funny, it made front page over at SD

I give my meat out for free.

When pressed for comment, Kobe beef responded, "If you ever catch me at a Costco, I'm probably just there for the cheap booze."

@Rob Weddle: Also, the words "wagyu beef" makes me giggle like a third grader.

I was just going to buy 30 lbs. avg of it and they were sold out. Maybe next month.

That's actually a big drop. They had a much smaller roast for the same price throughout the holidays.

I sent the link to our dinner guests warning that I wouldn't be serving it.

Lol, as a Costco member, I came across this in an email when I was looking at TV's. I love that they recommend a $500+ bottle of wine with it.

Man, I thought I splurged when I bought like $30 worth of NY strip...

-KS

The saddest part is, I've had Wagyu beef on multiple occasions and it tastes the same as high-quality regular beef to me.

@Dr.of Teledildonics: HEYOOOOO!

At least they are including shipping and handling.

I think it's a good idea to eliminate the persistent misunderstanding that spending money is somehow going to help the economy. This sort of thinking precipitates from the "spend spend spend!" mantra that helped create the mess in the first place.

Also, that beef looks amazing.

Or you could shop around online and come up with a better deal....

http://www.lobels.com/store/main/item.asp?item=122

Why wasn't this listed on Morning Deals?

That beef in the picture can't be the Wagyu stuff -- look at all the fat... I'm assuming the Wagyu meat would be a bright red, like the beef they were serving in that series on the British Royal family. If I had had HD when I watched that show, I would have had a heart attack on the spot...

@jpdanzig: The fat marbling is a halmark of most fine beefs, but especially wagyu.

@Rob Weddle: It is worth noting that Amazon Fresh (if you can get it) delivers ground Kobe beef for about $5/lb. I'm pretty sure it isn't from Wagyu cattle though.

@jpdanzig: The extensive marble is the hallmark of Kobe beef. That's why it's so flavorful and tender.

Wagyu is simply the breed of cattle and can come in more or less marbled than traditional kobe depending on how it was raised. But due to protections, wagyu can not be called Kobe unless it's raised in Kobe.

This particular roast pictured, is obviously a very high quality reproduction of Kobe beef.

@Claytons: *clap* *clap* - You're right on.

On the flip side - kudos to those who can afford to spend this kind of money on dinner. I feel privileged to live in a country where I have the opportunity to make a billion dollars and live a fat, rich life of excess if I want to and can pull it off.

At that price, I think I'll leave the "Kobe Beef" to Shaquille O'Neal, thank you very much.

You do NOT need a $2,299 piece of meat! Seriously now.

I had a Wagyu steak in Tokyo last week, simply the best steak I've ever had. Yes, the fat is essential to the steak because fat is flavor.

Incredible flavor and tenderness, then again for a 200 gram steak for nearly $60 I would hope so.

@jpdanzig: The best beef (available to consumers) is marbled like this. Most of it cooks off, but the bit that stays behind really brings out the flavor and makes the meat tender. You've got to know how to cook it, though. A USDA Prime top sirlon cut, properly cooked, has about as much fat as a chicken breast.

If the steer (or heifer) is exercised hard enough to work off all the fat, (like in USDA Select a la Wal-Mart) the meet is tough and stringy - unless you use artificial tenderizers on it, beat it to a pulp first, or are willing to slow cook it for a day or two.

Wagyu is very good, but I think USDA Prime and Choice are good enough. Prime is about equal to Wagyu, without all the Japanese exclusive, hormone-free, natural grain fed, massaged once-a-day marketing involved.

I'll eat Select on a bad day. USDA Beef Grades

From the description:
"Our genetically traceable cattle are raised on a diet of soybeans, wheat barley and beer..."
Sounds like my diet in college.

@Claytons: "Spending. The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."

What else am I supposed to cook in my $50,000 oven?

@nicemarmot617: It's more texture, less taste, at least from my experience with lesser beefs. Thoughts?

@nicemarmot617: Same here. A good cut of regular beef is just as good.

@larrymac808: They should include cooking and serving by a professional chef for that price.

@Jakuub: I'm all about texture when it comes to steak, but I've had "regular" beef just as tender as Wagyu. Maybe not as fatty, but I'm not that big of a fan of the "marbling" anyway.

I'd like that well done, please. What's wrong?

@dorianh49: Oh, yeah, and pour a bottle of A1 over it!

@valarmorghulis: I think you have it backwards. Wagyu cattle isnt want makes it so rediculously expensive, its that it comes from Kobe Japan.

