordeaux is the way to go when you are eating a grand piece of Wagyu.
Whenever I do myself a Wagyu rib eye I always pull a bottle of Latour or a bottle of Petrus from my wine cellar as the accompaniment. If you twist my arm I would pick the Chateau Latour ahead of the Chateau Petrus. It is a bit more robust than the Petrus.
How do you know about Wagyu anyway, steve229? One of the steakhouses that features my brother's Wagyu charges $150 for a small 200g (approx 6oz) steak. A large cut of 750g (approx 24oz) goes for $550. Those prices are for meat only. A la carte menu at that particular steakhouse.
Even with your $350K salary that is mighty expensive steak.
@ Steve, Farmer....Is that beef really 10 or more times tastier than prime rib or filet mignon? To me, it's like buying a Luis Vuitton handbag for 3000, when a 200 one is just as good.
But I'm not rich, and I don't have a sugar baby
@ Steve, Farmer, since you guys are at the top of frivolous dining spending, Nino's in NYC has a $1000 small pizza. Different kinds of caviar and lobster. No way does it taste better than the $20 pepperoni pizza down the street. I guess you're paying for status power.
Seems like a lot of marketing and hype are a big part of it. If you did pay crazy amounts I hope you got the real thing.
"Between the time the USDA changed its rules last August and the end of 2012, exactly five head of Kobe beef cattle were shipped to the United States – five. Through the first 11 months of 2013 the US received just 17 head of Kobe beef, never more than six in a single month and often none at all. In sharp contrast, the US cattle industry produced some 29,300,000 head of beef cattle in 2013, according to beefusa.org. To say Kobe is a drop in the beef bucket is a gross overstatement – the total amount of Kobe beef shipped to the US through the first 11 months of 2013 was just 3,217 pounds or less than 300 pounds per months for the entire country. “Kobe beef is the rarest among Japanese beef, but there is a contradiction between how well known the name Kobe beef is and the actual amount of beef,” said Hiroo Miyanishi of Japan Agriculture’s Livestock Section. “As you have seen, most of what you get in the US is not real, not authentic Kobe beef. People should be aware of this scarcity and insist on having the authenticity proven.”
“it's like buying a Luis Vuitton handbag for 3000, when a 200 one is just as good.”
I see it more as an experiential, bucket list kind of thing.
To put it in TUSCL terms:
Some might argue that the $20 streetwalkers LDK likes to pick up are “just as good.” I suspect most of us would be willing to pay 10x or more for OTC with a fav dancer (Ok, sure, not jerikson, but you get my point, right?)
Where it gets dicey is deciding how much more you would be willing to pay for say, a one time OTC with your favorite porn star or that untouchable perfect 10 stripper goddess you’ve been lusting over.
Good topic, actually, someone should start a thread on that…
I agree with you that Wagyu is way overpriced at the retail level. If I didn't have the family connection to Wagyu beef I wouldn't pay the retail price either. I will tell you that it is streets and miles the best beef that I have ever eaten.
It pains me to say that. My father raised champion Hereford cattle back in his day and I always thought that the steaks from Dad's animals couldn't be beaten. Rib eyes from Dad's Herefords were better than any Italian Chianina or French Charolais that I sampled. Then I had a thick rib eye from one of my brother's Wagyu..................an orgasmic experience.
^^^
Slick dude, that is just sick. If I've learned anything from Harry Potter it is that killing unicorns is bad juju. On the other hand, Aphrodite is a slut and she breast pumped a lot of that shit when she was preggers with various kids and I hear she has it stored and sells it for not that much. The stuff she pumped when preggers with Phobos and Deimos tastes a bit off though.
Backing away from the mythological foods (and taking the request at least somewhat seriously) I'll just say I'm shocked your choices are limited to a Cab and a Pinot. If forced I'd go Pinot.
