Luxury on the hoof

Half a world away from the secretive farms that produce Japan's legendary Kobe beef, Jerry Wilson raises the American version of the meat that will become $50 steaks and $13 burgers. The chocolatey brown cattle at Wilson's Meadows Farm don't technically produce Kobe beef — that term is reserved for the Japanese super high-end cut famous for its succulent taste and eye-popping prices. Wilson calls his meat "American Style Kobe Beef." Other ranchers use similar names like "Kobe-style beef" or "wagyu beef," a reference to the breed of cattle. Whatever the name, domestic production of the pricey product has grown from practically nothing a dozen years ago to a flourishing boutique niche, with recent growth fueled, in part, by a ban on Japanese beef because of reports of foot-and-mouth disease. While American ranchers might not be able to match the mystique of Japanese Kobe and much of the domestic product is cross-bred, they say their product compares to the legendarily luscious stuff. "We can get through any door we want," said Wilson, watching his high-priced herd crowd a bucket of barley dumped on the ground. "All we have to do is a taste test." A wagyu carcass can bring the farm $4,500, minus the cost it takes to raise it for three years...more