Texas Longhorn Cattle in the Catskills!!

 Its a steady rain and 65 degrees on a June morning here in the Catskill Mountains of New York. That's a far cry from the weather in San Antonio today, where it is 94 and very sunny. Not that it doesn't get to be 94 here but the contrasts between the two places is obvious.
  On our way to western NY, my son and I take Rt 17which passes through a lot of hilly country with some farms mixed in. There are a couple Angus farms and dairy operations with lots of Holsteins. We sometimes take a scenic route off of 17 which takes us past the Papacton Reservoir and then through Downsville NY.  On the edge of Downsville there is a huge pasture-covered hillside. And there right along the edge of the fence we saw something that made us stop the car and grab the camera phone; pure-bred Texas Longhorn cattle with their huge horns and an indifferent expression of "Watchya'll lookin at?"
 Tom and Julie Markert own the Triple M Ranch in Downsville NY and also the beautiful Old Schoolhouse Inn and Restaurant. http://www.triplemlonghorns.com/ They have over 250 head of pure bred Texas Longhorn cattle on site and they use the cattle for their famous longhorn burgers and other special meats on the menu, including short ribs. The cattle are fed on pasture for most of the time but finished on corn feed for about 90 days before slaughter just to provide some extra fat. The grain is all locally grown and these cattle live in one of the most pristine areas one can imagine. Here is a photo of one of their prize stock bulls.

 Longhorns fell out of favor with cattle growers in the west years ago due to the fact that many growers switched to stocky meat breeds from England and Europe. They are a unique breed in that they are very hearty and can fend off predators but are actually an easy going breed that can be trained to ride! Longhorn can live off scant pasture and do very well in hot dry climates. Their meat is leaner than most beef cattle but they can be fattened to a certain extent to get some marbling. They are one of the oldest breeds of cattle in the world claiming ancient ancestry to Spanish Iberian cattle. First brought to the Americas by the early Spanish explorers in the 1500s, they are considered the closest thing to wild cattle that we have in the US. The fact that they are difficult to move around in chutes and gates makes them an unpopular choice for many growers but a lot of Texas ranchers now keep a few as a symbolic connection to the past. Their horns are valuable and ranchers such as the Markerts, sell the ornamental horns.
  Since 2010 there is a USDA certified program for Certified Texas Longhorn Beef with a criteria that focuses primarily on pure bred genetics and not so much on marbling scores like most Angus programs. The idea was to keep the breed pure so processors could market Texas Longhorn without it being mostly cross bred with another cattle breed.
  Next time you're in Downsville NY, bring your fishing pole and then stop by the Old Schoolhouse Inn and try an authentic taste of the old southwest, right here in the southeast of NY.
  Another note....bring your camera because not only do the Markerts raise Longhorns, they also raise Watusi cattle which have even larger horns!!

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.

Saugatuck Craft Butchery

 Along the southern coast of Connecticut is the town of Westport. Just a minute off of Rt 95 you can find Saugatuck Craft Butchery there. The shop is located right on the Saugatuck river near the boat launch, in a very picturesque neighborhood that is currently renovating and growing. This is the definition of a small, true craft butchery shop. Every piece of meat is cut from whole carcasses and there is no boxed products to be found. The showcase is filled with fine cuts of local beef, dry aged in house; local lamb and pork, fine poultry, well made sausages, and a small but high quality selection of cheeses. The crew of five is loaded with talent including Ryan Fibiger, owner and head butcher, Paul Nessel, co-owner and butcher, Mark Hepperman, resident chef, Sam Garwin, butcher and Mike Egan, butcher. Mike and Mark are both graduates of the CIA ( I was Mike's meat instructor). Paul was a chef also and Sam is involved in the marketing end of the business but she can also cut. The crew of this shop are united in the idea of treating butchery as a craft and showcasing the entire animal in a way that is appealing and at a very high quality level for the customer.
 I was invited to teach a short class on hog butchery to the crew and some of the area chef/ customers of the store. The attendees all had some butchery skills so it was much more of a discussion of alternative styles as opposed to a lesson on basics. We talked bone structure, seam butchery and techniques for creating cuts for curing. Another issue was storage. How does a restaurant store an entire carcass? We talked about vacuum packaging and its effects on pork. The store's vacuum machine is not working right now and Ryan was actually happy about it. He finds that using the vacuum is sort of a crutch and allows you to over cut and then package everything rather than cutting to what will be sold that day, in other words, forecasting.

