Inflation or Demand?

In the past few years we have seen some dramatic increases in the price of meat. This is a general statement that most consumers would agree with, but it is a generalization with a lot of exceptions and misconceptions. Let’s look at some wholesale market prices year to year. These prices are listed on the USDA market news as well as other financial reporting sites. My research is pretty basic and some numbers could be off slightly but it gives you an idea of where the markets are trending.

Choice Beef

                             Last year     This year

Bone in Rib Eye   $9.90          $8.45

Boneless Rib         $11.07      $9.63

Brisket                   $3.74        $3.55

Striploin B/in         $6.83       $6.68

Tri tip                     $5.84       $4.10

Outside skirt          $11.90   Basically unchanged

Other cuts have gone up slightly but basically beef prices are down from last year

Chicken whole       $1.38        $1.34

Chicken in 2021 was $2.37

Pork

1/4” trim butts     $1.31      $1.39

B/o pork loin       $1.55      $1.45

Belly                   $2.74      $1.65

Pork and chicken remain very low priced at the wholesale level.

So looking at this why are prices of certain meat cuts so high in the supermarkets? Yes there are increases in trucking costs, packaging etc but some prices maintain a very high price tag, even as wholesale prices come down. Why? Because they continue to sell. It’s pretty basic capitalism, if the price goes up and people still buy it then the price is not going to go down. Some companies have made record profits in the past few years, plain and simple.

 

The same goes for foodservice. If a chef insists on using overpriced items and complains but doesn’t shop around or substitute with other cuts, then the purveyor will keep the prices high. Then the restaurant simply charges more and if the diner is willing to pay, who cares?  But an aware purchaser can work around high prices to keep menu prices level or increase profit margins. I’ve seen prices fluctuate dramatically between different purveyors. Now it is important to examine less expensive cuts to be sure they are an acceptable quality or that trim levels are similar but sticking with a particular brand may lead to overpriced items. You can call it cutting corners but if the overall quality is the same then it’s just being frugal. You can also create cuts in house by buying larger cuts and fabricating them yourself. Some require the kitchen to use the byproduct trim but not anything difficult. 

 Here are some examples;

Chef x sells pork collar. They buy it at $8.50 lb from a specialty purveyor. 

Chef y sells pork collar and homemade sausage. They buy specialty whole Boston butts for $4.25 lb.

Chef a sells pork collar and pork sliders. They buy standard commercial Boston butts from the warehouse store for $1.95 lb.

Each chef is choosing a purchase that fits their menu but they are all selling a pork collar roast which is very simply removed from the whole pork Boston butt. 

Recently I saw boneless duck breast for about $12 lb. The whole duck from the same brand was about $3.20 lb. It takes me less than two minutes to take off the legs and bone and trim the breast. Basically I get the legs, bones, giblets, fat for a super cheap price. I’ve seen the same thing for Frenched chicken breast pork racks and many more. Some basic knife skills and menu expansions can dramatically increase profits. 

 Ok so the news is inflation is out of control. Or maybe our purchasing is a little out of control  be smart and make more cash! 

Underutilized cuts? Overvalued cuts?

 

I’ve heard the term whole carcass utilization many times by many chefs and culinarians. The need to not waste any meat in a carcass is an absolute necessity in these days of higher prices. If your goal is to buy a whole animal and break it down to use every part then you need a logical plan. Although the meat industry gets a bad wrap for waste, this is exactly what they do. They break down the whole into market cuts, not leaving out any part. The dilemma for them is how to get the most value from each section. The bottom rung of the ladder is if a cut is not being sold above the market price of ground meat then grind it. But that’s not the only concern. Some cuts are so small and difficult to isolate and therefore never make it as a market cut. In the beef animal you have cuts like the pectineus, which sits on the side of the top round. It weighs no more than a pound. Or the oyster that resembles skirt steak but weighs maybe half a pound. I’ve isolated the pork brisket which is also small.. The meat packer isn’t going to isolate these, package them and market them unless there is a guarantee they’ll be sold. Their research teams are constantly looking for ways to increase value but it’s hard to justify a cut that represents one pound out of a 800 lb carcass.

 Small market local butchers can go outside the box, literally. A craft butcher at the retail level can isolate these unique cuts and suggest them to special customers for top dollar. They have the chance to sell one off items and create a desire with menu ideas. The special cut can have a placement in a showcase that can feature it in the limelight. A customer might enjoy the cut so much they may consider reserving it for the next time a whole carcass is broken down. 

 A chef in a restaurant, on the other hand, needs multiple portions of a cut to have a consistent menu. If they decide to do whole carcass then the menu may need many overlapping dishes that don’t include the specific name of the cut, such as braised beef or pulled pork, but also many more complex dishes. These and many other dishes don’t require a specific description, just a consistent presentation. This requires a knowledgeable waitstaff to explain the dish. No one needs an explanation for rib eye or rack chop but they make up a fraction of the carcass. Selling all of it equally is much more difficult. Experimenting with multiple cuts using the same basic cooking method to try for a consistent outcome is difficult and can be expensive if it doesn’t go well. An example is trying to make a thin sliced grilled item from both the top round and knuckle. Both might be tender enough but have slightly different textures or cooking times. Both require some cutting skill to trim correctly to an appropriate thickness. 

