Japanese Steaks

[gennisis]

Noticed,in the frozen beef cabinet some Japanese 'Snow Beef' steaks....looked very similar to the 'KOBE" style with plenty of marbled fat,but at a much lower price.So I have invested in a 256grm Striploin steak at 281 baht. for my Saturday night supper.

I am expecting it to be very tender but just dont know about the flavour.

[vera5212]

Bon appetit

[butterisbetter]

A few months ago, I bought an unidentified cut of snow beef from Rim Ping. It was quite tough and the taste was nothing special. But the cut was definitely not strip loin. Are you sure that snow beef comes from Japan? I thought it was Korean but I'm not sure about that.

[CheGuava]

Can we all join you to try, this Saturday?

[ChangMaiSausage]

Could someone please cook one before Saturday, as I dont think I can wait that long to hear how good/bad it was

[gennisis]

A few months ago, I bought an unidentified cut of snow beef from Rim Ping. It was quite tough and the taste was nothing special. But the cut was definitely not strip loin. Are you sure that snow beef comes from Japan? I thought it was Korean but I'm not sure about that.

I am sure there was a sign on the freezer saying Japanese....but disapointed with your review of the meat you had bought....I will find out this weekend.

I intend to rub with Garlic and use my cast iron plate on a very high gas flame,with just enough sesame oil to prevent it sticking....a few minutes each side should do it.

[gennisis]

Could someone please cook one before Saturday, as I dont think I can wait that long to hear how good/bad it was

Patience is a virtue my son.!!

[brownsugar]

it could be meltique beef, artificially marbled aussie beef.

[seesip]

it could be meltique beef, artificially marbled aussie beef.

Have you tried meltique? I just googled it and it looks interesting but I'm skeptical. Would appreciate any firsthand accounts.

[brownsugar]

I have tried meltique, it does melt in your mouth like wagyu but does not taste like wagyu. would not eat it again.

it could be meltique beef, artificially marbled aussie beef.

Have you tried meltique? I just googled it and it looks interesting but I'm skeptical. Would appreciate any firsthand accounts.

[butterisbetter]

A few months ago, I bought an unidentified cut of snow beef from Rim Ping. It was quite tough and the taste was nothing special. But the cut was definitely not strip loin. Are you sure that snow beef comes from Japan? I thought it was Korean but I'm not sure about that.

I am sure there was a sign on the freezer saying Japanese....but disapointed with your review of the meat you had bought....I will find out this weekend.

I intend to rub with Garlic and use my cast iron plate on a very high gas flame,with just enough sesame oil to prevent it sticking....a few minutes each side should do it.

I'm sure you're right. My orginal impression was based on a cursory glance at the label. I thought the characters looked Korean.

But my mastery of Korean and Japanese corresponds exactly to the linguistic expertise of a certain person on the NY city subway; who, when she saw me with a bag of Thai potato

chips, asked me how I liked Israel.

[gennisis]

it could be meltique beef, artificially marbled aussie beef.

Have you tried meltique? I just googled it and it looks interesting but I'm skeptical. Would appreciate any firsthand accounts.

I had not been aware of Meltique Beef...but have goggled it and am quite amazed. How do they marble it?. I have to say that the photos look very similar to the steak I have,so I will just wait until its cooked before my 'critique' is published !!

[junglechef]

• Do tell after your dinner. Barding is a classical French technique of inserting fat into drier cuts of meats. How this modern version of meltique will work is to be seen, though food science has made some tremendous advances, I am still very skeptical when it comes to processing or playing around with our foodstuffs in a factory. On the topic of mislabeling cuts of meat it seems they don't know that the names actually refer to a specific part of an animal, esp when it comes to a chop. And finally I think the Thai alphabet does in some fonts resemble hebrew quite a lot.

[brownsugar]

found this description of the meltique process online.

