Oct.
9, 2009
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Miranda Reiman,
Industry Information Specialist, at 308-784-2294 or
mreiman@certifiedangusbeef.com
Educating
the Next Generation
A lot of
folks in the beef industry worry about where the next generation of ranchers
will come from. But cattlemen with real foresight wonder about tomorrow’s
consumers.
Certified
Angus Beef LLC (CAB) recently partnered with its licensed distributor, Performance
Food Group, at the Culinary Institute of Virginia (CIV). Their joint mission:
to educate the next generation of chefs on preparing high-quality beef dishes
that will capture future consumer demand.
The
inaugural CIV Culinary Scholarship Competition challenged young chefs to
develop new menu items featuring non-traditional Certified
Angus Beef ®
(CAB®) brand cuts. With that came an education on the
utilization of the flank, flat iron, teres major and center cut sirloin
(baseball cut) steaks.
Andrew Mosquera
was on the winning culinary team. The Philippines native will graduate this
fall from the culinary school and says he hopes to someday own his own
restaurant. The competition opened his eyes to more variety in his protein
selection for entrees.
“I
learned about all the cuts of meat that aren’t being used enough,” he says. “I
liked working with the teres major – I had never heard of that cut before, but
now I’ve started using it. It’s almost the same as the tenderloin, but cheaper,
which is really cool.”
Mosquera
and his partner, Gary Woolard Jr., focused on the teres major in their winning
Steak Medallion dish. The pair also prepared Steak Kabobs featuring CAB brand
center-cut sirloin.
According
to CIV Director of Student Services Andy Gladstein, students who participated
gained a greater understanding of beef cuts and value products.
“Being
asked to use some non-traditional cuts certainly forced them to think in
different ways,” Gladstein says. “They really had to develop their menus and
put time into developing recipes after studying those cuts of beef they were
less familiar with.”
Mosquera
says he was surprised by the product’s performance after preparing his dish.
“We didn’t even have to season our beef,” he says. “We didn’t use anything, and
it still tasted great. That was something that surprised me after working with
the CAB product.”
In
addition to creating dishes, designing a menu and preparing product, students
were evaluated on their knowledge of the CAB brand and recognition of beef
products. Participants identified eight cuts of beef and determined if they
were the CAB brand or USDA select.
“The
students learned a lot,” Gladstein says. “You hear about different types of
beef, but at the end of the day, it comes down to knowing what the difference
is to the consumer. They saw, ‘Wow, that’s the difference between Select and a
product like CAB!’ And through all the studying I’ve done, I know what result
that’s going to have for the customer.”
Mosquera
and Woolard were each awarded a $1,000 scholarship for winning. The
second-place students won $500 each and third place $250. Perhaps more
importantly, Mosquera says he learned more about creating high-quality products
that meet consumer demand. With his goals set on restaurant ownership, he hopes
to provide future customers with that experience.
“This
makes me want to get good, quality products like Certified Angus Beef – I think that’s really good stuff,” he says.
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