gotbeer
Wed, May-21-03, 11:11
Prepare for a grilling
At steak school, what you learn is tested on weekends
05/21/2003
BY GAIL CIAMPA
Journal Food Editor
link to article (http://www.projo.com/food/content/projo_20030521_grill21.6afa3.html)
The lilacs are in bloom, the days are longer, temps are up and now it's time to mosey up to the grill with a big juicy steak.
Thanks to that Atkins diet, beef is back on the politically correct list of things we can eat -- maybe even with no guilt.
But what kind of beef?
Hereford or Angus?
What about the "natural" concept? Do we accept the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition or aspire to stricter standards?
Then there are quality grades. Prime, choice or select -- what do they mean?
Is there a best cut? And why doesn't everyone use the same name? Does a rib-eye called Delmonico taste as good? Does price equal flavor? Does tenderness guarantee taste?
Once all that's been decided, how do you choose the best of the bunch?
And let's not even get into the debate about today's trend of wet aging versus the old way of dry aging.
Who knew choosing a steak to grill could be so complicated?
If supermarkets, restaurants and meat companies so desired, they could educate people on beef. They could use standard, maybe even correct terminology and get away from colloquialisms, said Peter Vaillancourt, an instructor at Johnson & Wales University and a former butcher shop owner.
"In fact, I don't think they want the consumer to be educated. Unless you are true to the trade, ignorance in consumers is wonderful.
"A strip loin steak is the top selling steak in restaurants," he said. But that isn't what they call it; many use the name sirloin strip.
"Calling it a sirloin strip is like saying, 'I have a head-foot ache,' " he said.
A marinated tenderloin is not tenderloin, it's from the short loin, he said. London broil isn't a cut but a dish. It can be a top butt, flank or something else, but the cut should be specified.
Every restaurant serves prime rib. But unless that piece of meat came from beef graded USDA prime, said Vaillancourt, it's a choice rib.
Beef is graded for quality by USDA graders based on the amount of marbling (flecks of fat within the lean) and the age of the animal. These quality grades are an indication of characteristics such as tenderness, juiciness and flavor. The top three -- prime, choice and select -- are available to most consumers.
Prime has the most marbling. But it represents only 2 percent of all beef, so it has limited availability. Most goes to restaurants and specialty meat markets, said Tim Martin, vice president at A.J. Martin, meat purveyors in Warwick.
Choice is the largest category and falls just below prime. The percentage fluctuates according to conditions, said Martin. But Robert Morrison, a branded specialist for beef/pork for Excel Foodservice Northeast, which sells Sterling Silver meats, puts the number at just about 50 percent.
Select has the least marbling and is leaner -- but not as tender or flavorful -- as the two top grades.
Cookout and debate
Morrison shared his expertise, and beef, at a cookout on Sunday orchestrated by grilling guru Don Hysko, owner of Nature's Own Hardwood Charcoal, and Hysko's wife, Pat, at their Lincoln home.
There are also lots of things on which to disagree, as Morrison found while debating aging processes with Tom and Rozann Buckner, owners of L'Epicureo, the Federal Hill restaurant that was once home to Joseph DiGiglio's butcher shop. DiGiglio was the father of Rozann and meat mentor to Tom, who is not only a chef but a butcher.
In the old days, hind quarters would hang for six weeks (think of Sylvester Stallone training in Rocky) while the muscle and fiber broke down to make meat tender, Buckner said. That's dry aging in a nutshell.
But a big change started to evolve in the 1950s, as the industry started a move away from selling sides of beef, which would be cut up by a butcher, to a "box beef technology" that provided specific cuts for specific needs, said Martin. Restaurants spurred the change, wanting only certain cuts -- think the popular strip loins.
Today, Sterling Silver hangs beef for 48 hours after slaughter, Morrison said. Then the meat is butchered, and each cut is vacuum-sealed in bags and the oxygen extracted. It stays that way under proper refrigeration for 21 days to tenderize. That's called wet aging.
Buckner finds it hard to believe the muscle and fiber can break down under those conditions. But he admits the marketplace has changed and buying hind quarters in this age of box beef is costly and difficult. Still, L'Epicureo dry ages its own meat.
Premium beef companies
Sterling Silver, which sells its beef at Shaw's supermarkets, is following industry standards with the wet aging process as it is done by other premium beef companies, including Ridgefield Farms and Certified Angus Beef.
Ridgefield Farms produces Hereford beef. Martin, sitting in his A.J. Martin office, said he's a fan of this beef because it "almost comes with pedigree papers." Hereford cattle have not been cross-bred with other breeds, and this almost ensures a consistent product, he said.
Ridgefield cattle are raised in the Cascade Mountains of Washington, benefiting from the Northwest climate and temperatures that range from 40 to 80 degrees. They don't suffer the weather stress of cold winters and hot summers, and Martin thinks that guarantees better-tasting beef.
Until recently, Ridgefield was mainly in restaurants, but now Roch's Supermarkets, Tom's Market, Coventry, and Lindsay's Market, Cranston, carry it for home use, said Ed Soucy, director of Northeast Sales and Marketing.