Like many others I'm skeptical that Wagyu beef is worth the price, but art has proven to be a man of wealth and taste so I'll defer to him on this. I have had Kobe once, while visiting Japan. But it was thin sliced and we used it for shabu shabu. I didn't even realize it was Kobe until another American at the party said something like "wow...can you imagine how much that cost? Our host is going all out!", mentioning that he was certain it was Kobe. Thinking back I don't know if he was right or not...hot pot seems a waste for uber expensive beef. And it just tasted like boiled beef slices to me.
Spoke to my brother on the phone last night and told him of Wagyu becoming a discussion topic on a strip club site. He laughed and said any 'word of mouth' advertising is OK with him. He wanted to know why I didn't give names of addresses of the steakhouses selling his steaks.
28 comments
Whenever I do myself a Wagyu rib eye I always pull a bottle of Latour or a bottle of Petrus from my wine cellar as the accompaniment. If you twist my arm I would pick the Chateau Latour ahead of the Chateau Petrus. It is a bit more robust than the Petrus.
Even with your $350K salary that is mighty expensive steak.
But I'm not rich, and I don't have a sugar baby
"Between the time the USDA changed its rules last August and the end of 2012, exactly five head of Kobe beef cattle were shipped to the United States – five. Through the first 11 months of 2013 the US received just 17 head of Kobe beef, never more than six in a single month and often none at all. In sharp contrast, the US cattle industry produced some 29,300,000 head of beef cattle in 2013, according to beefusa.org. To say Kobe is a drop in the beef bucket is a gross overstatement – the total amount of Kobe beef shipped to the US through the first 11 months of 2013 was just 3,217 pounds or less than 300 pounds per months for the entire country. “Kobe beef is the rarest among Japanese beef, but there is a contradiction between how well known the name Kobe beef is and the actual amount of beef,” said Hiroo Miyanishi of Japan Agriculture’s Livestock Section. “As you have seen, most of what you get in the US is not real, not authentic Kobe beef. People should be aware of this scarcity and insist on having the authenticity proven.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted…
then the newer updated article
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted…
I guess I'll find out (assuming it's the real thing, that is) since this will be my first (and probably last) time trying it.
I see it more as an experiential, bucket list kind of thing.
To put it in TUSCL terms:
Some might argue that the $20 streetwalkers LDK likes to pick up are “just as good.” I suspect most of us would be willing to pay 10x or more for OTC with a fav dancer (Ok, sure, not jerikson, but you get my point, right?)
Where it gets dicey is deciding how much more you would be willing to pay for say, a one time OTC with your favorite porn star or that untouchable perfect 10 stripper goddess you’ve been lusting over.
Good topic, actually, someone should start a thread on that…
I agree with you that Wagyu is way overpriced at the retail level. If I didn't have the family connection to Wagyu beef I wouldn't pay the retail price either. I will tell you that it is streets and miles the best beef that I have ever eaten.
It pains me to say that. My father raised champion Hereford cattle back in his day and I always thought that the steaks from Dad's animals couldn't be beaten. Rib eyes from Dad's Herefords were better than any Italian Chianina or French Charolais that I sampled. Then I had a thick rib eye from one of my brother's Wagyu..................an orgasmic experience.
Slick dude, that is just sick. If I've learned anything from Harry Potter it is that killing unicorns is bad juju. On the other hand, Aphrodite is a slut and she breast pumped a lot of that shit when she was preggers with various kids and I hear she has it stored and sells it for not that much. The stuff she pumped when preggers with Phobos and Deimos tastes a bit off though.
Like many others I'm skeptical that Wagyu beef is worth the price, but art has proven to be a man of wealth and taste so I'll defer to him on this. I have had Kobe once, while visiting Japan. But it was thin sliced and we used it for shabu shabu. I didn't even realize it was Kobe until another American at the party said something like "wow...can you imagine how much that cost? Our host is going all out!", mentioning that he was certain it was Kobe. Thinking back I don't know if he was right or not...hot pot seems a waste for uber expensive beef. And it just tasted like boiled beef slices to me.
I had a gorgeous Chianina steak on an Italian vacation; it just wasn't as good as my brother's Wagyu.