 Back to the big processors. Another phenomenon I’ve noticed is the once underutilized cuts have now gained popularity. Cuts that were once considered a step above grind are much more expensive. Examples such as inside skirt steak, boneless short ribs (chuck flap), teres major, sirloin flap (bavette) pork shanks, all are now what I consider high priced items. So where are the under priced deals? Larger cuts from the round continue to be inexpensive. Beef top round, bottom round (gooseneck), knuckle, fresh ham of pork, pork picnic, lamb shoulders, all are low priced. But these cuts present lots of marketing and cooking challenges. They tend to be tougher or overly lean. They have little name recognition or if names are used they indicate low value and quality. So what’s the alternative? The large processor can always grind. The craft butcher can cut in inventive ways or offer cooked items such as roast beef, cured ham etc. The chef/restaurant might consider looking at recipes for these cuts and finding overlapping uses, or thin slicing and quick cooking.  Using skills to entice the customer can enable the use of more of the entire animal. One thing I teach my students is there are two ways to make a menu; 1) think of the dish and buy the meat for it or, 2) look at the purveyors sheet and find the least expensive items and create a menu using that. 

 I know this is general information without being to specific and prices are always changing, but use of an entire carcass is not easy. We didn’t get into any of the byproduct but I’ll post another article about that soon.

ASF??

 So Covid 19 has certainly been a problem for the meat industry. First plants shutting down, then reopened with staff shortages. Trucking and supply chain issues are common, like any industry. But, as of this September, the prices and profit margins are up, especially for the largest processors. Farmers are not seeing the same results with worker shortages and prices for them remaining static. Meat prices have increased by over 10% from last year except in the pork sector. Pork is up too, but not as much. That could quickly change.

 ASF or African Swine Fever has been around for many years. A hemorrhagic fever, it presents in its early stages as a high fever, cough, loss of appetite and broken blood vessels in the ears. It was originally discovered in wild hog species as far back as the 1700s. Wild hogs typically will have immunity due to their being exposed to it in the past. Ticks feeding on the hogs can transmit it. Wild hogs foraging on remains of infected hogs can transmit it. Close contact can transmit it. The problem arises when domestic breeds contract the disease. They do not have the immunities that a wild animal has. This is similar to Avian Flu, where wild birds may have the disease and spread it to domestic birds with devastating effect. This hemorrhagic viral hog disease causes the pig to basically bleed out in just a few short days. Hemorrhagic fevers are the type of disease that  are easily transmitted and there are no vaccines or preventions other than culling the infected herds. The map below show the outbreaks in domestic hogs in 2018.

 

 The disease has spread dramatically into China, Vietnam as well as Eastern Europe. Being that this disease affects overbred, domestic hogs raised in confinement the results are devastating to farmers. China has had at least a dozen outbreaks resulting in losses totally over a billion dollars. Huge herds have been destroyed to contain it as of this past summer. 

 In Europe, the first cases showed up in Portugal in the 1950s and has haunted farmers for years. Tight controls and safety measures on farms have kept it at bay but it shows up year after year with some outbreaks worse than others. Most recently Belgium has had an outbreak and Germany has discovered it in wild boars. 

 Before I continue, ASF can not be transferred to humans, unlike swine flu. It is more similar to the disease that effects wild deer, EHD, Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, which devastated some deer populations in the North East US. These diseases certainly need to be observed closely for changes in their strains. 

Back to the A S Fever. There has never been a case in the US. The amount of wild hogs and ticks in the US doesn’t bode well if it spreads here. Many farms already have some strict protocol in place to keep their pigs safe but for smaller, heirloom breed growers that want to keep their pigs outside part of the time, this could be disaster. 

Recently cases have showed up in the Western Hemisphere for the first time in over 40 years. Cases have been discovered in the Dominican Republic and Haiti this fall. The implications and results of this entering the US could result in serious problems for hog farms. The current relatively low prices for pork could possibly spike to previously unknown highs. Currently, one of the reasons prices are higher here in the US is due to our companies exporting more product to other areas, such as China. If this disease were to get a foothold here, the world may be seeing a price increases like crazy. Pork futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will jump and someone, not farmers, will make a bundle.

 

Divide and conquer...or not?

I like a nice rib eye steak. I like it thickish and cut from the chuck side. I like it with some rich intermuscular fat (fat between the muscles) and I like it grilled at a high heat over hickory coals to give it lots of crust. I season it a day ahead with salt, pepper and chopped garlic. That fat drips down into the coals and flares up in a smoky swirl. It goes perfect with a large salad of greens out of the garden and some nice basic apple cider vinaigrette which helps cut the richness of the steak. That, and a nice glass of Montepulciano (12 bucks for the big bottle!), is a perfect steak dinner. This may be a meal I have 4 or 5 times a year. Is it healthy? I'm not sure, nor do I consider that part of it. The fat is rich but I'm not eating this everyday. I suspect the processed fat in french fries or nuggets, with its antifoaming agents, is also harmful. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/whats-infast-food_b_805190.html
 Enough about what I like, lets discuss the trend in foodservice to take traditional steak cuts and divide them into smaller pieces that all seem to resemble a tenderloin medallion. We do this in class all the time. I've been teaching how to divide the top sirloin butt into medallions for the past ten years, showcasing the baseball steak and attempting to convert even the cap into medallions. ( If you are not following this here is a link) http://www.beefinnovationsgroup.com/valuecuts/sirloin/data_pdf/beefLoinTopSirloinButt-How_to_Cut.pdf This cut, traditionally, would be a large slicing steak. I still think that is a great way to cook it, with some exterior fat left on the edge.
 Another presentation is to denude the striploin and divide it in half the long way and make striploin medallions. This is a way to cut the steak thicker and not serve such a huge portion. The trouble with this is that the steaks can sometimes look like a half moon.
 We also see the rib eye being divided. This process involves taking the cap or inner deckle off and isolating the longissumus dorsi ( which is basically the same muscle that runs along the entire back of the animal and is the striploin). The problem with this is the nuscle that is isolated for medallions is conical in shape and difficult to portion into even looking cuts and the cap ( deckle) must be sold as a seperate piece. http://www.beefinnovationsgroup.com/valuecuts/rib/data_pdf/beefRibRibeyeLipon-How_to_Cut.pdf
 A big part of all this dividing thats going on is chefs wanting to serve smaller, thicker cut portions. This may make sense but there really needs to be some serious yield testing done on these. Every cut I mentioned requires a lot of trimming and denuding of fat. These, other than the tenderloin, are the most expensive cuts you can buy. Taking them apart, trimming them into "unnatural" shapes really cuts into the profits if you aren't charging enough.
 Another reason I think the beef industry likes these innovations is that beef in general has gotten larger over the years and many chefs were complaining they cannot cut a nice thick steak at a reasonable weight. This way of cutting enables the beef industry to grow monster size cuts and not worry because chefs will be cutting everything in half.
 I am not the one to suggest whether these cutting styles are a good idea or not. Chefs need to cost and experiment with these cuts to see if they are profit worthy. But don't forget fat is flavor.

