Center of The Plate Tour Featuring Stockyards Angus Beef

When Steve Salle Center of the plate specialist came to visit on Wednesday, he came loaded for bear. (No we didn’t have any bear).

Based on a lead generated from the US Foodservice San Francisco booth at the Pebble Beach Food and Wine event we had a customer that was interested in the Stockyards Angus program.

Steve graduated from Culinary School and worked in a number of establishments culminating with running his own business for several years. He began with US Foodservice as a Territory Manager before accepting the position as Center of The Plate Specialist.

Steve had specific customers he was seeing on this trip, and each customer had specific needs to be addressed. With Steve's background he was able to contact the customers in advance and taylor specific items to meet their needs. As a result of Steve's calls he was able to upgrade a local pub from commodity "packer label" beef products to higher quality Stockyards Angus Beef product. Although the price per pound was higher with the switch, between the further trimmed Angus product and better perceived value by the consumer, and the flat out superior taste of the Stockyards product, proven in a blind tasting, the price difference was negligable.

Products shown and cooked during this trip were as follows:

Stockyards Reserve Angus
Tenderloin
Sirloin Ball Tips
16 ounce Baseball Cut Ribeye
14 ounce Hanger Steak
8 ounce Tenderloin
8 ounce Sierra Steak
6 1/2 pound Clod Heart Roast
28 ounce Porterhouse
12 ounce Milk Fed Veal chop
Hormel Natural Uncured Bacon

At another account he was able to place 4 seperate cuts on the menu, for 3 different meals at a large state park concession.

At his final call of the day he introduced portion cut Stockyards Reserve, the upper 2/3rds Choice beef product at this white tablecloth account/chophouse. As this operator expands to a third location Stockyards Reserve is in the running to be at the center of his plates.

Steve has two follow up calls at these accounts where he will be providing server training on the features, advantages, adn benefits of Stockyards. His training will emphasize how upselling their customers on the quality of the stockyards program will increase the check size and generate more income for the establishment and the server making the entire experience a win/win!

What Steve explained to our customers on this trip was:

Stock Yards Meat Packing Company was founded in 1893, just outside the gates of the famous Chicago Stockyards. In the early days, they served the local neighborhood as a family-run butcher shop. Their reputation as a consistent provider of high quality steaks and chops spread, and before long, local hotels and restaurants began to ask them to produce quality meat items for them as well.

By the early 1900’s, so much of their business was for hotels and restaurants, that they decided to make it their primary business. Over the many years since then, Stock Yards Meat Packing Company has pioneered a number of the portion control cutting and packaging techniques that are still used to this day.

Stock Yards® celebrates over 110 years of tradition. They have built their reputation on Consistency, Pride and Integrity. Stock Yards has developed a national presence, serving the finest restaurants and hotels in the U.S. and abroad, and those customers rely on the consistent product to build their reputations.

Why Stockyards Angus Beef?

• Continues our tradition of consistently delivering a phenomenal eating experience
• Only the finest beef products deserve the Stock Yards® brand
• Superior meat quality based on rigid specifications
• Highest USDA Choice beef (upper 2/3rds of Choice)
• Celebrates the culmination of over 110 years of Stock Yards® experience
• Honors our heritage as an international Purveyor of Quality Meats
• Only available from US Foodservice

USDA GL22 Requirements
• GLA – Live animal identification, Angus-type
• No Blood Spotting
• No Dark Cutters
• “A” Maturity
• Modest or higher degree of Marbling
• Yield Grade 3 or leaner
• Moderately thick or thicker muscling
• No hump exceeding 2 inches in height

USDA Grading Service verifies and guarantees that all beef carcasses selected for this program meet or exceed specifications for marbling, yield grade, Angus breed selection, and age maturity.

USDA Live Animal Identification
The Stock Yards Angus Beef® Brand has a live animal criteria of Angus type cattle - 51% black hair color.
The Angus breed is world renowned for consistently providing highly marbled beef at a younger age that provides a consistent and great eating experience .

You May Ask Why Not Other Breeds?
Over 80 different breeds are used in the U.S.
Some cattle breeds were bred to survive harsh environments or for draft work purposes.

Continental or European cattle breeds are considered less consistent in delivering high marbling and high palatability traits.

“A” Maturity ensures the cattle are 9-30 Monthes
As cattle get older, their bones begin to ossify and become harder and their muscle tissue becomes stronger.
The membrane that encases each muscle fiber gets thicker and longer making the meat much tougher.

How Stringent are these specifications?
In a typical population of 100 head of cattle, only 8 are going to meet all the quality specifications to be Stock Yards Angus Beef®

We are selecting the
top 8% of graded cattle
to ensure our customers
the most consistent, high quality beef available.

We add even more value to our
Stock Yards Angus Beef® Product
by following the Stock Yards brand aging specifications

Even with our stringent specifications one more step must be added to ensure Stock Yards famous quality and consistency
Proper Aging
Proper aging = Time + Temperature control 34-36° F
All product is wet aged in the vacuum sealed bag
All products have minimum requirements specific to the cut, to maximize Flavor and Tenderness
Tenderloins – 14 days
Shortloins, Striploins and Ribs – 21 days
Top Sirloins – 28 days

High Quality
• Only the top 8% of graded beef meets the specs
• Upper 2/3 USDA Choice and Prime Grades
• Only “A” Maturity Cattle
• Yield Grade 3 or Leaner
• Medium to fine Marbling Texture
Consistent
• USDA Certified using science based specifications
• Stock Yards aging specifications

Central Coast Center of The Plate Ride Along 2008

What a fantastic day selling. Every now and then you come across something that is a unique and high quality product.

I remember back to the days I was in the butcher shop and we began carrying the Rocky the Range chickens. At the time, probably around 1987 or 1988 when we began carrying them they were the first commercially available free range chicken.

