Wagyu Beef
 

http://wagyu.org/breed-info/what-is-wagyu/

Why pay for Kobe?

https://jesspryles.com/what-is-wagyu-beef/

Wet or dry aged beef? I prefer to pay a bit more for dry, or dry age it in the fridge.https://jesspryles.com/dry-aging/

Native Americans used to float bloated buffalo down a river then consume the meat. The women sometimes cut open the udder to drink the milk. Grass fed of course :)

I have seen skirt steak "Fajita" that comes close to wagyu, at least in the marbling. It's pricey, $7 to $11 a pound at the local Mexican Market.

Too pricey. Personally I am not a fan of monounsaturated fat ... I would like to be convinced it's something I should seek out. Just call me Scrooge McDuck. I'm skeptical of this 'fancy beef.' Bah, humbug.

Read those links which have a lot of info.
I learned a lot about it.
It does say that it is used as small slices and not a huge steak as many assume.

One of the areas we learn about in Ag school is that not every breed of cattle is the same. In the supermarket, everything is commercialized into Angus or not Angus. Like ANgus is the king of the cattle industry. A friend that raises cattle told me that any black animal is sold as Angus, even if it is not, or only partial. A sales ploy surely.

Years ago we had a different style hog. A lard hog. They were all VERY fat. Fat we hard working farming people needed for energy and overallhealth. About 100 years ago, the demand was for leaner hogs, and the result is todays leaner profile. Think Potbelly pig for an idea of the old style lard hogs.

Our food is our medicine. And right now the commericial food is usually what is killing us. Eating animals produced as they were meant to be is much healthier for both them and us.

Cattle are too big for me to handle; I stick to sheep.

There was a farmer in Iowa (I think) that was raising fat pigs - the old style. Swabian Hall pigs. Link to article

From the article:

https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/...-american-pig-- Very nice!!!! There are a number of old hog breeds still around. A growing intereste in them keeps the prices rather high for breeding stock. During the time I was interested, I did a lit of reading and talked to the fellow in the link below. He was honest, hogs get rather big and can be dangerous. Not to be thought of as a pet.

Having raised a couple hogs one summer, I decided hogs were not for me.

Here is is farm blog. Not a secured site, but a wonderful daily post about the ins and outs of raising a new breed of hog that he has developed to live pasture raised. How he works and selects for those that sill not root into the pasture. The planting of fruits trees for drops as fall food. A plot of pumpkin that is demolished in a couple days and the years of building their own facility to handle only their own hogs...... his sows know him and they give birth in a huge igloo like structure where the sow can tend her babies in peace with their own little paddock.


http://sugarmtnfarm.com/

Pork butt roasts are on sale for 99cents per pound right now. That's the only way to get some fat in the meat because they breed them so lean it's hard to find pork with enough fat.

When I see cooking shows on TV with pulled pork, it always has to be smothered in BBQ sauce to make it edible. So they take away the fat and add sugar....

ps I really want to try Wagu beef, it looks so good in that pic at the link from Mike.

Mmmmm! I LOVE Kobe beef! It is REALLY amazing and different from regular beef- but yes, SUPER expensive!

..Stupid question: Is Kobe the same as Wagu?

I'm not a huge fan of pork meat- but I have been enjoying cheap Pork Belly from Costco! It's pretty economical ($3.40/pound) and comes in ten pound packs. It's almost all fat and it's delicious (without the additives and smoked-ness of bacon)