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I have had a lot of bad hot dogs in places that sell "gourmet" dogs. Best one I've had since I've been here was a Kobe dog at the Butcher and Bee on King St. It was damn good and worth every penny. Worst one was from Sesame Burger actually. It tasted like a Ball Park. Gag.
I'd bet you $100 that the Kobe Dog was no more Kobe beef than the Kobe Sliders you see on menus.
Kobe hot dogs have been plentiful in the US...even during the years Kobe beef was banned from import. Kobe wasn't even allowed back into the US until mid-2012.
I'd bet you $100 that the Kobe Dog was no more Kobe beef than the Kobe Sliders you see on menus.
Kobe hot dogs have been plentiful in the US...even during the years Kobe beef was banned from import. Kobe wasn't even allowed back into the US until mid-2012.
I think it must have been a little earlier than 2012. I was getting Kobe roast beef and Kobe burgers as early as 2007.
To be honest, in re-reading my post above, I lumped all Japanese beef into the same category.
In the last sentence of my previous post I said, "Kobe wasn't even allowed back into the US until mid-2012."
It SHOULD have read, "Japanese beef wasn't even allowed back into the US until mid-2012." Even I made the mistake of lumping all Japanese beef into the Kobe conversation.
Allow me to explain a bit more.
Even before the 2010-2012 ban on all Japanese beef (because of hoof-in-mouth) Kobe was not allowed for import. What that means is, before 2012 NO Kobe beef was allowed into the United States.
The reason for this is because none of the few slaughter houses that dealt with Kobe beef were approved by the USDA for importation of their product.
So before sometime in August of 2012 there was absolutely no way for anyone in the United States to sell real, authentic Kobe beef. They could sell other high quality Japanese beef (except during the 2010-2012 ban) and they could sell American breeds and cross breeds of Waygu beef. Often marketers (restaurants and meat markets) used the term "Kobe", but the consumer was actually being lied to as Kobe was illegal in this country.
Kobe beef in the United States is actually less than a year into it's infancy. I have heard people say they paid $25 per pound for Kobe beef at a meat market or that they paid $100 in a restaurant for a Kobe steak. Even "good" American Waygu beef will cost more than $100 per pound in a meat market. Real Kobe will cost you $300+ per pound in the market and a steak will be $300-$500+ in a restaurant if you can find one of the few that actually are importing it (very little importation is actually happening).
So I hope that answers some questions and makes it a little more clear.
I think it must have been a little earlier than 2012. I was getting Kobe roast beef and Kobe burgers as early as 2007.
Nope...read the post just above this one.
No Kobe beef has ever been allowed in the US until mid-late 2012. The USDA had never approved the meat from any slaughterhouse that processed Kobe beef until then.
Before 2012 it was either Japanese beef other than authentic Kobe, or it was American beef. Either way, you were lied to...which is common practice.
The US has no law or rule that says you can't use the term "Kobe" for anything you want. Just like using the term "Champagne". You can buy California champagne, but it isn't real champagne in the true sense of the word. Just because another country has strict rules as to when a particular term can be used, doesn't mean the US observes those same rules.
Sort of like buying Vidalia onions. It would be a big no-no if someone in Virginia started marketing onions as "Vidalias". Vidalia onions are, by GA state law and US federal law, only grow in a particular area of 20 Georgia counties. The same laws exist in Japan for Kobe beef...certain breed, grown in a certain area, processed in certain slaughter houses, killed at a certain weight, meat graded at a certain level, etc.
Again, no Kobe beef in the US until August 2012...ever. (August is when the law was updated)
Last edited by cape_fisherman; 04-10-2013 at 06:52 AM..
Ahh -- some folks toast their buns...it's all in personal preference.
Can't remember the last time I had a hot dog.
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