 Saugatuck represents the trend of artisan butcher shops that are springing up all over the nation., But theirs is the model of how to do it right. Ryan and Paul worked at Fleisher's of Kingston to help learn the craft and the ideals of that shop are evident here. Just as when students leave our classes at the CIA, they've become their own artisans. This shop has some unique touches and they are developing as they go. With all the chefs on board, you will certainly see more prepared foods in the future.
 They also offer meat cutting classes a few days a month and they have an apprenticeship program for those looking to really learn the craft. Here is their link https://craftbutchery.com/home/
  Ryan has a good relationship with a lot of the local chefs and restaurants in the area. He offers that local connection that so many are looking for today. He also has good relationships with area farms and is offering a steady outlet for anyone who is growing local niche market animals.

 When you walk into this store you know right away that it is well run by folks who really care. There was no deceptive tricks, no products sold that they didn't know the origin of the animal, no fillers or artificial stuff in the sausages. The meats aren't cheap but they are really good quality and you can certainly taste the difference. The crew has a lot of cooking knowledge and is more than willing to share ideas with their customers. This shop is also starting a sandwich line which will only expand as they move into their new digs right across the street. They are hoping to start accepting CIA externs in conjunction with the Whelk restaurant that is just across the plaza and I can't wait to send some students down there.

Making the Movie

There are a lot of meat fabrication clips out there on you tube; some are very well done while others are very poor. How can a chef or butcher know which ones are worth a look? I search through a lot of them and occasionally suggest one to my students or coworkers. I've seen some horrible home movies of hog slaughter where amateurs attempt to explain how its done with very little regard for food safety etc. I've also watched industry videos that over simplify the process and sanitize the view, and focus on the equipment that is being sold. Many videos are made by other instructors in culinary schools around the country. These can be informative and might show a different style or technique. Then you have the anti-meat activists that will show some poor practices done typically at slaughter houses that are not managed well. These are meant to horrify and unfortunately will often be referred to as "industry" standards while actually they are the extreme.
 My own students will often post in-class videos which I sometimes assign as pre-class views for other students to get warmed up to the lesson. As butchers, we must realize that what we do each day, is found fascinating by many. What used to be done in farm households is now distant from what we see in most stores. Not many people will cut their own chicken breast let alone a large carcass.
 Here is a set of videos that shows how to breakdown a half hog in great detail by someone doing it in their own house. It has some good detail and well worth watching. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsoK0gcG9as&list=PL69C2B028F82492F4&index=1  The cutter makes cuts that are not exactly industry style but much more of a custom style of cutting that many small shops are doing today. Some of the techniques are a little out of the norm but part of butchery is developing your own style. Check it out!

Is Local Always Better????

The other day we were cutting a half hog during class and it was from small local processor. It weighed just about 100 lbs., making it a very average market style hog. This size is the most popular throughout the country and is what most large processors look for. The typical processor in Iowa is looking for a 6 month old, 265 lb white haired, grain fed hog. This pig, even though it was raised in upstate NY, fit that description perfectly.
  When we broke it into it's primal cuts the pork was pink, the fat was firm but there was very little marbling and the fat back was only about a 1/2 to 1 inch along the back. I know this pig was not fed any growth promotants or fed antibiotics preemptive but other than that, is it much different than the mass produced pork I can buy for almost half the price?
  When purchasing local, you need to consider a few things. First, just because it is local doesn't guarantee it will be much different than the commercially raised large farm pork. Second, local doesn't always mean "heirloom" breed and many farmers are raising hybrid, fast growing pigs that are easy to raise indoors. Third, the feed a pig gets will be reflected in the flavor so if a grower uses a basic pre-mixed bagged feed the pig will taste pretty much like a mass produced commercial pork.

