The Dish: How Snake River Farms is bringing Wagyu beef from Japan to the masses in America

[Music] this morning on the dish a visit to snake river farms if you're looking for the best beef in the land a ranch in northern washington right near the canadian border is a good place to start snake river farms is an american pioneer of wagyu a style of meat that first came from japan famous for its exceptional marbling the taste is incredible prices can be too but ask those who are hooked and they'll say it's well worth it to see how it works we traveled west to see the farm and sample a feast now this smith and wolenski in chicago steak is the main feature of the menu but this is no ordinary meat and it doesn't come from any ordinary place the remote town of loomis in northern washington state has become a coveted destination for chefs restaurant owners and ranchers worldwide why the product from snake river farms a marble delicacy the company has elevated into an art form robert rebholtz is the ceo the goal was always to try to take it a level above usda prime and the wagyu breed allows that to happen because right now chefs say to you prime is not enough correct this is peter kallisher near kobe japan as a herd of the most pampered cattle in the world come in from a morning constitutional on the open range modern wagyu beef originated in the mid-19th century when the japanese began crossbreeding native cattle with cows imported from europe much of the hoopla then was about the cows receiving beer and massages about 2 000 of these especially coddled cattle go to market every month and no doggy heading for the last roundup ever had it so good robert's father brought in a handful of bulls before the japanese band exports of wagyu cattle in the 1990s using those bulls he began a breeding program crossing wagyu with american angus rebels senior died young at just 57. his son just 33 at the time was put in charge chefs come here to learn what they learn a lot about what it takes behind the scenes to produce the quality we do i think and when they do it they also learn about our industry wagyu take longer to grow and need higher quality feed which means they cost more but americans have been buying a lot of it traced back to an outrageously priced hamburger in 2003 and the media frenzy that followed and he recently added a unique hamburger to the menu but there is a catch it's going to cost you 41. one of my favorite steaks is the snake river farm celebrity chefs like wolfgang puck became advocates for wagyu and snake river with a steak like that you don't need a lot of seasoning you want the flavor of the meat let's go round them up let's do it the ranching operation we visited may look run-of-the-mill at first here we go nice and easy it is not it actually looked like you're moving the cows i was but like purposely it's interesting because most people think of this as an old school endeavor there are new age things that happen here right yeah totally so the speed in which we've been able to make better decisions on quality is accelerate a lot with improvements like embryo transfers artificial insemination it allows ranches to really focus and fine-tune their genetics around the higher producing well-marbled sires part of the genetic process happens at the company's bold development center outside boise breeding is either natural or uses artificial insemination each bull is carefully tracked and sharded as are their progeny to ensure its lineage from the original japanese cows and wagyu stands for hua is japanese goo is cattle literally means japanese cattle leah schultz is the bull development manager here how do you keep cows happy fresh water good feed smile on your face okay there is no beer or massaging for the animals now just a closed-loop system that allows the company to protect every part of the process trying to ensure the healthiest possible fertilization pregnancies and calves you stress an animal out it's no different than a human or myself like if there's a lot going on if i'm stressed out do i want to eat no do i want to drink not necessarily am i going to lose weight yeah probably so it's the exact same thing in cattle the bulls in this pen are getting ready to be sent out for the first time what guys what's the problem we're just trying to say hi they can smell new york that's the whole boy all right go to work over the last several years snake river has dramatically expanded its push into e-commerce selling its beef like this gold rib-eye not just to high-end restaurants but directly to consumers tenderness-wise it's pretty much like the inner one flavor-wise though it's it's the best so it's best of both worlds basically kent clarke is the mild-mannered lead cowboy in loomis and a cooker of super steaks that's incredible it's good it takes seven years from the time the first genetic decision is made until the result winds up on your plate right now only half of one percent of the beef eaten nationwide is wagyu quality if the snake river success story continues the landscape may look a lot different a generation from now how much of it for you is trying to sell the story of snake river farms or just saying we're going to do the best product and whatever we do people are going to find it if it's good it's more of the product quality so that's when the word of mouth really picks it that's what it is though it is and it's a lot of fun to see that happen i mean you're not running super bowl ads no right you can't afford to [Laughter] one thing i hear from a lot of folks is you know they buy a steak at their local supermarket which can be decent it's fine they try snake river and it's just a whole different level um which i think it is now listen it's not something every day necessarily but special events special occasions and and how do you pronounce it again wagyu it's wagyu yeah okay japanese cattle there it is

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 143,206

Keywords: video, cbs, news, the dish, snake river farms, japan, america, food, meat, wagyu

Id: hIA6btQ5cG4

Length: 6min 52sec (412 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 31 2021