USMEF Teams Gather in Las Vegas After State of Industry Tour
USMEF Teams Gather in Las Vegas After State of Industry Tour
USMEF teams of chefs and buyers from China, Mexico, South Korea, the Caribbean, Taiwan, the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) converged on the USMEF Product Showcase in Las Vegas last week after a farm-to-table tour of ranches, feedlots, packing plants and portion-control facilities designed by USMEF to showcase every detail of the U.S. beef industry.
USMEF carefully selected buyers with real purchase responsibility and chefs who are influential in decision making to maximize the value behind the tours.
After attending the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago, the teams went their separate ways, traveling widely to Nebraska, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, Indiana and Denver.
Several of the teams visited Outwest Meat, a Las Vegas portion-control company, to witness laser cutting, dry aging, marinating, boxing, vacuum packaging, in-pack seasoning and other specialty wrapping examples for the hotel and restaurant industries. Two of the chef teams were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the labyrinthine Paris Hotel and Casino kitchens.
The teams met up at a Beef Alternative Cut Merchandising Seminar in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Las Vegas, where the USMEF Technical Services Department’s Kevin Smith and Courtney Heller demonstrated how to cut four cuts, three from the chuck and one from the ribeye roll: the splenius and the serratus ventralis (which the National Cattlemen's Beef Association’s (NCBA) beef checkoff beef innovations group named Sierra cut and Denver steak respectively), the chuck eye roll and the spinalis.
Smith and Heller demonstrated alternative fabrication techniques and how they can apply internationally. Different fabrication techniques for the ribeye were designed with improved portion control in mind in this age of larger cattle and larger ribeyes. By isolating individual muscles, smaller cut items that are easier to merchandise can be produced. Portion control is perhaps even more important in export markets where restaurants often feature smaller steaks.
The cutting demonstration was a perfect opportunity to present chefs and buyers with a variety of different international markets cuts which were not necessarily familiar to them — and how they would work in their cooking styles. With this in mind, four chefs — Heeyeol Kwon from the Seoul Grand Hyatt Hotel in South Korea, USMEF-Mexico Corporate Chef Max Covaliu, Khalid Mohammed of the Chaud Restaurant in Trinidad & Tobago and USMEF ASEAN Director and Chef Sabrina Yin — cooked the freshly cut meat four deliciously distinctive ways. The appreciative audience thus learned not only what U.S. products to buy and how to cut them, but four different ways to prepare them.
The Beef Alternative Cut Merchandising Seminar was sponsored by the Beef Checkoff, JBS Swift & Company, Cargill Meat Solutions, Buckhead Beef and American Foods Group.
Transportation
Federal Maritime Commissioners Meet With AgTC members
Taking Action on Container/Vessel Shortage is the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC)’s latest communication, detailing the various actions taken by people and organizations concerned with the container and vessel shortage:
“20 agriculture exporting freight forwarders, led by several AgTC members, met with the Federal Maritime Commissioners and senior FMC staff, to brief them on the current space/container shortage, illegal actions being taken by the ocean carriers, the need for FMC oversight. The Commission proposes to conduct a hearing, and will convene a dialogue between selected exporters and ocean carriers. The AgTC will be a participant; we will ask AgTC members interested in coming to DC for this dialogue.”
USMEF Teams Gather in Las Vegas After State of Industry Tour
USMEF teams of chefs and buyers from China, Mexico, South Korea, the Caribbean, Taiwan, the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) converged on the USMEF Product Showcase in Las Vegas last week after a farm-to-table tour of ranches, feedlots, packing plants and portion-control facilities designed by USMEF to showcase every detail of the U.S. beef industry.
USMEF carefully selected buyers with real purchase responsibility and chefs who are influential in decision making to maximize the value behind the tours.
After attending the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago, the teams went their separate ways, traveling widely to Nebraska, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, Indiana and Denver.
Several of the teams visited Outwest Meat, a Las Vegas portion-control company, to witness laser cutting, dry aging, marinating, boxing, vacuum packaging, in-pack seasoning and other specialty wrapping examples for the hotel and restaurant industries. Two of the chef teams were given a behind-the-scenes tour of the labyrinthine Paris Hotel and Casino kitchens.
The teams met up at a Beef Alternative Cut Merchandising Seminar in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Las Vegas, where the USMEF Technical Services Department’s Kevin Smith and Courtney Heller demonstrated how to cut four cuts, three from the chuck and one from the ribeye roll: the splenius and the serratus ventralis (which the National Cattlemen's Beef Association’s (NCBA) beef checkoff beef innovations group named Sierra cut and Denver steak respectively), the chuck eye roll and the spinalis.
Smith and Heller demonstrated alternative fabrication techniques and how they can apply internationally. Different fabrication techniques for the ribeye were designed with improved portion control in mind in this age of larger cattle and larger ribeyes. By isolating individual muscles, smaller cut items that are easier to merchandise can be produced. Portion control is perhaps even more important in export markets where restaurants often feature smaller steaks.
The cutting demonstration was a perfect opportunity to present chefs and buyers with a variety of different international markets cuts which were not necessarily familiar to them — and how they would work in their cooking styles. With this in mind, four chefs — Heeyeol Kwon from the Seoul Grand Hyatt Hotel in South Korea, USMEF-Mexico Corporate Chef Max Covaliu, Khalid Mohammed of the Chaud Restaurant in Trinidad & Tobago and USMEF ASEAN Director and Chef Sabrina Yin — cooked the freshly cut meat four deliciously distinctive ways. The appreciative audience thus learned not only what U.S. products to buy and how to cut them, but four different ways to prepare them.
The Beef Alternative Cut Merchandising Seminar was sponsored by the Beef Checkoff, JBS Swift & Company, Cargill Meat Solutions, Buckhead Beef and American Foods Group.
Transportation
Federal Maritime Commissioners Meet With AgTC members
Taking Action on Container/Vessel Shortage is the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC)’s latest communication, detailing the various actions taken by people and organizations concerned with the container and vessel shortage:
“20 agriculture exporting freight forwarders, led by several AgTC members, met with the Federal Maritime Commissioners and senior FMC staff, to brief them on the current space/container shortage, illegal actions being taken by the ocean carriers, the need for FMC oversight. The Commission proposes to conduct a hearing, and will convene a dialogue between selected exporters and ocean carriers. The AgTC will be a participant; we will ask AgTC members interested in coming to DC for this dialogue.”