The U.S. Meat Export Federation recently held a Texas barbecue buffet and fou...

The U.S. Meat Export Federation recently held a Texas barbecue buffet and four-course dinner promotion at the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea, to help Korean chefs take advantage of non-conventional, price competitive and versatile U.S. cuts.

Since most Korean hotels use conventional cuts, such as rib eye, tenderloin, and strip loin, and have limited knowledge on product sourcing and utilization of non-conventional cuts, Chef Sam Dickey conducted the seminar with the Grand Hilton chefs on underutilized U.S. cuts, and the Hilton featured his menu during the promotion.

Dickey presented slow-smoked brisket, slow-roasted pork butts, braised chuck roll, outside skirt fajita and hanging tender kabob. He demonstrated a simple dry rub for smoking and a marinade for grilling. Dickey explained the difference in the smoking methods and the result of cold-smoking and hot-smoking, while focusing on the benefits of using underutilized cuts and U.S. foodservice trends. He also demonstrated cutting techniques and basic methods of tenderizing meat – smoking, marinade and braising techniques.

The concept of indirect heat smoking is attractive, but novel, to Korean chefs. USMEF introduced indirect heat cooking of traditional Texas barbecue by showing how smokers work and their value for tenderizing tough meat cuts. The long cooking time and uncertainty of the number of guests, however, presents a challenge for direct menu preparation. Nonetheless, the smoked flavor is very appealing to Korean consumers and the chefs realized that those underutilized cuts are much more tender and moist after cooking. They were also amazed at their competitive price, a good reason for them to try the new cuts in their restaurants.

Short ribs, outside skirt, hanging tender, top blade, chuck roll and boneless chuck short ribs were also featured during the consulting program. These cuts are new to the Korean market even though they are very popular in traditional Korean barbecue restaurants and in retail stores. A USMEF foodservice consultant explained the meat supply channels of these U.S. cuts and their price competitiveness compared to middle cuts. The consulting chefs explained how to maximize restaurants’ profits using those cuts through various cooking methods such as smoking, grilling, braising, roasting and pan frying, which all make the tough meat very tender and moist. Those cuts are already available in the Korean market and easy to obtain through the suppliers. 

USMEF began its chef consulting program after four months of preparation, using funding from the Texas Beef Council and the USDA’s Emerging Markets Program. USMEF Foodservice Specialist Jihae Yang and three American chefs consulted with 20 hotels and 241 chefs to design this program, which aims to meet the demands of Korean hotels and restaurants, which are always trying to decrease food costs, and allows USMEF to introduce cooking methods for new cuts of U.S. meat, a very effective tool to expand Korean hotels’ U.S. meat usage. 

The Emerging Markets Program is authorized by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act of 1990. The act authorizes programs of technical assistance to promote U.S. agricultural exports to emerging markets worldwide.

In 2001, according to revised USDA statistics, total U.S. beef exports declined in volume by .4 percent to 1.274 million metric tons (mt), while value declined by 5.7 percent to $ 3.406 billion. Higher U.S. beef prices and a strong U.S. dollar helped push export volumes slightly lower for the first time in more than 10 years. Exports during the first five months of 2002 were up. Pork exports in 2001 grew 21 percent in volume to more than 703,000 mt, while value grew 13 percent to nearly $1.6 billion. Exports now account for nearly 13.4 percent of U.S. beef production and more than 9.9 percent of U.S. pork production on a wholesale weight basis.

South Korea was the third largest market for U.S. beef exports (including variety meats) in 2001, buying 149,771 mt with a value of $390 million, and was the seventh largest market for U.S. pork exports (including variety meats), buying 14,723 mt with a value of $25.3 million.

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, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

– USMEF –