Consumer Cuts

Quick Prep Key for New Beef Products

The beef industry is focusing on new cuts and quick prep to compete with chicken. (DTN/Progressive Farmer photo by Thinkstock.

If you've ever stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work, it's pretty easy to figure out most people don't have a pot roast simmering in the oven at home. Everyone is frantically searching for that quick meal to put on the table sometime between the kids' soccer practice and the monthly booster-club meeting. Add the need for affordability and it's easy to see why the poultry industry is strutting over its market share.

Recently a major focus in the beef industry has been the development of new cuts of beef able to compete with poultry in terms of ease of preparation and cooking time. The Beef Promotion and Operating Committee (BPOC) authorized the use of checkoff dollars, going back to the late 1990s, to find ways to draw home cooks back to beef. It was a big job, divided between two universities.

Dwain Johnson, University of Florida meat scientist, and his team set about finding different ways of fabricating, or dividing, the chuck and round cuts. In addition, they did tenderness and taste testing, sampling the full range of quality and yield grades.

University of Nebraska meat scientist Chris Calkins and his crew studied muscle characteristics, including protein, moisture, fat and ash content for new cuts. They also looked at physical dimensions of the cuts.

The work came together, and by 2008, 13 new beef cuts were introduced. They came with appealing names like flat iron, petite tender, petite tender medallions and ranch steak, all from the shoulder. From the round came the sirloin tip steak, sirloin tip center steak, western griller steak and western tip. From the chuck roll came America's beef roast, boneless country-style ribs, Delmonico steak, Denver-cut and Sierra-cut.

For those curious about the new cuts, a bovine myology website was established where Johnson explains, "People looking for products can window-shop." The site shows where various cuts of beef come from, even offering 3-D and cross-section views of a beef carcass (see bovine.unl.edu).

P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]

One major advantage the new cuts offer is consistency, Calkins said. "Look at the traditional, seven-bone chuck roast or steak," he explained. "There are 10 or 15 muscles in it. They [muscles] vary widely in eating quality and are inconsistent from one bite to the next. Normally, we have to value a cut at the lowest denominator, but with a flat iron steak, which is comprised of a single muscle, consumers know what to expect. Anytime you deal with a single muscle, rather than a collection of muscles, you get a more consistent product."

Many of today's newer cuts also offer versatility and convenience, Johnson said.

"The petite tender looks like a mini pork tenderloin. You can throw it on the grill, then cut it in medallions. I like the ranch cut, too. We dry-age the clod heart [shoulder], and it is very similar to sirloin, but it is lean and lower cost."

Tony Mata, a meat scientist and owner of Mata and Associates, said the beef industry has struggled to compete with poultry. "They had chicken nuggets, rotisserie chicken, marinated chicken breasts; they were eating our lunch," said Mata, based in Dallas, Texas.

To encourage the use of the new beef cuts, the BPOC created Beef Alternative Merchandising (BAM). It provides funds for videos that show processors and retailers how to take cuts consumers already know and love (rib eyes, top loins and top sirloins) and cut them into small fillets and roasts. Using BAM techniques, the top sirloin can be cut into 4- to 8-ounce fillets; the rib eye into 4- to 6-ounce fillets. Both are less expensive than the larger cuts.

Dave Zino, executive chef for the Beef Checkoff Program, said BAM cuts offer another advantage. "With larger harvest weights, steaks have become thinner to maintain the same portion size. It is easy to overcook them, and they are not as flavorful. With BAM, we cut the strip loin lengthwise. The steaks are thicker and the portion size more consumer-friendly."

Both the value-added cuts (the original 13 cuts from the muscle-profiling study) and the BAM cuts appeal to consumers' health and nutrition focus. Seven of the cuts qualify for the American Heart Association's Heart-Check Food Certification Program. These include the boneless top sirloin petite roast, the top sirloin fillet, the top sirloin kabob, the top sirloin stir-fry, the sirloin tip steak, the bottom round steak and the top sirloin steak.

These steps forward don't mean meat scientists and marketers are taking a break. Mata noted: "At one time, poultry processors had millions of pounds of chicken wings sitting in freezers while they tried to figure out what to do with them. Now, the price of chicken wings has surpassed that of boneless skinless breasts. There has to be a wing in that cow. I think I've found it, but there is a lot of work to do."

For more information:

Beef Checkoff Program: www.mybeefcheckoff.com

National Cattlemen's Beef Association: www.beef.org and www.beefinnovationsgroup.com

University of Nebraska, bovine myology and muscle profiling: bovine.unl.edu

Vegas Strip Steak: www.vegasstripsteak.com

Beef Cuts/Cooking: www.certifiedangusbeef.com/cuts

(VM/CZ)

P[] D[728x170] M[320x75] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[L2] D[728x90] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R1] D[300x250] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
P[R2] D[300x600] M[320x50] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
DIM[1x3] LBL[article-box] SEL[] IDX[] TMPL[standalone] T[]
P[R3] D[300x250] M[0x0] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]