Transcription
We are inside a Japanese farm where cows are raised to produce kobe beef, possibly the most expensive on the planet. It is even rumored that they are massaged, that they listen to classical music so that their meat is of such quality that it can later be auctioned for thousands of dollars. Is this true or just myths? In this video, with this very special opportunity we have obtained, we are going to find out.
We are in Japan, in the rural side of Hyogo Prefecture, and today we will document a little bit about the kove beef industry. One of the most expensive in the whole world, if not possibly the most expensive. Possibly, have you heard of this meat? The very famous Japanese meat that is sold in restaurants around the world for more than a dollar per gram, a meat that is highly valued for its fat marbling, because it is supposedly very clean and very tasty. And there are many myths surrounding this industry. Many say that the cows are massaged at night, that they are only given beer to drink so that their meat gets this flavor, that the farmers play classical music so that they are always relaxed. And while many of these are simply myths, beliefs that have no truth to them, possibly some curiosities are more than true, and today we are about to find out.
We got permission to film inside a farm where cows are raised for cobe meat, as well as inside a slaughterhouse and an auction center, where businessmen from all over the world come to make huge investments of money. This, frankly, is not easy to obtain. I was able to get this permit because, as you may know, I have some Japanese restaurants in Mexico where we sell this type of meat, cobe meat. So, together with my partner, we talked to the distributors, we told them: Hey, we want to make some capsules to promote the meat, to expand the product, such and such. But really, for them to give you permission to do this thing that we're going to do today, it's a very complicated mission, so this has me very excited. So, come on, let's dive in, let's discover some secrets and curiosities behind arguably the most expensive meat industry on the entire planet. The farms of Kove Japan await us. Let's hit it.
We have already arrived at the Hikami Honjo farm. And check it out, they already gave us some special clothes that we have to put on, because these are very special cows, we can't be contaminating them with our city people germs. Come on, there we are, protected. We go in, now yes, I am surrounded by more than 1400 cows that are being bred to eventually produce cobe meat. 1400, let's see, let's make a very simple calculation, so mental, easy. At farm price for distributor, we are talking about an approximate, today, of about 5000 ¥ per kilo. If each cow gives you about 400 kg of meat, we are talking about potentially 2 million ¥. Depending on the date when you watch this video, today that would be about $15,000. If there are, let's say, 1,000 cows, we are talking about a potential cost here of about 15 million dollars, and that's only at the value of the day I am recording, because the cost of beef really depends on many factors, supply, counter demand. And then, when the meat is divided, filleted, sent to restaurants and then each restaurant has its own recipe, its own method of preparation, etc., etc., this value could go to triple or even quadruple. Do the math, a millionaire's worth of cows around here. That is why they have to take such good care of them. We can see that they have them on their little fans. They eat only the highest quality grain. And this is a special breed of cow that is known as the black-haired cow. According to what I understood in Japanese that the farmer told me, that's how it literally translates. We can see that all the cows have on their ears a special code. This code, if you trace it on the internet, will tell you very specific information, such as where the cow is from, which farmer it was raised by, who was its mother, who was its father, and so on. Et cetera. Just now they showed me a technical sheet and on that technical sheet there is even a mark of the cow's nose. Just as humans have fingerprints of our fingers, cows have their nose prints, although this is not unique to kōbe cows. In fact, all wagyu cows, which are raised in Japan, have this code, which in case you didn't know, wagyu literally means Japanese cow. Maybe many times in restaurants they have tried to impress you by telling you: This is wagyu beef that you are going to eat, and: Oh, wagyu beef, so and so. But if we are talking about the most expensive meat, the one that at least nowadays is the most inflated, it is this one here, the kōbe. So, in the restaurant where you go to eat, they don't want to give you a pig in a poke and tell you that you are going to eat cobe just because it is wagyu. For a meat to be cobe, it has to be from a cow that comes specifically from Hyogo Prefecture. If it's from somewhere else, it can't be called cobe. Something like what happens, for example, in Mexico, where we have tequila, and for it to be tequila it has to be from a specific area. Something like that happens with this meat.