COOL or Fool

COOL....Country Of Origin Labeling.  In late November the FDA implemented a new rule that states any whole muscle meat item must declare where it originally came from. Simple right? You walk into a market or you are ordering ground beef for your restaurant and you simply say I'd like US grown beef and there it is on the label. WHOA! Hold your horses! ( that's another topic!) This law only applies to "whole" muscle cuts. Any processed meat does not require the labeling. Any ham, bacon, bologna, hot dog, breaded meat, seasoned meat, sausage, etc does NOT require any sort of origin labeling. Ground beef does require a COOL label but if the meat is processed in any way, such as precooked or seasoned, it does not.
 Both Canada and Mexico are fighting this new law because they believe it violates free trade agreements. We've been buying a lot of meat from both of those countries for a long time and most consumers would never know it. In fact we've been buying a lot of meat from other countries. Here is a quote from the USDA web site "U.S. beef imports in 2012 totaled 2.22 billion pounds, or nearly 8 percent higher than in 2011. Imports were stronger year over year from Australia (+45 percent), New Zealand (+8 percent), Mexico (+56 percent), and Uruguay (+39 percent). Australia and Canada supplied the largest imports of beef to the United States, at 655 and 537 million pounds. Among the remaining top beef exporters were New Zealand (495 million pounds), Mexico (242 million pounds), and, jointly, Central American countries (Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras at 140 million pounds)." 2.2 billion lbs.!! And this is just beef, we also are seeing some huge hog farms in Mexico and that country's exports are growing.  This is big business and some large processors stand to lose some market share if the law stands. We also export a lot of meat to those countries.
 But who is losing if this law goes away? Well the law potentially helps cattle growers here in the US; those hard working ranchers that have been hit by a number of tough conditions over the last few years. Droughts in Texas, freak cold snaps and snow like in South Dakota this fall, floods like in eastern Colorado, all part of our meat supply. Large meat processors would rather hedge against our cattle growers by importing 2 - 3% of the meat they process. Many large companies are fighting this law and state that it is unnecessary government regulation. Their statements claim food safety laws in Canada and Mexico are fine and we don't need to worry about meat imports. Here is an article in the online publication Stitata about the use of the Beta-Agonist Clenbuterol found in Mexican meat....... "Consumption of clenbuterol contaminated meat has caused 56 cases of clenbuterol poisoning in the municipality of Tlahuelilpan. The cases were treated promptly and all recovered. In order to prevent a wider contamination, officials seized 72.5 kg of meat. Clenbuterol is a drug that is used to treat asthma. In some formulations, it increases the creation of muscle and is sometimes used to increase the muscle mass of animals such as cattle, pork or sheep. Clenbuterol residue remains in the body for a long time (months) after consumption and can affect lung and heart function." There is a lot of corruption and looking the other way when it comes to regulations in Mexico but this type of abuse of chemicals is a concern globally! The Canadians aren't without scandals as well. Here is an article about E-Coli tainted product headed for the US. http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10/01/canadians-kept-in-the-dark-for-two-weeks-over-tainted-meat-scandal-liberals/   Even in our own meat supply we find things that need to be addressed so how can we, as a nation, allow meat from other countries without at least giving the public a heads up?
  But this law only regulates a portion of the meat brought into the US. All of the processed , value added meat does not need labeling. So if a giant pork company like Shuanghui, which now owns Smithfield, processes pork into value added hams, they do not require a country of origin labeling. Chinese produced pork could be sold in the US as a Smithfield product. This company was also caught abusing beta-agonists and yet our lawmakers determined that it would hurt our economy if we further regulate. What is to stop multi-national companies from shipping whole carcasses out of the US and processing them overseas and bringing them back as US product, even under the existing law? Nothing!  In reality further regulation would only hurt the bottom line of a foreign company. All of the fast food burgers sold in the US do not require any label about country of origin because the meat is cooked.  Our US processing plants and the workers in them are effected by this and we need to seriously consider COOL for all meat products. The law isn't stopping companies from bringing in the meat...it simply identifies the sources so that chefs and consumers can make their own decisions. Only a fool wouldn't agree with COOL.

Yak ?!!

