As it becomes increasingly diverse and worldly, Vietnam is more attractive t...

As it becomes increasingly diverse and worldly, Vietnam is more attractive to tourists and foreigners looking to move there. With this influx comes increased demand for a variety of international goods, including U.S. beef.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) is encouraging chefs in faraway places like Vietnam to add U.S. beef to their menus by helping them become more comfortable with cutting and cooking techniques.

“Chefs have been very receptive of our culinary training programs, especially in Vietnam,” said Eric Choon, USMEF ASEAN director. “We plan to step up this activity and include U.S. non-loin cuts since many chefs are less knowledgeable in cooking with those cuts.

“Partly as a result of these educational efforts, sales of U.S. beef are picking up in the country,” said Choon. “We’ve had an increase of inquiries from trade members looking to buy U.S. beef. Many said they are anxious for Vietnam to open to bone-in U.S. beef so they can carry short ribs and prime rib.”

USMEF recently conducted three seminars for 100 chefs and trade members in metropolitan Ho Chi Minh City and capital city Hanoi to introduce them to the benefits of U.S. beef and how to use it successfully in their restaurants.

“The culinary seminars cover the standards of the U.S. meat industry, food safety, and cutting and cooking of specific cuts,” said Choon. “Chefs leave with knowledge required to start using U.S. beef successfully in their restaurants and USMEF follows up with chefs to answer any questions that come up.”

USMEF Regional Chef Sabrina Yin introduced U.S. beef cuts top blade, rib finger, chuck eye roll, chuck tender and boneless short ribs to the chefs. She showed how to cut each item and discussed different cooking methods that retain tenderness.

Yin also prepared the cuts using different recipes for chefs to taste and worked with chefs to ensure they were comfortable with the new methods.

U.S. beef and beef variety meat exports to Vietnam through the first six months of this year increased 37 percent in volume to 1,038 metric tons and 54 percent in value to $2.3 million compared to the same time period last year.

Like Vietnam, the Philippines is becoming more diverse as the country embraces American, Asian and Spanish cultures.

A team of hotel restaurant chefs and meat importers from Manila, the largest city in the Philippines, traveled to the USMEF Singapore Culinary Training Center to learn how to successfully use U.S. beef in their establishments.

In addition to U.S. beef cutting and cooking ideas, Choon introduced different ways to conduct successful menu promotions, menu designs that identify U.S. beef dishes and encourage diners to try them and inside tips on how to use U.S. meat profitably.

“The wide variety of information we provide in our seminars acts as a springboard for chefs to incorporate U.S. beef in their dishes and on their menus with success,” said Choon. “The information USMEF provides gives chefs and diners options they did not have before.”

The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, lamb, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –