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The best beef in the world?
There is a new winner and yes it is Kobe Beef in Kobe, Japan. It lives up to the hype, if you are in Kobe just try any of the better beef establishments in town. My personal list now reads as follows (in order, of course):
1. Kobe Beef, Kobe, Japan.
2. Dry-aged beef in Hermosillo, Mexico.
3. Southern Brazil, near Curitiba.
4. Lockhart, Texas, most of all the brisket at Schmitty's.
Maybe Argentina is next in line and it might place higher if I had consumed countryside barbecue there.
And yes, Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman are right: you should eat less beef. But Kobe is not the place to abstain. The reality is that eating beef in Kobe will make it very hard for you to eat beef almost anywhere else again.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 1, 2008 at 06:12 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink
Comments
I'm a Texan and I say that Argentina should be at least fourth on your list, and here's why: They do it without any of the fancy spices that we need for brisket. Argentinean beef is just that, and it's a beautiful thing, better than any beef I've had in my entire life in Texas. So take note because this is probably the only time you'll hear a Texan say that his state isn't the best at something, especially something like beef.
Posted by: A. H. Paschal at Jun 1, 2008 7:37:51 AM
Presumably you mean Smitty's.
Posted by: Ethan at Jun 1, 2008 9:26:16 AM
You are completely nuts if you believe that
Mexican, Brazilean or Texan beaf is better
than Argentinian meat.
Argentina's bife (beef) is soft
as butter and tastes delicious. Only Japanese
beef might be better.
Posted by: Gannon at Jun 1, 2008 11:33:09 AM
You are completely nuts if you believe that
Argentinian, Mexican, Brazilean or Texan beaf is better
than Albertan meat.
You haven't lived until you've had Alberta AAA beef! :)
Posted by: Wolf at Jun 1, 2008 11:43:11 AM
I have heard those Japanese cows lived a very pampered life, drinking beer in the summer, listening to Mozart all year round, getting massages every now and then, etc.
Posted by: Yan Li at Jun 1, 2008 12:01:07 PM
I second the many recommendations for Argentina (admittedly I do have friends there so I did get to taste a family country barbecue;-). Tuscany's Val di Chiana (the "chianina" beef) is also worth trying. Also, while I used to agree with you on Texas, once I got chances to taste the Oklahoma and New Mexico "variants" I got doubts -- ONE of them deserves to be on the list (they're but subtly different from each other, in the end) but maybe it should be OK rather than TX...
Posted by: Alex Martelli at Jun 1, 2008 1:35:13 PM
I concur with your ranking of Japanese beef, but I do feel obligated to toss in my two yen and point out that "Kobe beef" is generally known as "Tajima beef" in Japan, as that's the rural area where it was bred and most of it is raised. I lived there for several years, and it's a beautiful area, with fantastic crab as well as beef-- the hot springs town Kinosaki is a great overnight trip from Osaka and Kyoto.
Posted by: Townleybomb at Jun 1, 2008 1:58:07 PM
Let me be the first to say that I disagree with your ranking of X and that my favorite beef from Y is clearly superior.
Posted by: Andy at Jun 1, 2008 2:01:59 PM
re:#4, Texas Monthly magazine just released its new rankings of best bbq places, and there's a new king. It's a previously unknown place in Lexington, TX, and it's only open between 8AM and noonish on Saturdays. I'm already planning a pilgrimage.
Posted by: at Jun 1, 2008 3:37:40 PM
You don't need beef; you can get bison-most of it is grass-fed-right here in the US. It's much better for you than beef or any of that other CAFO meat. To bad most urbanites have no idea what is fed/administered to animals in those places.
Posted by: Tom at Jun 1, 2008 6:43:31 PM
You don't need beef; you can get bison-most of it is grass-fed-right here in the US. It's much better for you than beef or any of that other CAFO meat. To bad most urbanites have no idea what is fed/administered to animals in those places.
Posted by: Tom at Jun 1, 2008 6:43:45 PM
Smitty's in Lockhart, TX.
Posted by: chug at Jun 1, 2008 7:39:50 PM
I can't do the rankings, having not had most of the beef on your list. But if there is some that's a lot better than Argentine beef I'd be amazed, and very anxious to try it.
The beef down there is delicious.
Posted by: Bernard Yomtov at Jun 1, 2008 8:33:43 PM
Not only do the cows get to listen to Mozart, but it is from boxed sets of
Michiko Ushida, :-).
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Jun 1, 2008 9:00:01 PM
It makes me very sad that what is undoubtedly the best beef in the world is only obtainable in its country of origin, save for a very few outlets in Brisbane and Sydney.
The beef cattle of Vanuatu are all mongrels that find it hard to eat the grass faster than it grows and produce meat that is incomparable. In February I had the opportunity to eat a Vanuatu steak in a good restaurant and follow it with one in a very good New York restaurant (at 4 times the price) within a few days. Having made the comparison I feel now that I have little choice but to go back to Port Vila every time I want to eat beef.
Posted by: Phillip Capper at Jun 1, 2008 9:38:53 PM
[In inexplicable Soviet accent] King Island (Tasmania) beef is superior beef.
Seriously, it is.
Posted by: Kris at Jun 2, 2008 1:01:31 AM
I had a one pound Kobe beef hamburger once.
Yes, it *was* that good.
No, I didn't pay for it.
Posted by: Russell Nelson at Jun 2, 2008 1:24:56 AM
Just this year I've noticed several local (Seattle) burger joints offering "Kobe" beef as an upgrade. One teenaged cook told me "It's the same meat, but it's in the Kobe style."
Posted by: Walt at Jun 2, 2008 12:50:11 PM
McDonald's Big Mac!
Posted by: Rich at Jun 2, 2008 1:33:28 PM
Seriously most of this depends on taste anyway..
But the country has nothing to do with. The main drivers in taste (excluding adding flavouring) are
1. the age of the beast (the cow)
2. the breed of beast
3. what you feed the beast
4. how you treat the beast (ie is it healthy)
5. how you kill the beast.
For mine australian grass fed hereford/angus is prefferred. And as Australia still doesn't have as much feed lotting as the USA this is pretty typical tatste.
Posted by: Pete at Jun 3, 2008 12:30:56 AM
For me number one is ex equo Kobe beef, and beef I ate in small, familly run restaurant in Poland. Maybe the setting(woods and lakes) was just right but it was great.
Posted by: Micheal D. at Jun 5, 2008 7:05:58 AM
I recently have come across the best place to purchase a variety of beef as well as seafood, and they deliver right to my door and not only is it inexpensive it's also very fresh. Their website is:
https://www.jdseafoodexpress.com/
Let me know what you think!
Posted by: becky romland at Jun 17, 2008 3:35:28 PM
Pete up there almost hit the nail on the head until he started praising the angus hereford mix. The "best beef" may be from Kobe prefecture, but the treatment of those animals makes confinement veal look like a day at the spa. It is simply horrific. So if I am to rule out the Japanese cattle, then the best beef in the world, in my opinion, is Brandt Beef from Brawley, California. I have purchased and served well over a million pounds of beef, and the Brandt product has no equal.
Posted by: Jay M at Jul 22, 2008 1:43:04 PM
My dad said the best steak he ever had was in Buenos Aires,circa 1947,melted in the mouth like butter. Wish I was could have been there with him to confirm his opinion. But I`m sure he`s right.
Posted by: Robert Dunn at Oct 3, 2008 8:20:09 PM