Consistency is a constant challenge to the beef industry, said Sterling Silver's Morrison. The whole industry is working to make their product the same quality each time a consumer has it.
That's the angle promoted by Certified Angus Beef, based in Wooster, Ohio. The company has choice standards that are higher than the USDA requires, said William S. Turner, district sales manager for Dole & Bailey, purveyors out of Woburn, Mass. He said that Certified Angus is graded both as prime and the top 35 percent of USDA choice, thanks to brand standards for flavor juiciness and tenderness. These beef grades help predict the eating quality of beef.
Turner said consumers can find Certified Angus Beef at McQuade's Marketplace, Jamestown, Dave's Marketplace, North Kingstown and Warwick, Tom's Market, Coventry, Eastside Marketplace, Providence, Hi-Lo supermarkets, Ro-Jacks supermarkets, and at most Stop and Shop stores.
Doing more than the government requires is what Coleman Natural Beef is banking on to win customers and fans. This company raises cattle without use of antibiotics or growth hormones at any point, said chairman Mel Coleman Jr. from his Colorado headquarters. The USDA standard for "natural" means minimally processed and free from antibiotics and hormones -- but that only means at time of testing.
That's not good enough for Whole Foods market, which has a "never, never program," said John Nicholson, Northeast Meat Coordinator.
Whole Foods and Stop & Shop stores also sell Coleman.
Coleman said the move away from antibiotics and hormones was for company survival. Without a change in 1979, the company -- then in its fifth generation -- couldn't compete with other companies' low prices. Now, Coleman is passionate about returning to days before antibiotics were used as preventative medicine and growth hormones were given to make cattle mature faster, allowing them to go to market sooner.
"We like to say it's better beef from a simpler time," Coleman said.
Talk to the butcher
Still, there's nothing simple about the issues surrounding the purchase of beef. So back to the original question: How do you select the perfect piece of beef?
L'Epicureo's Buckner said to start at a specialty market and talk to the trained butcher. Ask what, if any, is prime, and how it's aged. Then tell the butcher how you plan to cook it so he or she can suggest the best cut.
When you look at the meat, look for those specks of fat, the marbling within the meat. Make sure it's a nice red, never gray. There should be no heavy areas of fat.
Vaillancourt said he sees people buying meat in stores, and often a couple will marvel over how perfect a piece of meat is because it is red through and through and has no fat.
"That's the worst thing possible," he said. "If I buy a steak, I want it to be good. You can make anything flavorful by adding marinade and teriyaki, but I want flavor from the meat. And that means buying a marbleized piece."
On that issue, all can agree.
At steak school, what you learn is tested on weekends
05/21/2003
BY GAIL CIAMPA
Journal Food Editor
link to article (http://www.projo.com/food/content/projo_20030521_grill21.6afa3.html)
The lilacs are in bloom, the days are longer, temps are up and now it's time to mosey up to the grill with a big juicy steak.
Thanks to that Atkins diet, beef is back on the politically correct list of things we can eat -- maybe even with no guilt.
But what kind of beef?
Hereford or Angus?
What about the "natural" concept? Do we accept the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition or aspire to stricter standards?
Then there are quality grades. Prime, choice or select -- what do they mean?
Is there a best cut? And why doesn't everyone use the same name? Does a rib-eye called Delmonico taste as good? Does price equal flavor? Does tenderness guarantee taste?
Once all that's been decided, how do you choose the best of the bunch?
And let's not even get into the debate about today's trend of wet aging versus the old way of dry aging.
Who knew choosing a steak to grill could be so complicated?
If supermarkets, restaurants and meat companies so desired, they could educate people on beef. They could use standard, maybe even correct terminology and get away from colloquialisms, said Peter Vaillancourt, an instructor at Johnson & Wales University and a former butcher shop owner.
"In fact, I don't think they want the consumer to be educated. Unless you are true to the trade, ignorance in consumers is wonderful.
"A strip loin steak is the top selling steak in restaurants," he said. But that isn't what they call it; many use the name sirloin strip.
"Calling it a sirloin strip is like saying, 'I have a head-foot ache,' " he said.
A marinated tenderloin is not tenderloin, it's from the short loin, he said. London broil isn't a cut but a dish. It can be a top butt, flank or something else, but the cut should be specified.
Every restaurant serves prime rib. But unless that piece of meat came from beef graded USDA prime, said Vaillancourt, it's a choice rib.
Beef is graded for quality by USDA graders based on the amount of marbling (flecks of fat within the lean) and the age of the animal. These quality grades are an indication of characteristics such as tenderness, juiciness and flavor. The top three -- prime, choice and select -- are available to most consumers.
Prime has the most marbling. But it represents only 2 percent of all beef, so it has limited availability. Most goes to restaurants and specialty meat markets, said Tim Martin, vice president at A.J. Martin, meat purveyors in Warwick.
Choice is the largest category and falls just below prime. The percentage fluctuates according to conditions, said Martin. But Robert Morrison, a branded specialist for beef/pork for Excel Foodservice Northeast, which sells Sterling Silver meats, puts the number at just about 50 percent.