Let me introduce Yamada San, he is one of the people in charge of the farm here. Here we are looking at some cows that are a little bit younger, mature calves. And I take this opportunity to tell you that, in fact, one of the main reasons why it is said that cobe beef is much more expensive is because they wait more months to slaughter them. And well, this really applies to any type of meat that comes from a highly prized cow. For while the more everyday meat, let's call it, is obtained from cows that are slaughtered at perhaps 20 to 24 months, a cow that produces cobe meat is slaughtered at 30 to 32 months. So, this means more months of breeding and more quality developed. Now, if you have ever eaten this type of meat, you will have noticed that the marbling, the little stripes of fat, is what usually gives it this special touch, it is fattier meat. There are many myths that say that to obtain this marbling you have to massage the cows. Now we asked Yamada San, in our contact, if this is true, and he told us that this can happen in smaller farms, as more artisanal, but in a farm like this, we are talking about more than 400 cows. This is not the case, and the marbling is more due to the species of the cow. These cows we are looking at are already 31 months old and are, in Yamada San's words, at the perfect time to be slaughtered and now, yes, produce meat. Interestingly, not all the cows that are raised here will be able to obtain the cobe beef certification, because not all of them will obtain the level of marbling that is needed to be able to have this This is very interesting, let's see if I can simplify it. Basically, when we talk about intramuscular fat, it is divided into different levels, different grades, starting from letters A, B, C, depending on how well the wagyu master sees it, and then by numbers from 1 to 12. If the intramuscular fat level of the cow got an A or B grade of 6 or above, yes it can get this title of kove beef. If it was 5 and above, then it can be sold as another type of meat, as another type of wagyu. Yamada San tells us, that historically on this farm, 85 to 90% of the cows manage to get this title, manage to sell, to what cobe beef could sell for. That wow, these numbers are honestly very good. And to know this, of course, you have to kill the cow, go through the whole process of filleting it, looking at the meat and analyzing it, and then based on that you can define how good the meat is and, therefore, how much it is going to cost. That is very interesting. If you ask someone how much the meat costs, there is no answer as such. It is quite ambiguous, it is quite relative, because kove meat is auctioned. We are going to see this later in the video, we are going to go to an auction room. Very special to be able to see this farm so closely, very special to see where the meat that we sell in Japanese restaurants comes from. Possibly in a few months we will sell in the restaurant the meat from one of these little cows that today we came to
Now we are going to a big office that has a slaughterhouse, a very big area for cutting and an auction room to learn more about it. We have now arrived at a Wagyu Master worksite, a building of about five levels where about 300 people work, where basically cows come from all over Hyogo Prefecture. This is where they see their last days, this is where they slaughter them. Then, they proceed to clean them, then cut the meat so that they can auction it and send it in pieces to many parts of the world. They are telling me that 120 to 200 cows are treated here every day. We are talking about numbers of maybe more than 5,000 cows a month. And right now we are just seeing the step of the division of the cow parts. And it is really quite impressive to be able to see such an efficient process at work. They are telling us that this part of the work takes about 15 minutes, from the time the cow arrives practically whole until it is in pieces, ready to go to the next procedure, it is a semi-automated system of electric belts, in which, if one of the workers is late, it could hinder the whole group. One of the fundamental parts of this part of the process is to remove all the bones from the cow. Not a single one can be left, because this could alter the net weight of the product. And if we are talking about a product of, what do I know, 40 cents to 80 cents per gram, believe me you want the weight to be accurate, you don't want to be paying for grams of bone. Pure net product, pure meat that is going to be consumable. After that, they go to the packing area, where they are vacuum sealed to be exported to many countries. The demand for Japanese cows is getting higher and higher. And yes, this is a clear example of that.
Wow! They let us in to see an auction room. This is very interesting. Here we can see that there are lots and lots of computers, dozens, hundreds of them, where buyers gather every Wednesday and Saturday, mostly from Japan, but also from other parts of the world, looking to get the best quality meat at the best possible price. And basically it works like this. You grab, you sit down, and on that glass there are the parts of the cows. Then, look at this nice piece of meat. Look at the marbling of the fat. Look at the color, it is redder, it is a little bit whiter, it is a little bit blacker. So, the specialists analyze it quickly and with these commands that we have here, basically you are auctioning, you are giving your bid. So, then, every time you want to raise the bid, you click this little button. With these numbers, you raise how much each click is going to be worth, one ¥, 10 ¥, 50 ¥ or 100 ¥? If the auction is a little bit weak, if there is not so much competition and you just want to win there millimetrically, that one, electrically, you bid one ¥. But if you want to beat everyone, that piece of cow is mine, you go from one to 100 ¥, right? Try it. The one with the heaviest pants is here, and bring him, bring him, bring him, bring him, you're bidding here. And check this, when nobody presses the button for five seconds, okay? Five seconds without anyone hitting the button, at that moment the piece of cow finishes, it goes to the one who pressed it the last time. How's that? It must be a super exciting thing, right? It must be a rush, but tremendous, a screamer. They also showed us a couple of institutional videos where they periodically invite important clients from different countries to see the best cows. And that's where it really gets hard, hard, hard, the investment of money. This is where the presenters start directing the whole operation. With these buttons they say: Next cow, and they say: We now have a piece of cow that comes from the city, from I don't know where, and that weighs so much and has the marbling of such and such, who gives more? Who gives more? Okay, one more gene, over there, over there, over there, over there, over there. And it's a heavy adrenaline. That's why the price of cobe meat as such does not exist. It does exist. The price is defined by the buyers and at the same time by the sellers. Just like stocks, just like cryptocurrencies, just like life in general, the cobe meat business is a perfect example of supply versus demand.