 Recently we added a lesson on game meats, devoting and entire class day to game and unique meat products. The popularity of alternative red meats is growing so we now teach about venison, elk, buffalo and now also yak. Yak is not really a game animal. It has been a domesticated cattle in the Himalayas for thousands of years. Bos Grunniens  is the species name for the domestic breeds and the Yak looks to be a genetic close relative of the American Bison. It originates from the high mountain regions of the Himalayan Mountains to the Tibetan Plateau. Yak are a very gentle breed and are only aggressive when it is protecting its young. They have very long hair that protects them from the extreme weather and they thrive in high elevations but do not do well in hot, low elevation climates. Unlike a beef or Bison, Yak can be trained and ridden like a horse and are often used as pack animals.
 Yak, as a meat product, is very nutritious. Like Bison, it is a very lean meat but maintains its juiciness if not overcooked. Yak is high in iron and low in cholesterol and is a little smaller than beef resulting in a finer muscle fiber structure. In the US it is fabricated and processed like beef using the same basic carcass separation points and names for cuts. All of the valuable middle meat cuts such as rib eye and striploin are available but most of the inexpensive chuck cuts are being ground for burger. Some of these cuts may be available if you contact the producer directly.
 Yak is also known for its milk and it has a quality butterfat content making it good for butter and cheese making. Yak yogurt is tangy and delicious.
 The animals also possess a long hair that can be woven, similar to long haired goats. The springtime release of winter hair is collected and used for woolen fabrics and contrary to some lore, yak hair has no strong odor.
 Farming Yak is confined to areas that stay somewhat cool year round. Canada, Alaska, high  mountain regions or plateaus in western states and the northern New England states all have yak ranches. http://www.iyak.org/ is a good source to find farms. The Vermont Yak Company in Waitsfield VT., sells meat on line, at local farm markets and now has a foodtruck that sells cooked Yak dishes. In Colorado the Grunniens Yak ranch sells meat and breeding stock  http://www.theyakranch.com/  There are many other sources out there and some commercially available for chefs at locations like Fossil Farms which sells all sorts of exotic meat items.
 Some restaurants are starting to feature Yak on their menus. Here is an example of a trendy tap room on Beacon Hill serving Yak http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2012/07/05/chef-brian-poe-new-restaurant-tip-tap-room-brings-yak-meat-and-draft-beer-beacon-hill/htwpX5lXzAB24t6BPrJn8L/story.html  and another Canadian example...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/is-yak-meat-the-next-big-thing/article4262626/
  Yak, like Bison, does not require USDA inspection but most processors are using either the USDA or state inspection services. The voluntary USDA stamp is different than the typical symbol.

Is Bigger Better?

The other day we were breaking down and frenching racks of lamb. We had a carcass that weighed about 75 lbs and the full hotel rack weighed a little over 8 lbs. It was a local product that was finished on some grain. It wasn't overly fatty and the yield grade would have been about a 2. Then we took some prefabricated split and chined racks out of the bag. Some weighed over 9 lbs! These are 8 bone racks ( 16 bones total) costing over $ 9.25 per lb. 9lbs x $9.25 = $83.25. Divide that by the 16 chops and you get a single chop that costs $5.20!! Wow thats a lot. So whats going on? Average weights of both lamb and beef are going up. This is a result of better genetic selection, feeding techniques and the desire for meat processors to sell more product without selling "more" product. Does that make sense? Its not like the processors are sending older mutton that have matured and become larger, these are just bigger lamb.

I recently was looking at carcass weights in the NAMP buyer's guide and the largest category is "D" 75lbs. and over. It seems today the largest amount of graded lamb is falling into this category.

Here are the last week's USDA slaughter numbers.
CHOICE AND PRIME, YG 1-4 Head 7,332
Weight Head
45-DN 375
45-55# 388
55-65# 723
65-75# 1,366

75-85# 1,902

So larger lamb is definitely out there but there is also a fair amount of smaller stuff too. My point here is when ordering lamb be sure to let the purveyor know what size range you want.

Another way to beat the big problem is to create multiple protein plates. Use that monster chop but instead of putting two or three on the plate, put just one and some other lamb items such as a bit of braised pulled lamb shoulder, grilled lamb riblets, lamb sausage, a small osso buco.

New Zealand and Australian products will be much smaller and less expensive per lb. The flavor profile of those is different but if you need to serve that large 4 bone rack roast these may work for you.

The price of lamb is high and the product has gotten larger and it seems to be staying that way for the long haul. That doesn't mean you shouldn't consider putting it on the menu, it just means you may need to rethink your price or amount served.

Photos of carcass courtesy of http://ansc-cpanel.unl.edu/meats/cde2008/lamb%20carcasses/carcass.htm

Popular Cuts and Percentages

I recently heard someone talk about the wonderful flavor of the oyster steak. The oyster, which sits on the outside of the aitch bone on the beef carcass weighs only about 6 -8 ounces. On a 800 pound carcass this is a tiny percentage to say the least. Back in 1998 a project funded by the Beef Checkoff program and conducted by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, http://bovine.unl.edu/ was completed . The purpose was to analyze the entire beef carcass according to the isolated individual muscle as opposed to larger multi muscled cuts that chefs are familiar with commercially. Each individual muscle was subjected to the Warner Bratzler test which detects tenderness. The discoveries were an awakening for the beef industry. Instead of cross cutting through each large section of the carcass, muscles were isolated and sold as "new" cuts. Old world butchers and various cultures around the world have been doing this for years. Often a European chef will ask for a cut that is not the same here in the US. These cuts are smaller and more difficult to isolate than the typical cutting style. An example would be the "flat iron" steak which was isolated from the shoulder clod. The upside of this research is a higher profit margin from the entire carcass. The downside is the problem when one of these small cuts gains in popularity to the point where the cost becomes prohibitive. If a restaurant decides to put a small isolated cut on the menu, such as the Teres Major or Petite Tender, which weighs about a pound, and it becomes a popular item, the price may shoot up. If the menu states "petite tender" then the restaurant cannot substitute with another cut that might work instead.