[en.wikipedia.org]

It is unlikely that amazon is selling Kobe beef, and if they say they are, they are probabaly lying or have it stated as "American Kobe" or something similar.

@jpdanzig: I'm not trying to sound mean, but you don't know what you're looking at. If your meat is bright red, that means it is a leaner cut of meat containing more muscle fibers and less fat. For instance, filet is extremely lean, sometimes looking a bit purple in the center as a result. Most other bright red cuts are going to be stringy, tough, working muscles that need to be cooked for a long period of time before they break down and become soft.

The Wagyu beef is not only highly marbleized but the meat tissue itself contains higher quantities of fat, giving it a pinker look, almost like veal. Wagyu cows are of a certain breed, and are treated in a certain way (very relaxed, fed alcohol to 'sedate' the cows) in order to increase their intramuscular fat content to these extreme levels. Much of the grading of beef is related to the intramuscular fat content. A bright red steak would be a fresh piece of meat, but if the fat content is too low, it could be considered a lower grade of meat.

@MexiFinn: When the fuel price hike caused a mass cow slaughter, I bought a bunch of ribeye for ~$4-5 a lb. I knew it was a 'once in a lifetime' price situation, but I just wasn't in the mood for red meat at the time and had to freeze most of it.

I consider buying a whole beef tenderloin from Costco to be 'splurging'. The price/lb is unbeatable, and it makes a great dinner party. Thank you, Alton Brown, for teaching me how to butcher my own tenderloin!

@discounteggroll:

And FatWallet too. Amusing discussions ensued. :)

@ArgusRun: Funny thing is.. There are no cow farms in Kobe. Kobe is an industrialized port city, it's all factories and heavy industry there. Me and my chef friend traveled to Kobe in search of the Kobe cow.. we never found it.

That is a freaking good deal. It cost me over $200 for 4oz. of Kobe beef ribeye steak meal I had in Japan. Of course this is regualar Wagyu. It won't be as naturally sweet from all the sake the cow's been fed.

BTW.. those who say Kobe beef tastes like store beef.. You ate a knock off. You won't believe how many times I had a Kobe beef steak in the California only to be disappointed it's nothing like the Kobe beef steak I had in Japan. I think the Kobe beef committee doesn't really have the man power to sue every little restaurant that claims to have "Kobe" beef.

@urban_ninjya: That's because Kobe Cows live only in the finest penthouse suites and have servants get them their daily requirements instead of having to go about that themselves.

I think you could buy an entire cow for this price.

@urban_ninjya: They're on tiny farms in the hills as far as I've heard.

Also, does anyone think this guy's been sufficiently corrected? And I thought I was being pedantic.

@Ecks:

You could. Whole angus cows are selling for less than $2800 in my local classifieds.

"Hey, at least he's doing his part to keep America moving." Except that he's buying IMPORTED beef.

On a side note it IS one heck of a deal seeing how that would probably cost ~$3000 in Japan.

Just like how we all cringe at veal, we should be cringing at kobe beef.

@nicemarmot617: Either you had "Wagyu style", or your chef sucked. I had the true stuff, on the same plate as the "Wagyu style" from Australia, and there was literally no comparison. The Australian tasted great, until I tried the real stuff. After a bite of the real stuff, the Australian tasted flavorless. It was just that good.

@urban_ninjya: I agree completely. Far too many people get the things that say "Kobe", but just aren't the real deal. The real deal is gooooood.

@xtc46: it's the beer and massages that the wagyu cattle from japan get that cost all that much

@Rob Weddle: good thing the cheap booze is available in many states without a costco membership

Not too far off the mark. I get Wagyu rib eyes for $149/lb.on sale.

To be fair, that's for marble score 12, which is the best, most flavorful. If you drop down to a marble score 5 or 6, prices go down to about $60/lb.

Unless the person cooking it knows exactly how to cook Wagyu and has some experience with it, you're wasting your money. This is not your average throw it on the grill steak.

Properly cooked, there isn't a huge difference between a 6 and a 12. But once you've had it properly prepared, there's nothing like it. A truly wonderful experience.

I do agree though that for most folks, myself included, USDA prime is usually extremely good meat, and even select cuts of choice are really good.

That's what is nice about Costco. You can get bargain priced stuff and high end stuff all at good prices too. No Waygu beef at Sam's club.

But seriously, who buys $149/lb meat at Costco?

@tedyc03: What price piece of meat do I need?