Today I rode with Debora Feron-Sanchez from Bay Brokerage and David Taylor from Eddy Packing the processor of Heartland brand Akaushi Beef.

Akaushi Beef is a breed of cattle from Japan that were moved here in 1994. The cattle are unique in the fact that they are low in saturated fat and high in mono-unsaturated fat. They also have a high level of Conjugated Linoleic Acid, the most aggressive anti-carcinogens ever discovered.

As we opened packages and viewed the product we found the meat to be extremely well marbled. In fact the beef regularly grades several times higher than prime. In the Japanese grading system it is a consistent grade 7. Feeling the raw product was interesting as the tenderness was apparent when you held it.

At the Beach and Tennis Club with Chef Benjamin Brown we sampled the raw product and then prepared it grilled on the char-broiler to rare. The flavor of the 6 oz tenderloins both ways was amazing. The tenderloin is usually found to be the most tender cut, but the beefy flavor of this product was incredible. Personally, I have never had such a favorable filet.

While we had fun all day cutting this product, it was really funny when one of the chefs realized that the well marbled Ribeye he thought he was looking at was identified as a strip loin.

Pat Ottone, the owner of Lallapalooza and the new LallaGrill cooked up an Akaushi Ribeye and was very impressed. Look to see a $100 steak added to the LallaGrill in the near future.

Snake River Farms Center of the Plate Tour

Not!

Today Jim Crane was supposed to be riding along on the Central Coast, however schedules did not mesh and instead he is up in the North Bay, probably up in Silicon Valley staring at office buildings instead of ocean, Golf courses, and valleys.

It wasn't Jim's fault that he couldn't be here, honestly it was mine. We had a third party booking the schedules for this week and he gave me a deadline to list accounts, contacts, and products but there was no way I could meet while managing the Att Pebble Beach Golf event.

It is unfortunate that we won't have a chance to compare products today, and I had so many questions too.

First, I was looking to compare the Kurobuta Pork with Salmon Creek. I've seen Salmon Creek popping up on menus with more and more frequency. But even this week in talking product with Curt at Willy's Smokehouse, his preferences was for Kurobuta Berkshire pork.

Kurobuta Pork is the most flavorful, succulent and consistently delicious pork available. Grown naturally from 100% Berkshire hogs, known in Japan as Kurobuta or "Black Hog", they are fed longer for slower growth that results in finer muscle texture, fine abundant marbling and a deep, rich meat color. Kurobuta Pork is exquisitely tender, consistently juicy and tremendously falvorful. Snake River Farms is one of the few brands offering 100% purebred Berkshire, ensuring a consistently exquisite eating experience.

Salmon Creek Farms Natural Pork is produced by Independent Meat Company in Twin Falls, Idaho. The maker of Falls Brand meats since 1904, Independent Meat Company has established a long-standing reputation of producing high-quality products. Salmon Creek Farms Natural Pork is a partnership of family farmers and a family-owned processor united to produce the best natural pork in the world. Salmon Creek Farms Natural Pork is produced the way nature intended, without artificial enhancers, preservatives, chemicals, or added moisture, and all records and management protocols are subject to third-party verification. Farmers also participate in and receive certification in the National Pork Board’s Swine Welfare Assurance Program. No other natural pork program combines wholesomeness, quality, and animal care with science, management, breeding stock, selected grain feeding, and production efficiency as well as Salmon Creek Farms.

I read about a premium line of deli products from Snake River Farms. I was looking forward to learning the features, advantages, and benefits of the products.

I have several customer that have jumped on the casino roast band wagon in the past couple years. Some are using raw, others cooked. I have seen it spec'd as a prime CAB product that I would have liked to see cut against a SRF Kobe Casino roast. How would you like that for a deli sandwich at your upscale deli?

Finally I am really hungry for more braised pork belly dishes. I don't think you have lived until you have had a braised kurobuta pork belly.

I hope to reschedule with Jim for the next trip he makes out to California. Next time we need to eliminate the middle man so I can book him for a day or two on the Central Coast!

Central Coast Center Of The Plate Tour February 2008

Jim Crane from SNR will be in town Wednesday February 27th Snake River Farms American Style Kobe Beef & Kurobuta Pork cutting product and answering questions.


On February 28th the representative from Heartland Beef will be in town with samples of Akaushi Beef. Thats right an American raised, Japanese breed of cattle that regularly grades three times higher than prime, yet is low in saturated fat!


Email now with the product you would like to cook up against these products, and the best time to see you on the 27th for Snake River Farms, and the 28th for Akaushi Beef.


Texas Akaushi cattle are 100 percent pure and are direct descendants of the Mount Aso region's revered Akaushi herds that are a National Treasure and protected breed by the government of Japan. HeartBrand Beef Incorporated has respected the deep Japanese traditions and embraced the healthy results of source-verified herd management in a natural environment.

HeartBrand Beef has developed and implemented a comprehensive vertically integrated quality control and natural production system from conception to consumption that excludes the use of growth hormones. Akaushi cattle in our program are managed with minimum stress and treated in accordance to the USDA Humane Handling Standards and Guidelines.
What's so unique about Akaushi cattle? Akaushi cattle produce meat that has a high amount of intramuscular fat – commonly known as marbling. It is healthier due to its unique fatty acid composition when compared to other domestic beef . Akaushi meat is very tender, juicy and flavorful and it is consider by the Japanese and many beef experts to be the most palatable, and yet healthy, beef in the world. These attributes make Akaushi beef more desirable to western consumers than other U.S. meat.


Brian Isaeff, Territory Manager
US Foodservice San Francisco
Cellular: (831) 601-6398
Email: Brian.Isaeff@USFoodservice.com
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