Middle meat cuts such as the tenderloin, strip loin and rib eye have always been more expensive because of their tenderness, flavor and also shape, that is conducive for portion cutting. A completely cleaned and denuded tenderloin only weighs about 4 pounds so in a 800 pound carcass there is only 8 pounds of tenderloin medallions. Wow! The larger tougher cuts from the round and chuck take up a much larger percentage of the carcass. Recently I have encountered the rib eye divided into its main eye muscle and its tender cap piece, reducing its size and raising its price. I'm not suggesting these are bad ideas. These are very tender cuts and wonderful for flavor and plate presentation but the chef must realize the cost and reduce the portion size. A 6-8 oz portion should suffice on these cleaned isolated cuts.

How does this relate to other meats? Another cut that is very popular but is a low percentage of the whole is the veal hind shank. There are only 6-8 quality bone-in portions of veal hind shank osso buco available in a 400 lb veal carcass. Veal osso buco maintains its popularity and cannot be substituted with another cut so the price is high, over $8.00 per lb. Another example is the boneless eye muscle of the lamb loin. It weighs only a little over a pound from a 70 pound carcass.

As a chef decides what meat to put on the menu they are often confronted with the many options available today. A menu that is locked into a specific cut makes it very difficult to buy a larger cut and be able to utilize all of the other leftover parts. Its even harder to purchase a full carcass as many local farmers and small processors like to sell. How can a chef put a single item such as loin medallions on the menu when it is such a small portion of the whole carcass? It is the dilemma many chefs encounter when considering local meats. A menu designed with larger cuts or full carcasses in mind requires the overlapping of uses and maybe stockpiling some cuts in the freezer. Its a different mindset.

A chef may also often wonder why a specific cut is expensive. Prices of individual cuts are all based on the full carcass. If a certain small cut is unnoticed then its prices remains low. A chef should be flexible with menu items to realize the most profit. Or, at the very least, keep up with price fluctuations to adjust the menu prices.

Wagyu Woes

The other day I assigned some research for my class after reading some disturbing news reports about Wagyu beef in Japan. The assignment was basic, write about the situation in Japan and also find out about Wagyu production in Australia. Being a casual sidebar assignment I allowed a simple web source to be the citation. This is what Maxim Pettersen handed in....

What happened to Wagyu in Japan?:

Japan's prized Miyazaki beef is under threat from the country's first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease since 2000, which has spread to more than 100 frams. Foot- and- mouth disease is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs, as well as antelope, bison and other wild bovids, and deer. The disease is highly transmissible and the icubation period has a range between 2- 12 days. It is characterized by high fever, blisters inside the mouth, drooling, blisters on the feet that cause lameness. The outbreak in Japan has forced the slaughtering of 49 seed bulls, leaving only six prized seed bulls that breed the tender beef from Miyazaki. Prime Minister Yukio Hatayama has pledged 100 billion yen ( $1.08 billion dollars) to assist farmers who are expected to lose 16 billion yen from slaughtering their livestock. The foot and mouth otbreak, also known as FMVD, was detected on April 20th, and has spread to 111 farms in Miyazaki, Japan's south, involving more than 85,000 cattle, and pigs. Fears are growing that it may spread beyond Miazaki. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1259427/Foot-and-mouth-threatens-Wagyu-beef

Wagyu Production in Australia:

Australia received its first Wagyu genetics from a Wagyu female in 1990. Frozen semen and embryos have been available since 1991 and there have been numerous imports of live purebreds into Australia, and specifically in 1997, the first fullbloods came to Australia. The Australian Wagyu Association is the largest breed association outside of Japan. Both Fullblod and Wagyu Croos bred cattle are farmed in Australia for domestic and overseas markets. The Wagyu cattle represent only 100,000 of the 28.8 million cattle in Australia, however takes up 40% of the Australian feedlot space in a 12 month period. The FMVD outbreak that has banned the export of Wagyu cattle in Japan, has increased the demand for Australian Wagyu producers, and some producers hope to double their exports to overseas markets such as the U.S. http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/06/07/193891business-news.html

Kiwi, Papya and Sharp Pointy Things

Last class we decided to test out some meat tenderizing techniques. A while back I had purchased a Jaccard knife and we use it regularly to tenderize tougher veal cutlets, skirt steaks etc. I tell the students about how it is used on a larger scale by many portion cutting processors and has its attributes for introducing marinades deeper into the meat. It also has come under some scrutiny because of the problem of possible crosscontamination of bacteria into a steak type cut that will be cooked to medium rare or less. http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=250404

The Jaccard has its place in the kitchen and if used and cleaned properly it can be a good way to get cuts that are sitting on the tenderness "fence" to be made more palatable.

On to our testing. We chose to use the Beef Sirloin Flap which is palatable but often a little tough to be served as an unsliced portion. While the Jaccard works well we decided to try some other techniques that will do the job. We experimented with two other methods, applying Papya and Kiwi fruit to steak cuts. We peeled and sliced both fruits and messaged them into two separate steaks and left them loose wrapped over night. The third steak was simply Jaccarded without any marinade or spice. When it came time to cook them we seasoned all three with salt and pepper, lightly so as not to interrupt the naturally occuring tastes. They were cooked to medium rare individually in a heavy black skillet with a little rendered beef fat in the pan to prevent sticking.

The results? All three methods were effective in tenderizing the meat with the two fruit methods differing somewhat from the Jaccard. The mechanical method worked well but without any marinade, it turned out a little dry. It also cooked faster due to the ability for heat to "chimney" up the tiny holes that were pierced through it. Moisture had leaked out of the meat but it was still palatable.

