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Post by wstevenl on Jul 21, 2008 10:44:18 GMT -5
For Immediate Release What’s the Beef? An Historical and Culinary First Pittsboro, NC: On June 20, 2008, approximately 70 food professionals, chefs, food writers, and food connoisseurs gathered at Ayrshire Farm in Upperville, VA, to participate in a blind-tasting which compared beef from eight rare heritage breeds and two widely available breeds of cattle. The mission of the event was to make a flavor comparison of beef from these ten breeds to demonstrate the culinary diversity they represent, as well as the value of conserving rare breeds. “We have to eat them to save them,” said Sandy Lerner, the host for the tasting. “When we eat them, we are giving farmers an economic reason to conserve rare breeds and the important genetic diversity they represent.” This unique event presented meat from the chuck section of each breed roasted simply, without spices, and cut into bite-sized pieces in covered dishes at numbered stations. Numbered toothpicks and scorecards were provided to aid in evaluating the beef. The meat was scored based on flavor, texture, tenderness, smell, and appearance. The breeds tasted were: Ancient White Park, Angus, Dexter, Galloway, Highland, Milking Devon, Pineywoods, Randall Lineback, Red Poll, and (beef) Shorthorn. Many of these breeds are endangered and are considered important reservoirs of genetic diversity by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. As examples of critically rare remnants of landrace cattle that helped found the United States, Pineywoods cattle are adapted to the deep South and Randall Lineback cattle are native to New England. After tasting the beef, the enthusiastic crowd was asked to vote for their favorite number before the breed identities were revealed. The winner of the popular vote in this ground-breaking tasting was the Randall Lineback, with second place going to the Galloway and third to the Dexter. The top three favorites each received nearly twice as many votes for first place as any of the other breeds tasted. Though some breeds had few supporters as first choice, it should be noted that many of these breeds garnered second and third placements on individuals’ tally cards. “I was amazed how different people preferred different breeds to such an extent that there was no obvious winner.” Remarked Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen of Edible Chesapeake. All but three of the breeds – the Milking Devon, the Randall Lineback, and the Red Poll – had been finished on Ayrshire Farm, fed an organic finishing feed, and raised and processed humanely, following Humane Farm Animal Care’s standards. The Randall Lineback was grown and finished on Chapel Hill Farm. The Milking Devon and the Red Poll were grass-finished as there were no steers available to finish on grain due to rarity and herd reduction following the drought of 2007. This event was the largest comparison of beef breeds in North America to date and it successfully demonstrated that each of these breeds is valuable for the unique culinary experience it offers. To quote one attendee, Lina Burton of The Mercer House, “And the beef – who would have thought that they really did taste different, and were so much better than what is available commercially in the supermarket?” What’s the Beef – An Historical Event was produced through a partnership of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Humane Farm Animal Care, Slow Food USA, and Ayrshire Farm. For more information on the beef breeds, placings, hosting organizations, or cattle facts, visit: www.ayrshirefarm.com/tasting/beef/Don Schrider Communication Director The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy P.O. Box 477 Pittsboro, NC 27312 (919) 542-5704 editor@albc-usa.org www.albc-usa.org
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Honeycreek Dexters
member
All Natural Drug Free Grass Fed Beef, From Our Herd Sire Phoenix
Posts: 362
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Post by Honeycreek Dexters on Jul 21, 2008 11:40:05 GMT -5
well that is dog gone interesting
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Post by wstevenl on Jul 22, 2008 7:47:00 GMT -5
Wow, so no one else has anything to say about this? I'll admit that any "taste test" isn't going to be very scientific, but it sounds like they did a pretty cool thing here. I'm wanting Dexter Beef to be the center piece of our farm one day (right now we're only looking at one steer for next year :-) so I love seeing that a bunch of chefs/etc. enjoyed the beef so much.
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Post by copperhead on Jul 22, 2008 11:34:42 GMT -5
Just confirming what we all know, grass fed beef rocks !!!!! Our little Dexters did very well for them selves, makes me proud to be a Dexter producer, and for sure a Dexter "consumer". P.J.
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Post by liz on Jul 22, 2008 13:43:43 GMT -5
Hopefully Clive will jump in here because he and his wife featured Dexter beef in a tv regional cook off in England, judged by chefs, and now it is really sought after by those chefs and more. This is the kind of marketing that we need to do more of on both sides of the border. L
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Post by Clive on Jul 31, 2008 12:10:00 GMT -5
Yep I'll jump in and tell you what happened over here in the UK. There was a high class cookery competition to prove how good British cooking was nowadays compared to European. Dexter beef was used pretty throughout the competition except once when they couldn't get it, and the beef dish won the main course part of the series. At the end they held an amazing banquet for 50 famous guests and the top 5 Michelin chefs/restauranteurs in the world from California (a guy called Keller I think), Japan, France, Italy and elsewhere. These chefs are the chefs that all other Michelin chefs hold as their idols. You probably wouldn't know the famous guests, but they are about as famous in the UK as Bob Hope is to the US.
Anyhow, to cut a long story short, they and the guests said the beef was stunning. The Japanese Michelin chef said is was the very finest beef, in fact that's all he said and repeated it! One of the really hard-nosed Michelin restaurant inspectors was visibly amazed and said she could eat that 365 days a year. Normally she is incredibly critical and compliments come hard.
What they had was fillet from our farm, from one quite big Dexter, which was finished 100% on grass with a high white clover content (more protein and a lot more omega-3) and a well-marbled finish. He was 26 months old. And there was also Dexter fillet from another farm.
This series and another two or three less spectacular ones, must surely mean now that all Michelin chefs (maybe worldwide), and hopefully other chefs too now, must be aware of Dexter beef as having a reputation for being the best if it's finished correctly. People are reporting more awareness of it and are getting more orders so hopefully this momentum will continue.
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Post by copperhead on Aug 1, 2008 10:38:08 GMT -5
Wow, thanks Clive. You have some great looking cattle, and I love the posts, alway very informative. P.J.
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Post by Clive on Aug 2, 2008 2:32:01 GMT -5
The fillet supplied was from the largest Dexter we've ever bred (not intentional, that's just the one we had available). He was out of a non-short cow and a short bull who tended to throw very small heifers and very big males. This large steer was finished for 18 months on clover-rich grazing and forage from the same "finishing fields". The forage has almost same protein levels (about 14-15%) as hard feed purchased for finishing cattle! The round bales are hard to handle because they won't stack.
Nearly all our cattle are non-short, but shorts are said to be better and much easier to finish. We run shorts on to 23-26 months, longs 24-28.
On the tele, they said it was "Rare Aged Beef". But it was just normal Dexter dry-aged/hung for just over three weeks. They cooked the fillet entire (just for a couple of minutes after rolling in herbs) and then sliced it side-on into round pieces, so it needed to be a good size.
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