We already talked too much about the meat, we already learned, but really, how is it, how is it cooked what does it taste like. We came to this rather posh Yaki Niku restaurant, this genre of Japanese restaurants that you cook your own meat at the table and we ordered different types of kove. This dish that we ordered, so this that you are seeing, which is really supposed to be for one person, has a cost equivalent to about 100 dollars. And we can appreciate what I was telling you about the intramuscular fat, the marbling, let's call it. And just look at the old-fashioned presentation, so mamoncita. To be able to cook it at your table, basically you take this little fat, it is cow fat, you proceed to spread it in this way and that's it. Then you cook it to taste. Many will tell you that the recommended time is only 10 seconds each side, others will tell you only 5 seconds. The reality is that it is to taste. With a meat this fatty, it is very difficult to overcook it, especially with the thickness that they brought us here, you see, it is a very wide meat, very thick. Personally, I like to cook it well. I am not really a fan of raw meat. So, we are going to leave it there for a good few seconds, more or less like this. This is the degree of cooking that I like. We proceed to season to taste. In this restaurant they bring you a little sauce. In many places they serve salt, pepper, oils, etc., but it is up to the chef on duty. In this case, we will accompany it with a little rice, carnitas and tabaquimos. And yes, it is very tasty, it is very soft. It is the main quality of this type of meat, that it is very soft, very easy to chew, very easy to swallow. And just as the preparation is suggested in this place with the spicy sauce, top. Now, I'm telling you that eating this meat in excess is, well, not good at all. If your stomach is not used to it, so much fat, because that's what it is, it's very fatty, bland, it can be very bad for you, especially if you eat it for dinner. And I would also like to make the comment that, of course, eating this meat here in Japan, here near Kove, of course it is much cheaper. In other parts of the world, a plate of this kind at a price of 100 dollars would be a bargain, really a bargain. I calculate, as a good guess, more or less with the experience I have, that in other countries this same dish would sell for 300 dollars or maybe even a little more. But import and transportation taxes are something that has to be considered and that is what explains why the price can go up to four, five, six times more.
We also ordered some nigiris made with cobe. Let's see, nigiri, for context, is basically rice with something on top, in this case rice, with a piece of a sheet of cobe on top. One of them has roe, one of them has caviar, one of them has sea urchin. And this, for example, they sell it to you for about 40 dollars. This, of course, you don't have to cook it, that's what Itadakimas is. Really delicious. Really tasty, really delicious. If you are already craving this meat, if you are already curious about it. For those of you who are in Mexico, I want to tell you that in our restaurants of the Daigo group, my Japanese restaurants, which I have told you about before, we sell cobe meat. In fact, in all the restaurants authorized to sell cobe meat, you will always find a little golden cow, a very fancy statue, that they give you when they put you on the official list of places that sell cobe. And of course in our restaurants in Mexico we have this. If you are curious to try it, that's where you can do it. At the main Deigo, for example, you can order Kove in many presentations, very tasty, they give you your certificate and everything. At Deigo Sushi, for example, you can order nigiris similar to these, which are also served with a carnita straight from Japan. And at Deigo Ramen, there is also a ramen prepared with Kove. So, if you are curious about all this and it is within your possibilities, because it must be said, it is expensive, it is costly. If you are going to have a very expensive dinner, date. When you get to be in Mexico City, if you want, you can go for a little walk, kill your curiosity, take the girl, the guy, to a good special date and I assure you that you will not regret it. Well, now, let's let the team eat here, we are serious and serious, and here I see you there, I'm here in charge of the camera, already drooling for these delicacies. The whole process we saw today is summarized in this delicious dinner. Provechito, enjoy.
There you have a little bit of how one of the most expensive meats in the world is produced, from Hyogo, Japan. I have loved watching this process, talking to the farmers and the people behind this industry. And if you have tried this type of meat, please let us know in the comments what you thought, how was the experience. For those of you who haven't, maybe you can get a little idea. Well, thank you very much for joining me. See you as always, you know, in a few days with a new video. Bye.