The Papya worked well but left a lightly sweet flavor and carmelized quite a bit in the pan. Papya contains a protease enzyme, papain, which chemically breaks down the collagen muscle fiber sheaths within the muscle. Kiwi fruit also contains protease enzymes and the effects from placing it over the steak was also very effective. The Kiwi didn't have quite the same amount of sweetness but did leave a residual flavor. Both fruits broke down the fibers about equally resulting in a steak that could be cut with a regular steak knife with ease. At 24 hrs we did not experience a "mushy" texture that can happen when steaks are left too long. In a previous test we left a steak with Papya over a weekend and it became overly tenderized and very soft which resulted in an unatural texture. The meat fibers had basically disolved.

None of the three in this test were disagreable in taste but there were certainly differences. The question is how would they be used in the kitchen? If you are trying to maintain the original flavor of the meat, the mechanical system is probably best. There is no added flavor. If looking for an ingredient that will add some flavor and can do a nice job tenderizing these two fruits worked well. Other fruits containing protease enzymes are figs, pineapple, and honey dew melon. All of these will do the job but will also add flavor. Be sure not to over marinate due to the mush factor. A half of a kiwi can be enough for about 4 lbs of meat and it is easy to overuse it. http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/tips-techniques/tip-tenderizing-with-kiwi-011683

Steam Bath

The other day we were cutting beef top rounds into trimmed roasts in class. Half the class was cutting Certified Angus and the other half were using regular IBP Choice XT. XT stands for Extra Trimmed, I believe. I was asking the class to observe any differences between the two, hoping for some comments on the fat trim level or marbling scores. Instead what they noticed the most was the fact that the CAB had a discoloration on the exposed meat and the XT did not. The CAB top round was a basic untrimmed subprimal which was packaged "as is" when taken off the bone. The XT had the cap fat trimmed to 1/4 inch and the discoloration trimmed off. The grayish tint is not caused by any spoilage or pathogen, it is the result of the carcass steam cleaning process.

Steam cleaning takes place in most large beef processing plants today. It is typically a combination of whole carcass washing with water, hand held steam vacuums during evisceration, and a steam pasteurization cabinet for the whole split dressed carcass. Often carcasses are also sprayed with an organic acid to further guard against pathogens. IBP, owned by Tyson, developed the "Triple Clean" method after a huge beef recall of about 750,000 lbs in 1998. This method applied the hand held vacuum steamers and a huge car wash type steam cabinet on their line for the first time. The end result is a cleaner beef but also a sort of pre-cooked layer on some exposed cuts. The top round, flank steak, skirt and hanger steaks, and sometimes the tenderloin can be found with some slight discolorations caused by the steam. Most other cuts are protected by the exterior fat or bone coverage.

The basic reason for this extra cleaning is E. coli O157:H7 which is found in the fecal matter on the outside of the hide or in the intestinal tract. The speed of the processing and the fact that cattle often arrive with contaminated hides and intestinals makes extra cleaning a safer alternative. But all this extra cleaning is expensive and errors can be made.

Another idea is to reduce the amount of E coli before the animal leaves its feedyard. This can be done a couple of ways. First by cleaning out excessive waste so animals are cleaner and dryer when they leave. Many times, especially in rainy summer months, cattle are standing in muck. Some feedyards are a lot better about this than others and there should be a standard.

Another is to feed the cattle hay or barley a few days before slaughter. This causes a change in the intestine that helps to reduce the E. coli dramtically. This is not to say that the animal should be on pasture or not ever grain fed but simply creating a dramtic switch from a corn ration to hay for the last few days could reduce E.coli counts significantly. http://www.horizonpress.com/cimb/v/v11/67.pdf So why aren't most large processors demanding this switch to keep the cattle cleaner? Maybe its a weight loss issue or a cost that makes this impractical. But the cost of the steam cleaning must be high too.

Other interventions, such as Lactobacillus-based direct-fed microbials, vaccines and irradiation are also being suggested. Diet introduced probiotics can reduce E. coli. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12747680 There is a vaccine for it too. But both of these add extra expense. One company developed a vaccine and spent $15,000,000 in doing it ( also $50,000,000 in advertising it!) http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6138682

The goal of irradiation is to "pasteurize" the carcass. This would eliminate a lot of pathogen risk and contrary to popular sentiment, it wouldn't glow in the dark. My issue with this method is when a meat is irradiated will the good flora that enables part of the flavor of a proper dry aging be destroyed? How much vitamin content will be lost? Also if the goal of irradiating is to eliminate E.coli by sterilizing it and E.coli is typically found in fecal matter then are we to accept sterilized fecal matter as a food? Not my idea of a fine dining experience.

Steam cleaning is a good idea and it has made our meat supply safer. Hay, you know that dried stuff grown in open fields, seems like a good idea too. There is no one solution but there are some that make more sense than others.

Bookbinder Makes Pastrami

My teaching assistant, Steven Bookbinder, decided to make some pastrami a few weeks ago. The process is a simple one but it requires patience and a feel for slow cooking. A good quality pastrami starts with a quality cut. My father often makes it from the plate section but it tends to be very fatty. Most places, such as Katz's Deli in NYC or Schwartz's Smoked Meats in Montreal, use the brisket. At the CIA we got in a case of Prime grade briskets so Steven was in luck!

I had confidence that Steven would make a quality product but I was pleasantly surprised when it was finished. It was one of the best pastrami I've tasted. So what went right? Well first, the Prime brisket was a great start, then a quality recipe supplied by Chef Dave Kamen was valuable. The recipe was varied slightly by Steven to test out a couple things. One was that he did not trim the brisket much, another was the fact that Steven let the briskets dry out for a day after the brining. The spice mix was applied during this time which really got the seasoning deep into the meat. Another variation was the smoking time. The brisket was cold smoked overnight like bacon rather than a hot smoke. Then the last variation was that he steamed it in an intense pressure steamer for about 30 min, until the brisket was super tender! This was no quick process and the key to all of it was patience and allowing for flavors to develop correctly.