 So why would you purchase this type of pork? You may decide not to. You may choose a unique heirloom breed that was fed some forage, diverse grains, kitchen scraps, crop farmers by-products and pasture. But these pigs are very expensive and some are extremely fatty. There are some really high quality pork producers out there that are growing pork that doesn't resemble the large commercial pork. It is often reddish in color and the taste is deeper. But be ready to pay for it, an heirloom pig can be anywhere from $3 to $9 per lb!!

 A lot of chefs and home cooks would balk at these prices but still want to be part of the "locally grown" scene. Should they buy the local product that looks like regular pork? Its a tough question to answer. Our white pig was about $1.70 per lb which was more than what large commercial producers charge. Hog market price as of this post date was about $.85 per lb!!!! That is so incredibly cheap that no small producer can match it, no matter what they are feeding. 

 But here a few more things to consider, buying local pork, no matter what style, means you are keeping a local farmer in business. Most local farmers I know are allowing their pigs outside at least in summer. The pigs have a more pig-like existence and allowed some fresh air. Also most small farmers don't use gestation crates, restraining sows and they often don't use antibiotics, unless there is some infection that is not treatable in any other way. They don't use Paylean, a beta-agonist feed additive that grows lean muscle faster from less feed. These are questions you should ask about your local pork.

  Also, the local pork will arrive fresh and not in a vacuum bag. If pork is stored in bags for any length of time ( over two weeks) it starts to purge out and gives the pork a watery feel and the fat will be soaked with purge. Ideally pork should be used fresh and wrapped in paper so the fat stays nice and white. A local pork will typically arrive as a half hog and it will be nice and dry. Purchasing a half hog means you have all sorts of creative fuel for many products. Skin for cracklins or gelatins, bones for roasted stocks, some fat for rendering and the ability to custom cut your meat to create unique dishes. Fresh unbagged pork will work better for dry cured products because the skin and fat will be dryer to start with. 

  So no matter whether you choose to buy an heirloom barley fed pig or a standard market style hog, buying local will have advantages for any chef looking to showcase unique products. 

Pig Diet...Not for Slimming

My nephew, Austin Schneller, is raising four hogs this year. Each year he raises a few for his own consumption and a lucky few friends who help with the costs. A few years ago he raised four Danish Landrace prize stock pigs. They were lean and skittish, without much fatback. They grew really fast but were not what he was after. Then next year he got a Berkshire, a couple Hampshires and a Duroc cross. These were totally different, huge and very fatty. Last year he tried Tamworths, which were wonderful, large with very nice bellies etc. Some of the best pork I've ever tasted. This year I think he has the winner, a cross between Large Blacks and Old Spots. These pigs are very healthy, great foragers and getting really fat. They are a little agressive with each other but thats just pigs acting as they do.

 The feed for the pigs is pretty much the same year to year, lots of grains including corn but also some fermented barley, then as we get into fall, acorns, pumpkins, squash and apples, all byproduct waste from local farmers. This year I picked a big bucket of acorns off my lawn and they ate them like candy. The pigs are under some large oaks so they get all the natural drops in their pen as well. They always get the kitchen scraps from Austins home cooking.

  At the CIA we have the St Andrews Cafe where we try to keep it local and use as much locally grown food as possible. The attempt at sustainability is valid but I noticed we were throwing out the waste food scraps so I introduced the pig bucket. Every couple days the students from St Andrews fill a 5 gallon bucket with a wide assortment of scraps. I pick it up and drop it off to Austin's on my way home, which is typically late evening. The pigs get a very nice late night snack. I've always heard the worst time to eat dinner is late at night because it will make you fat! Well thats the goal here.

 The difference of flavor between these hogs and the commercially grown pork I work with in class is like day and night. Hese pigs are not only fed a more diverse and healthy diet, they are also allowed to mature a little more, giving a more complex meat taste. The other day we cut a half hog from Meiller's in Pine Plains. It was ok but didn't have much marbling and fat back. It wasn't raised poorly, but it was a white pig breed which tend to be leaner and it just wasn't allowed to mature.

 To get the best possible pork, such as that used for the Bellotta Iberico hams, it takes time and lots of really good feed, which means it will be expensive, but well worth it.

Beta-agonists? Good thing cattle don't race bikes.

