The Mammoth of Monmouth Vs. Hyogo-Dojo Beast Kobe-Zilla
I decided yesterday I would take one for the team, head over to Monmouth Meats and give this A-5 Grade Kobe beef a try. At $ 109. per lbs this isn’t going to become a daily occurrence but I’ve been wanting to give it a try for a long time and yesterday was the day. As many if not all of you know, I love my steaks, especially a prime dry aged anything, I have never had any form of Kobe beef before so this was my virgin experience.
As the picture shows this 1lb cut is certainly a well marbled piece of meat, unlike anything I have ever seen before. Upon unwrapping it I was immediately caught by surprise by the funky odor, this little guy stunk more than an entire walk in of dry aging beef. After letting it sit a few to acclimate to room temp, I coated it heavily in coarse salt and pepper and into the cast iron pan it went for about 2-3 mins per side, then into the oven for about 5-7 mins. I’ll admit even that limited cooking time was a bit too much and I did miss my target of medium rare. It was medium…….even medium well on the very ends. (disappointing)
After a shrimp and vodka cocktail the moment truth approached, the steak was plated and I was ready to destroy this beast like King Kong vs. Godzilla, this was set to be an epic battle of the Mammoth of Monmouth vs. The Hyogo-Dojo Kobe-Zilla and the Mammoth was ready to slay this beast………………
We all know the saying: “Too much of a good thing isn’t always a good thing”…………
That’s about the best way I can describe this. To be truthful……I didn’t really like it. It was amazingly tender……more the consistency of a thick fish than a red meat product, you could cut it with a butter knife or maybe a fork if you didn’t care about destroying it. Then there was the funky taste, think about the most nutty – woody flavored aged beef X’s 100 and that will give you the funky taste this bad boy had. The overly funky flavor combined with the odd, fatty consistency gave it a profile unlike any other steak I have ever experienced. Perhaps with time I could develop a palate for this but for my first experience I’m walking away with a, “been there done that no need to go back” impression of Kobe steak.
Sad to say I would take my USDA Prime Dry Aged meat over a Kobe Steak regardless of price points any day of the week.