Upon finishing it we got a loaf of fresh rye bread from our bakeshop and some Gulden's Spicy Brown mustard. I ate two large sandwiches before I realized that I was ready to explode! As you can see in the photos it was carnage in the meat room as we all enjoyed this treat.

Pastrami is not a fancy food but its hard to find a real one. Thanks to Steven for the treat!

Here's the basic recipe for 2 large briskets....

Ingredients:

Brine:

Water 3 gal.

Salt 2 lbs

Dextrose 10 oz.

TCM 7 oz. ( I've reduced it to 5 oz. before)

Garlic cloves 6 smashed

Pickling Spice 2 Tbsp.

Prime beef Briskets 2 pc.

Spice Rub:

Coriander( cracked) 4 oz.

Black Pepper ( coarse cracked) 4 oz.

Mix the brine making sure all solids are dissolved. Steven used a large, clean plastic bucket. You can pump the brisket with a few oz of brine and then place the briskets in the brine for about a week under refrigeration until thoroughly cured.

Rinse off the brisket and rub the spice mix all over the outside, deep into the fat and meat. Let stand on a rack for about two days, allowing to dry.

Cold smoke slowly for about 8 hrs, until golden brown. Cook in steamer for about 30 min until fork tender and gelatinous.

Aging 3

At the CIA I have been experimenting with aging meat for a while now. Over the years many classes have sampled the flavor of aged beef, lamb and even pork. We have compared dry to wet aging methods and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of both during our lectures. Most often we dry age a bone in 2x3 beef striploin for about 3-4 weeks and cut off all of the exposed area, conduct a yield test and then sample a few slices of steaks simply cooked in a hot black skillet. We compare this to a three week wet aged 0x1 boneless striploin cooked the same way. These are both non-program standard choice, not expensive prime or certified beef, but its not tenderness we are testing so much as the depth of flavor. Consistently the dry aged has more depth of flavor but a severe yield loss. I always try to encourage my students to think of how each would apply in the restaurant setting. A dry aged would be great for a stand alone steak where the flavor of the meat is the highlight. Wet aged might be more appropriate for a steak that is served with a rich sauce or spicy rub where the taste of the steak is lost to the seasoning.

The longest dry aged product other than cured stuff, was a leg of lamb that was aged for about two months. I thought for sure it would be spoiled but to my surprise it survived and presented a rich flavor and ultra tender texture. We also did a six week striploin over the summer break which was right on the edge of palatable. Some students didn't like it while others thought it was divine. We had some products that were wet aged too long and had a very funky "feta" cheese smell. We didn't sample those. Beef reaches maximum tenderness at 21 - 28 days after slaughter if held at normal walk-in temperatures so there is really no reason to wet age beyond that amount of time.

Many students and associates ask me if they can age in their small fridge at home. We age at the college in a large walkin with great fan circulation and good humidity control but a small fridge is a different situation. I often suggest using an extra fridge and sticking a small computer fan in it to circulate properly. Also place a small pan of water in there to keep up the humidity.

A while back we received a sample of a product named DryBag. I had read about this product on Chris Raines Penn State blog and I called DryBag. They generously offered a few for us to try. The concept is to be able to dry age beef without having to isolate the cuts in a seperate fridge. It is a water permeable bag the bonds to the meat when vacuum packaged. It dries out just like regular dry aging but without the worry of crosscontamination or air flow. It does require a quality vacuum machine and may not work with an inexpensive foodsaver, but a higher end home vacuum system will work. http://www.drybagsteak.com/

We tested all three methods to see how this technology holds up. We took one very fresh striploin that had never been in a bag, cut it into thirds and aged it three ways. So what was the result? We conducted a basic yield test, not a cut test but a simple test to see how much the meat shrank over about three and a half weeks. The wet aged lost no yield at all, the regular exposed dry aged lost about 20% and the DryBag portion also lost an almost identical amount, 20%. So we concluded it was truly water vapor permeable. The wet aged was the usual dull off red of in bag meat that soon bloomed once the air hit it. The regular dry aged had developed some exterior mold and had its usual distinct salami-esque smell. The DryBag was discolored but not to the point of the regular dry aged. It had a slight odor but not drastic. We tasted it all and the three were all different. The regular and the wet aged followed their predictable flavor profiles and the DryBag steak came in about in the middle. It definately gained some Umami flavor but not as much as the traditional dry aged. I wanted to share the tasting with another chef so I sent the three to Certified Master Chef Brad Barnes and asked for his honest opinion. I sent him trimmed 8 oz. steaks that all looked pretty much the same. Brad has judged numerous chef competitions and has a quality palate so here are his notes:

Wet;
Fragrance, none
Color, same
Flavor, mild
Normal texture

Dry Bag;
Fragrance, light
Color, same
Flavor, Mild, pleasant nutty hint
Moderately tender

Dry;
Fragrance full, pleasant
Color, same
Flavor, moderate strength, typical aged flavor
Tender

Frrreeeezing!!

This might be a topic that you don't want to discuss this time of year but I say its perfect! Over the holiday my father gave me a prime Top Sirloin Butt weighing about 14 lbs. I was planning on cutting it up, making nice steaks so I threw it in a small cooler and put it outside the back door. That night the wind blew like crazy and the temperature plummeted. The next day I went skiing in the Catskills and forgot all about the Sirloin. The temperature barely got to the teens. One more frigid night and the beef was solid! So did I ruin a perfectly good prime steak cut? Well today's post will focus on the effects of freezing meats and how and when to do it correctly.

