New York - Discriminating diners may willingly shell out
for premium product, but it’s always nice to know what, exactly, you’re paying for.
Here’s a peek behind the scenes at what goes into raising the animals that are
destined to become some of the most luxurious ingredients in the world.
Matsuzaka Beef
In Japan, beef is graded on a 12-point marbling scale
(the higher the number, the more layers of fat). While the well-known Kobe beef
scores a six, Matsuzaka's clocks in at a whopping 10-12, making it arguably
the finest beef in all the land. Matsuzaka cows are kept virginal during
their time in remote Mie prefecture, which farmers swear affects the taste of
the finished product. They’re also plied with beer to encourage their
appetites, massaged regularly with a stiff brush to evenly distribute their fat,
and generally coddled for all three years of their life (an unusually long life
for beef cows). The result is beef so richly marbled as to resemble fine art.
It literally melts in your mouth should you be lucky enough to snag a bite,
which—at over $200 per pound wholesale—doesn’t come cheap.
A post shared by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa (@therealnobu) on Mar 29, 2016 at 11:41pm PDT
Sisteron Lamb
Sheep have been grazing in this lush corner of Provence,
in the foothills of the French Alps for thousands of years. These PGI
(Protected Geographical Indication)-designated lambs are raised in accordance
to traditional methods, roaming freely and munching on such wild grasses and
herbs as rosemary and thyme. Only three rustic local sheep breeds (Mérinos
d'Arles, Préalpes du Sud, and Mourérous) are allowed to propagate; lambs must
be raised on their mother’s milk for at least two months of their three-to-six
month lives. No Sisteron lamb will ever taste silage (fodder), and every
locally-dispatched animal is sold with a "raised in Sisteron" label
and a barcode that can reveal its farm. Locals claim you can taste the
herbs that the lambs snacked on in their meat, prized for smooth, sweet taste
and rosy pink hue.
A post shared by Nathalie Ruffat Westling (@food_sherpa) on Jan 5, 2017 at 10:18pm PST
Shakotan Uni
Sea urchins are wild animals. They're not raised in the
conventional sense, but the harvesting procedure for what ultimately ends up as
the sweet, briny uni on your sushi meal is intensive enough to qualify. In
pristine Shakotan Peninsula, off the west coast of the Japan’s northern island
Hokkaido, fishermen wake before dawn to assess the weather; if it’s calm
enough, they’ll spend hours leaning over the sides of boats in search of
urchins to collect with a long claw tool. (Uni harvesters in Maine and
California free-dive to depths of 20 to 30 feet in cold, choppy water to scrape
individual urchins by hand.) The labor-intensive process can pay off very well:
From June to August, when Shakotan uni is at its freshest, a single,
meticulously packed, beautifully presented tray can go for more than $250
at Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji market, setting the top price for all unis.
A post shared by CRAYON RIMOCHAN (@crayon509) on Jul 20, 2016 at 10:55pm PDT
Poulet Rouge
Already known for $215-a-pop Poulet de Bresse capons,
French farmers adhering to the government-sponsored Label Rouge program have
for decades been following strict quality standards for more workaday
heritage-breed chickens, like the redbro cou nu, or naked-neck
chicken, which are renowned for their thin skin, lean bodies and
rich, fully flavoured meat. In the US, North Carolina-based Joyce Farms goes as
far to import the breeder eggs to ensure true French genetics while
also adhering to the French Label Rouge standards. The result is their
Poulet Rouge Fermier du Piedmont™ chicken ($15 to 20 each). They're raised
for nearly twice as long as commodity breeds in sprawling indoor-outdoor
pastures in which they’re fed an all-vegetable diet, given shiny toys to play
with, and even exposed to classical music.
Jamón Ibérico de
Bellota
Contributing perhaps the most storied of all pork
products, black-skinned Ibérian pigs live the ultimate life of luxury before
their demise (or “sacrifice,” as it is referred to by locals) on top of Spain’s
cured ham hierarchy. The pigs run freely across sprawling, partially forested
1,000- to 2,000-acre farms for nearly two years (more than twice as long as
most commercial breeds) until they reach a weight of 360 pounds; they munch on
grasses, herbs and their favourite food, acorns (bellota), which are rich in
the oleic acid that lends its distinctly nutty, olive-like flavour to the
finished product. The Spanish government strictly controls all aspects of
production and has a distinct labeling system to match; the highest grade
is jamon iberico de bellota which means pure-bred Ibérico pigs that have
gained at least a third of their weight from only foraged acorns and grass
while aging at least three years. It’ll set you back about $100 per lb.
A post shared by Food Tours in Seville & Malaga (@welovetapas) on Nov 23, 2016 at 7:47am PST