The merchandise, called “Meltique Beef,” will be produced from sub primal cuts of raw, boneless beef cuts, such as the striploin, tenderloin, chuck roll and ribeye. These cuts will be trimmed, first, to the buyers’ specifications. The trimmed cuts will then be mechanically tenderized and injected with a liquid mixture to produce a meat product consisting, by weight, of beef (81 percent) with the following additives,--viz., water (12 percent), vegetable oil (6 percent) and marbling mix (1 percent). The marbling mix, which contains small amounts of solids and flavoring ingredients, appear to provide the semblance of small marbling lines of fat in the finished product. The addition of the water/vegetable oil mixture is said to be similar to the French “larding” process. The soluble oil is inserted into lean meat “to baste the meat internally through the cooking process.” After the injection of the meat with the liquid mixture, the beef cuts are rolled in a polyethylene sheet to form a consistent shape, or are cut into portion controlled, consumer size servings,--as, for instance, into individual steaks. The wrapped steaks or beef cuts are then frozen before packaging in export cartons of random weights, between 45 and 60 pounds. After importation, the beef will be used in food service, restaurant and catering applications.

source:http://www.faqs.org/rulings/rulings2004NYR01015.html

it could be meltique beef, artificially marbled aussie beef.

Have you tried meltique? I just googled it and it looks interesting but I'm skeptical. Would appreciate any firsthand accounts.

I had not been aware of Meltique Beef...but have goggled it and am quite amazed. How do they marble it?. I have to say that the photos look very similar to the steak I have,so I will just wait until its cooked before my 'critique' is published !!

[butterisbetter]

Like lots of people on Thaivisa.com, I prefer my opinions to be innnocent of any real knowledge. But I finally broke down and asked Khun Gai, themanager of Rim Ping Nim City, where the snow beef steaks come from. It turns out they come not from Japan and notfrom Korea… but from Thailand.

[butterisbetter]

it could be meltique beef, artificially marbled aussie beef.

Have you tried meltique? I just googled it and it looks interesting but I'm skeptical. Would appreciate any firsthand accounts.

It's being sold at Rim Ping Mee Chok branch. I saw a piece of it there today in the freezer section.

[gennisis]

Like lots of people on Thaivisa.com, I prefer my opinions to be innnocent of any real knowledge. But I finally broke down and asked Khun Gai, themanager of Rim Ping Nim City, where the snow beef steaks come from. It turns out they come not from Japan and notfrom Korea… but from Thailand.

Well....that explains it.

To use...(misuse) a thai expression....KRAPP.

Over the years I have cooked many steaks,and I can honestly say that this 'snow beef' has to be the most tasteless and toughest piece of meat I have ever attempted to eat....even my cats were chewing for hours and giving me hurt looks.

Tomorrow I will attempt to reclaim some of the cost by braising it in an onion and bovril broth....maybe even a goodly sprinkling of meat tenderizer.

At over 1000 baht a kilo it is vastly overpriced...maybe 100 baht would be a fairer price...for dog food !!!

[ChangMaiSausage]

Gennisis I even came back to see what you thought of the meat......

Update since braising it....

[justcruisin]

For about $35 Au (1050Bht) a kilo you can get the real thing,Wagyu Kobe beef in Aus.

Why is meat here so stupidly expensive? They sell Wagyu beef at Rimping for 2900Bht a kilo.

1900 Bht a kilo for air freight seems a tad over the top.

Anyway I will be tucking into a wagyu PB35 steak for dinner tonight!

[gennisis]

Gennisis I even came back to see what you thought of the meat......

Update since braising it....

Gave it 5 hours in the slow cooker...but quite frankly it wasnt good.

One thing that annoys me...one poster tells us that Rimping manager says it is a Thai product....if so,the sticker on the steak package giving a number of japanese/Korean/chinese symbols...is very misleading.

My guess is that this meat is a meltique beef product. To look at it it is the same as the Wagyu or Kobe beef....but as I have found out apearences have lied.

Still.once bitten twice shy so Rimpings stock will be remaining in their freezers as far as I am concerned.

It strikes me that some Thai meat merchant has invested some money in this process,,,and that the lowest grade of beef had been used.Since the idea of the 'larding' makes sense,maybe he should have used a better quality/aged beef.A high premium cost has been charged for a low quality end product....good profit mark up...but with no repeat sales...so no return on the investment.

Edited November 9, 2010 by gennisis