Costco ground beef American Wagyu 3 lbs $16.99

[yakima]

I picked this up on a whim. Failed to notice if this is a sale price. It is outstanding. 75/25 fat. Usually highest percent fat around here is 20. Regular hamburger can run $6/lb.

I suspect that the 25% fat is more important to the flavor than the Wagyu. In any event, competitively priced, impressive flavor.

[Mosca]

What is the actual brand? Sam’s Club has 3 1lb packs for similar, $5.88/lb. It’s branded “Member’s Mark”, but it is from something called “American BBQ Company”, which I could find no information about.

The Sam’s ground beef is also outstanding. And yeah, I buy it instead of regular ground beef from the grocery.

This is the old packaging:



And now it is Member’s Mark:

[yakima]

The Costco 3 1lb packs are marked Imperial American Wagyu Beef, out of Greeley, Colorado. Their website indicates that they distribute to many Costco stores. I am not clear if they are an actual producer, or contract with ranchers and feedlots. They apparently provide F1 breeding services.

My wife, who is not much of a meat eater, really likes these in hamburgers. Not a desirable burger for the White House. Prolly get grease on your tux.

[Mosca]

Mrs Mosca, the same. Generally she tolerates beef, and burgers, but doesn’t ask for them. Since I started getting these, she asks for burgers every couple weeks or so.

[captainlee]

Is Wagu now a general term or is there an actual specification for Wagu? Seems like the name is getting used too often.

[yakima]

I concur. American Wagyu is based upon genetics derived from when Japanese Wagyu, for a limited time, were imported into the US. Japan closed their export window. The imported Wagyu were crossed with Black Angus, resulting in numerous cross-bred variations. Some outfits are trying to get back to more pure Wagyu. I saw something recently, probably here, re a Texas producer which has the purest Wagyu in Texas, In Texas Monthly, I believe.

I am not aware of any industry or federal standards. Certified Angus Beef means something, but reference to Angus generally means nothing.

[yakima]

I recently toured Snake River Farm's Toppenish, WA kill floor and packing plant. One day a week is reserved for Wagyu; my impression was that it is all sourced from their own feedlots. Did not think to inquire re genetics.

[yakima]

I do not know if one can get American Wagyu at the F4 level. If available it would be close, if not quite identical, to Japanese Wagyu. That is basically 4 generations of cross breeding, after the initial cross of Wagyu with Angus. (I think. I am certainly not a geneticist.)

My instinct is that both Wagyu bulls and cows must have been imported. And that a pure strain must have been preserved by someone. Which would be the source for semen used in AI.

On a side note, recent coverage of artificial intelligence (AI) muddies the waters when AI originally referred to artificial insemination. Same with BLM, which to me is Bureau of Land Management. You can take the boy off the farm, but...

This whole post may get banned for broaching both sex and politics!

[BBillFleet]

Ethan Chlebowski - Is "Wagyu" Ground Beef a Scam?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6w_W6GyHEs

I don't want to throw sand on anyone's fire -- but it's good to know about this. It's clearly better-quality beef, but "wagyu" here would be a marketing term.

[Mosca]

Ethan Chlebowski - Is "Wagyu" Ground Beef a Scam?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6w_W6GyHEs

I don't want to throw sand on anyone's fire -- but it's good to know about this. It's clearly better-quality beef, but "wagyu" here would be a marketing term.

Excellent video, Ethan and Guga know their stuff! You want to see something that is REALLY out there? Check this:



I’ve never thought they are grinding up A5 ribeyes to sell at Sam’s or Costco, or even the lesser stuff, the trim from Japanese Wagyu. What I’m assuming these packages are, is the trim from the “American Wagyu” that we have been seeing in butchers’ cases more and more frequently over the past couple years.

For me, this is purely a value equation, starting with the Sam’s burgers being incredibly good. They cost less than Wegman’s Angus, and are only slightly more expensive than Wegman’s commodity quality ground beef. I can start getting cheaper when I buy 5+ pounds of the commodity beef, but then I have to break that down, seal it, and freeze it myself… and both myself and Mrs Mosca (who doesn’t know where I get the stuff) believe the Sam’s beef is better.





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For what it’s worth, these are just as good as the Wagyu beef, in our opinion, both mine and Mrs. Mosca’s. I buy these when we want smaller burgers, and the other when we want quarter pounders or larger. But these are killer, too:

[yakima]

go.lonemountainwagyu.com
has interesting info re moving back to purebred wagyu in usa. And Americanwagyuassociation.com has video
by Colorado state University.
Less than 4000 purebred wagyu in usa.
1970s, 4 bulls brought in. 1990s, 5 cows. That's it.

An interesting rabbit hole.