Crowd Cow Blog

Exploring the World of Craft Beef

Preserving Traditional Soy Sauce Production on Shodoshima

April 13th by Joe H. • Read 218 times • less than one min read

It shouldn't be too suprising to learn that in Japan, soy sauce is used with beef. Afterall, soy sauce is an integral, foundational component of "Washoku," or traditional Japanese cuisine. If you find yourself in Japan's smallest province of Kagawa and venture the 1.5 hour ferry ride to the tiny cow-shaped island of Shodoshima, you will find olive tree groves, artisinal olive oil producers and a handful of Olive-fed Wagyu cattle producers. And if you stay long enough, you might also find Yamaroku Soy Sauce, one of the most interesting soy... Read post

The Ultimate Destination Steak: Olive Wagyu at ICHIGO

April 12th by Joe H. • Read 469 times • 2 min read

A few years ago, Chef Mori was a chef at a Yakiniku House (a traditional Japanese beef grill) in Osaka when he first heard about Olive Wagyu: a rare Wagyu beef produced by feeding inawara rice straw, Italian rye grass, and toasted olive lees to Kuroge Washu cattle. It's only raised by a handful of producers in Japan and originated on a remote island called Shodoshima in Japan's smallest province. It piqued Chef Mori's interest, and would eventually lead him to found ICHIGO, a small, Olive Wagyu-only steakhouse in the heart of Olive Wagyu... Read post

Everything to know about Olive Wagyu (Infographic)

April 10th by Joe H. • Read 360 times • less than one min read

We created a handy infographic to answer all the questions you ever had about Olive Wagyu. Enjoy! You can read more about Olive Wagyu here. Read post

My meeting with Kagawa Prefecture's Governor

April 3rd by Joe H. • Read 537 times • 1 min read

In October 2017, I met with Kagawa Prefecture's Governor and senior staff. Watch below or check out the transcript of my speech in Japanese, which outlined my journey from living on a farm homestay in Hokkaido 20 years ago to a current milestone: bringing Olive Wagyu from Japan to America. What follows is an explanation of how this came about in the first place. Soonafter we started Crowd Cow, friends and early customers asked, "will you ever have Kobe beef?" We'd gone to enormous lengths to scout out the very highest quality craft beef... Read post

Craft Beef: A Revolution of Small Farms and Big Flavors

March 29th by Joe H. • Read 413 times • less than one min read

When we started Crowd Cow almost 3 years ago, we wanted to experience the "absolutely incredible-tasting" beef from small, family-run farms that our mutual friend had told us about, and to make that accessible to everyone. What we didn't realize at the time, is that beef itself is every bit as diverse, rich and interesting as coffee, wine, chocolate and microbrew. As we met with farmers, butchers, chefs and modern meat enthusiasts, we discovered a revolution quietly taking shape -- a return to flavor and quality -- that we call "Craft... Read post

Olive Wagyu: Bold Umami Flavor and Healthy Fats

March 28th by Joe H. • Read 739 times • 1 min read

If you’re a true steakophile, you might have heard of Kobe beef. But even if you’re extremely in the know when it comes to exquisite steak, you’ve probably never heard of Olive Wagyu. It’s a small-batch variety of steak produced only in the far reaches of Japan’s Kagawa Prefecture, and raised on a diet of caramelized pressed olives. It takes the insane marbling of Japanese beef, delivers even higher-than-normal levels of healthy monounsaturated fats, and packs a powerful umami flavor punch. What Olive Wagyu has in common with Kobe and A5... Read post

Texas BBQ team scoring big with Crowd Cow brisket!

March 14th by Joe H. • Read 143 times • less than one min read

Our friends at How Ya Derrin' BBQ has been knocking it out of the park on the competitive barbeque circuit with Crowd Cow beef! How Ya Derrin' is made up of Gil Martinez and Benny Rocha, two friends from South Texas who wanted to partner with Crowd Cow because we all share the values of sourcing the highest-quality meats. It made sense for us because Crowd Cow carries the cream of the crop when it comes to high quality beef. -Gil Martinez At last week's Chilly Chili Barbecue Cookoff, Gil and Benny took home 3rd prize out of 170 teams using... Read post

Crowd Cow with Beyond Meat and PRE Brands at Expo West

March 14th by Joe H. • Read 220 times • 1 min read

Last week I was invited to participate on a panel with the CEOs of Beyond Meat and PRE Brands at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, an annual trade show in the natural, organic and healthy products industry, bringing together over 80,000 industry professionals and 3,100 exhibits. The panel was called What's Your Beef? Consumer-Driven Innovations in Meat and our moderator, Anubhav Goel, led us through a lively discussion of each company's unique approach to disrupting the existing, established commodity protein markets and better... Read post

The Story Behind Olive Wagyu

March 5th by Joe H. • Read 1,136 times • 2 min read

What is this “Wagyu” we’re talking about? Let me break it down for you. There are four breeds of “Wagyu” -- Japanese cattle, that is -- that are indigenous to Japan. One of them, Kuroge Washu, is genetically predisposed to high levels of marbling. It’s really hard to get authentic Wagyu 100% from the Kuroge Washu breed directly from Japan. But we didn’t just source authentic Wagyu from this Pacific Rim nation. We sniffed out the rarest of the rare when it comes to Wagyu, and found a micro-batch of Wagyu beef nestled away in a coastal corner... Read post

How small farms benefit from Crowd Cow

February 15th by Joe H. • Read 376 times • 5 min read

Small producers in this country often face a tough choice: send their cattle off the auction yard for a cut-rate price, or raise the animals to maturity and take on the often overwhelming expense of marketing, logistics and support to sell their beef directly to eaters. The lure of selling direct is great: farmers could earn a higher price per pound for their meat than what they earn through auction. But there are several challenges for a farmer who wants to sell direct: Marketing challenges. Marketing to customers -- most of whom are in... Read post

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