I was reading an article in a trade magazine the other day which was commenting about the average carcass weight of recent beef. Beef has gotten bigger from some feedlots and the reasons for this are multiple. One is simply introducing larger breeds into the mix. This has been going on for hundreds of years and it is a natural way to increase size. For example if a breeder mixes an Angus with a larger Charolais you end up with bigger beef that should have some of the higher quality traits of the Angus. Advances in breeding and the ability to track generations have resulted in seedstock ranchers growing exactly the type of cattle they want, and for many that may mean larger cattle.

 There are other reasons why cattle have gotten larger. Feed is being managed in ways that can maximize the growth of cattle. Fermenting hay and steaming grains can bring out more nutrients so cattle can actually grow on less feed. Keeping track of the animals diet and exact ration is very important for growth.

 Another aspect is the use of steroids and hormones. Many cattle are implanted with a steroid in their ear upon arriving at the feedyard. This steroid is released for a few days and then the animal goes through a long period of feeding before it is sent to market. The steroid is, for the most part, depleted to low levels before slaughter and the end result is about a four percent gain in size. So this will explain some of the gain but most feedlots  have been using these for years.

 Why are cattle getting even bigger these days? We cut a boneless 0x1 striploin the other day that weighed 17.4 lbs! Thats big and impossible to cut into a thick 8 oz portion steak for a quality restaurant.

  Another tool being used by feedlots today is a different feed supplement called beta- agonists. Beta -agonists are used on humans for asthma relief. Are these cattle having trouble breathing?? Not exactly. Beta-agonists are used to grow muscle faster by increasing the efficiency of the feed. Here is a very good explanation and shows the different types used today. http://fyi.uwex.edu/wbic/files/2010/11/Beta-Agonists-Factsheet.pdf The gains are substantial and the real savings is in the amount of feed the animal needs to grow. The most popular brand name is zilpaterol hydrochloride (Zilmax) is produced by Merck.
  Here is a bit of text from a beef grower about the use of a beta-agonist...

Beta agonists, like ractopamine, work by activating the beta 2 receptor on the muscles of my cattle. This binds specific beta receptors in the muscle cell membranes and increases protein synthesis. What does this mean exactly?


1.As animals grow larger and get close to the time of harvest, their bodies tend to turn nutrients into fat instead of lean muscle. Ractopamine encourages or repartitions those nutrients into muscle growth through protein synthesis rather than fat deposition.

2.This allows the animal to make more lean muscle (what we want to eat), and less fatty tissue (what we do not want to eat).

3.By making more muscle and less fat from nutrients, the animal becomes a more efficient user of its food thereby reducing the total environmental footprint of its food production. http://feedyardfoodie.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/the-great-puzzle-what-role-does-a-beta-agonist-play-on-my-farm/

 

 So this explains why many cattle have gotten larger and also why they are leaner. Lean beef may have eye appeal in the super market but not in a fine steakhouse. And the beef's flavor is also effected. There seems to be less depth of flavor because it is taking less time to grow cattle so they end up in the market younger, therfore less time to develop more complex taste. But as we see drought conditions continuing in the midwest and west, we will see more and more use of beta-agonists. As feed prices soar, cattle growers want to sell faster. Everyday on feed costs them big bucks.

 Beta-agonists have been deemed safe by the FDA but here is an article that sheds more light on the discussion. http://chronicle.com/article/As-Beef-Cattle-Become/131480/  It certainly is an interesting tread of comments afterward. Some program beef processors, such as those seeking higher marbling and smaller sized cattle, have asked feedlots to not overuse the beta-agonists so the beef can fatten. Any natural beef program will not allow them.

  The size of beef has gotten larger, no doubt, and the cyclists in the Tour de France have gotten faster, they are both using similar substances to grow muscle. Beta-agonists are one of the many substances banned in professional bike racing. The use of  beta-agonists is banned from animal feed in the EU and many other countries around the world. I'm not an expert in pharmaceutical study and I don't know the long term chronic effects of the use of these substances. I'm a butcher looking for marbling and flavor and some of today's beef seems to be lacking in both. I'm also a cyclist and long time racing fan and that sport has also lost a lot of flavor in recent years.