Agricultural News
Alternative Fabrication Styles Give Chefs More Flexibility
Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:12:12 CDT
Too often, when it comes to steaks cut from the strip loin, the tenderloin and the rib eye, it has been a take it or leave it proposition for consumers who wanted smaller steaks.
Phil Bass, a Certified Angus Beef meat scientist, says that those middle meat cuts have traditionally been pulled out in a large piece and "you just start cutting steaks right down from one end to the other." He says there are other options to fabricating these cuts to meet and increase consumer demand.
"Because of the size of these carcasses and the size of these animals, these muscles in those particular sub-primals or these cuts have gotten larger. And we're still selling by a weight basis, an ounce basis. And, so, if somebody orders a smaller-ounced portion, we're going to have to cut that steak real thin using traditional methods. These alternative fabrication styles will give us the ability to cut a thicker steak that looks better on the plate. It also gives the chef a better opportunity to hit medium rare to medium doneness. It gives them more flexibility to maintain that juiciness and tenderness which is so critical for palatability."
Bass says the flat-iron is but one example of the newly-fabricated cuts. He says education will play a key role in bringing these new cuts to market.
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