Select has the least marbling and is leaner -- but not as tender or flavorful -- as the two top grades.
Cookout and debate
Morrison shared his expertise, and beef, at a cookout on Sunday orchestrated by grilling guru Don Hysko, owner of Nature's Own Hardwood Charcoal, and Hysko's wife, Pat, at their Lincoln home.
There are also lots of things on which to disagree, as Morrison found while debating aging processes with Tom and Rozann Buckner, owners of L'Epicureo, the Federal Hill restaurant that was once home to Joseph DiGiglio's butcher shop. DiGiglio was the father of Rozann and meat mentor to Tom, who is not only a chef but a butcher.
In the old days, hind quarters would hang for six weeks (think of Sylvester Stallone training in Rocky) while the muscle and fiber broke down to make meat tender, Buckner said. That's dry aging in a nutshell.
But a big change started to evolve in the 1950s, as the industry started a move away from selling sides of beef, which would be cut up by a butcher, to a "box beef technology" that provided specific cuts for specific needs, said Martin. Restaurants spurred the change, wanting only certain cuts -- think the popular strip loins.
Today, Sterling Silver hangs beef for 48 hours after slaughter, Morrison said. Then the meat is butchered, and each cut is vacuum-sealed in bags and the oxygen extracted. It stays that way under proper refrigeration for 21 days to tenderize. That's called wet aging.
Buckner finds it hard to believe the muscle and fiber can break down under those conditions. But he admits the marketplace has changed and buying hind quarters in this age of box beef is costly and difficult. Still, L'Epicureo dry ages its own meat.
Premium beef companies
Sterling Silver, which sells its beef at Shaw's supermarkets, is following industry standards with the wet aging process as it is done by other premium beef companies, including Ridgefield Farms and Certified Angus Beef.
Ridgefield Farms produces Hereford beef. Martin, sitting in his A.J. Martin office, said he's a fan of this beef because it "almost comes with pedigree papers." Hereford cattle have not been cross-bred with other breeds, and this almost ensures a consistent product, he said.
Ridgefield cattle are raised in the Cascade Mountains of Washington, benefiting from the Northwest climate and temperatures that range from 40 to 80 degrees. They don't suffer the weather stress of cold winters and hot summers, and Martin thinks that guarantees better-tasting beef.
Until recently, Ridgefield was mainly in restaurants, but now Roch's Supermarkets, Tom's Market, Coventry, and Lindsay's Market, Cranston, carry it for home use, said Ed Soucy, director of Northeast Sales and Marketing.
Consistency is a constant challenge to the beef industry, said Sterling Silver's Morrison. The whole industry is working to make their product the same quality each time a consumer has it.
That's the angle promoted by Certified Angus Beef, based in Wooster, Ohio. The company has choice standards that are higher than the USDA requires, said William S. Turner, district sales manager for Dole & Bailey, purveyors out of Woburn, Mass. He said that Certified Angus is graded both as prime and the top 35 percent of USDA choice, thanks to brand standards for flavor juiciness and tenderness. These beef grades help predict the eating quality of beef.
Turner said consumers can find Certified Angus Beef at McQuade's Marketplace, Jamestown, Dave's Marketplace, North Kingstown and Warwick, Tom's Market, Coventry, Eastside Marketplace, Providence, Hi-Lo supermarkets, Ro-Jacks supermarkets, and at most Stop and Shop stores.
Doing more than the government requires is what Coleman Natural Beef is banking on to win customers and fans. This company raises cattle without use of antibiotics or growth hormones at any point, said chairman Mel Coleman Jr. from his Colorado headquarters. The USDA standard for "natural" means minimally processed and free from antibiotics and hormones -- but that only means at time of testing.
That's not good enough for Whole Foods market, which has a "never, never program," said John Nicholson, Northeast Meat Coordinator.
Whole Foods and Stop & Shop stores also sell Coleman.
Coleman said the move away from antibiotics and hormones was for company survival. Without a change in 1979, the company -- then in its fifth generation -- couldn't compete with other companies' low prices. Now, Coleman is passionate about returning to days before antibiotics were used as preventative medicine and growth hormones were given to make cattle mature faster, allowing them to go to market sooner.
"We like to say it's better beef from a simpler time," Coleman said.
Talk to the butcher
Still, there's nothing simple about the issues surrounding the purchase of beef. So back to the original question: How do you select the perfect piece of beef?
L'Epicureo's Buckner said to start at a specialty market and talk to the trained butcher. Ask what, if any, is prime, and how it's aged. Then tell the butcher how you plan to cook it so he or she can suggest the best cut.
When you look at the meat, look for those specks of fat, the marbling within the meat. Make sure it's a nice red, never gray. There should be no heavy areas of fat.
Vaillancourt said he sees people buying meat in stores, and often a couple will marvel over how perfect a piece of meat is because it is red through and through and has no fat.
"That's the worst thing possible," he said. "If I buy a steak, I want it to be good. You can make anything flavorful by adding marinade and teriyaki, but I want flavor from the meat. And that means buying a marbleized piece."
On that issue, all can agree.