Meat is at least 70% water so freezing it creates ice crystals. If meats are frozen slowly ice crystals grow large and break through the muscle cell struture and and damage the delicate sheaths that bundle muscle cells. This damage results in moisture loss upon thawing. When meats are frozen rapidly such as blast freezing using fans and temperatures well below zero, much smaller ice crystals are created. This results in much less damage to the cell structure. When you buy a frozen duck or turkey it was most likely blast frozen so the quality level will be higher than if you froze a fresh bird slowly in a normal freezer. Thats not to say you should never freeze, just do it carefully. I will spread out products to ensure a rapid freeze instead of freezing in a large lump.

Other effects of freezing are changes in flavor. The environment of a freezer is much like that of a high peak mountain, very cold, windy and really really dry. This dryness can result in freezer burn. Freezer burn is non-pathenogenic but destroys flavor quality. The burn occurs when meat is exposed to the air of the freezer creating a leathery layer on the outside, resulting in toughness and a stale, off taste. Freezer burn can be trimmed away. To prevent it, be sure to keep meats in air-tight packaging.

Although the act of freezing stops the growth of many pathogenic organisms it does not sterilize meat. Salmonella, campylobacter, yeasts, molds and other organizms can "hibernate" during freezing so when meats are thawed they are reactivated. Also bacterial toxins can be present even if the bacteria themselves are destroyed. Meats that are starting to spoil should not be frozen to protect them.

http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/consumers/food-safety-topics/foodborne-illnesses/freezing-thawing/fact-sheet-frozen-foods4_6.htm

Certain fats, especially those in pork, duck and goose can go rancid even while in the freezer. Fats become oxidized and the flavor changes dramatically. Prolonged freezing even in air tight packaging can result in self oxidizing fat. Rendered fats are not effected as much and can be stored much longer.

What about the effects of freezing on nutritional values? The protein and fat values stay the same but some more delicate vitamins are reduced by freezing. Thiamin and vitamin C are both greatly dimished by freezing.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/topics/processing

Freezing is a part of meat purchasing today and many foodservice operations depend on it. So what can we do to minimize its downsides? At the CIA we try to freeze rapidly as cold as possible. We vacuum package most meats and we try not to freeze longer than needed. In other words we use the freezer as a purchasing tool as opposed to a long term storage shed. Six months should be the maximum for most meats and even less for fragile high cost meats.

The other part of this conversation is thawing. The best way to thaw is slowly in the walkin. Rapid thawing at room temp can result in rapid bacterial growth. Thawing in a sink with cool running water is OK but it is wasteful and if there is any leakage in packaging the meat product is waterlogged and ruined. Thawing in a microwave is a possibility but can result in partial uneven cooking if done incorrectly and also wastes energy.

By the way, the temperature rose to 32F today so I put the Sirloin in the freezer. I'll pull it out just in time for Memorial Day weekend and no later!

Glutaminase - Glue?

A few years ago I had a student who, unintentionally, made a major cut through the middle of a beef tenderloin while trimming it. We used what we could and shaped medallions from it but we lost a fair amount. I joked about it and said it would be a great test for " meat glue". Then last year my TA at the time, Carlos, brought in a sample of a Japanese product, Activa. Activa is a product made by the Ajinomoto corporation that is a protein binder enzyme transglutaminase. Transglutaminase is a naturally occuring enzyme that is created by a frementation process. Glutamin is the major amino acid that is found in muscle tissue. It is considered a non-essential amino acid due to the fact that the body creates it so it doesn't need to be consumed but many body building supplements contain it due to its abilty to promote muscle strength. It is also used for digestive health and is an essential energy source for the intestinal lining. Glutamin is used for many treatments medically and its attributes are still being discovered.

Transglutiminases are a number of enzymes that bond proteins. The transglutaminase found in the blood stream forms a fibrin bond when an injury occurs, initiating clotting. The Ajinomoto Co creates this type of enzyme by using a fermentation process and, once isolated, mixing it with a delivery powder that can either be mixed with water or sprinkled over meats. MEAT GLUE! It physically binds raw meat proteins together.

In class we have used it to bind a variety of meat items. Certainly it can be used to repair cuts made in error but it can also be used to dramatically increase yields on certain cuts. We used it to bind tenderloin sections to minimize tail and tip trim. We also took two boneless lamb loins and joined them to create a larger circular medallion. It worked really well for stuffing items. Boneless chicken breasts can be stuffed and rolled and will hold without any string or toothpicks used. It will bind any type of animal protein but will not hold fat well.

Recently we had to fabricate 725 portions of tenderloin medallions for a graduation celebration. We used PSMO tenderloins and we averaged almost 12 - 6 oz steaks per tenderloin which is a really good yield. I made a slurry of Activa and glued the tail sections and head sections together to create a much more uniform medallion. We wrapped them in plastic and let them set overnight. The only issues were when we attempted to mix tenderloins that were slightly different colors. You could see the different sections which looked odd but once seared you could not tell. Activa basically creates a bond that is undetectable and is basically like a new meat.

There are three basic formulations of Activa and the difference between them is the type of protein you are trying to bind. We used Activa TG- FP which is meant for leaner raw meat proteins such as beef or pork. The other two types, Activa TG- RM and TG- RI, have different uses. RM is used for either seafood, poultry or processed meats. RI is used to bind protein for milk products such as yogurt and cheese.

The companie's site is not very high tech http://www.activatg.com/ but it explains the product well. Carlos got them to send a sample by simply requesting it. It is available commercially and is relatively expensive about $100 for a kilo ( 2.5 lbs) but a little goes a long way. I used about 1/4 lb for 725 medallions which more than made up for its cost in yield savings.

Here are the basic steps we used for