Ohio Beef Expo - Beef Checkoff

I abandoned Jake today to fulfill a duty as a beef producer and Ohio Cattlemen Board member to attend the Ohio Beef Expo.  He had to pick up my slack. (sarcasm).

I decided to attend not to see all the competitive shows, new products to make the cattlemen's lives easier and not even to socialize with all the beef producers.  The real reason I went is to help collect signatures for the checkoff dollar referendum.

There seems to be confusion in Ohio about what the Ohio Beef Council needs more money for. The Beef Council uses checkoff dollars to promote our product and educate our consumers about preparing, cooking, storing and sharing our beef.  Right now this service costs you $1.00 per animal sold.  Half of this money is sent to the National for them to promote beef across the country.  Many states send more funds to the National to promote our product in places with more people than cattle like New York City or LA.  Since about 1986 we have been promoting our product with their help with just $1.00.  These people promoting on our behalf, I believe have done an outstanding job doing this.

The number one reason I believe a checkoff is needed in Ohio is because we need to be promoting beef in high school classrooms.  High school students are sent messages geared toward a youthful crowd, many of which encourage vegetarian diets to Teens.

The best way to talk to high school students about what beef has to offer them nutritionally, how to prepare it and where it comes from is to develop a program to take to high schools.  Of course you would have to train producers to facilitate the program.  The pork people have already done this.  However the Ohio Beef Council received a grant to create and share the Beefonomics Program.
When you start to break down the numbers to promote beef in the high school classroom they look like this.

In 1986 we could have promoted beef in a high school setting by sending producers and paying their mileage, of course gas was $.89.  We could have sent them with beef to teach the students to prepare and cook properly and it would have cost the Beef Council $2.29 per pound.  We could have rested knowing that many students were not receiving advertisement from HSUS and PETA. But we didn't, we didn't have the Beefonomics Program.

We do now have a grant funded program to take to the classroom.  It was developed about three years ago, however since we don't pay our beef promotions manager enough money, we are now on our third individual taking on this task of launching the program.  On top of this it is now 2013 where gas now costs $3.26 and beef costs about $5.02 per pound.

I had the opportunity to present this program to two classrooms where high school students had questions about cutting steaks and how to cook them.  The teacher told me she really didn't like to eat beef, because her mom overcooked every piece of beef she ever ate as a child.  She told me as I left she intended to take the recipe home we had cooked in class to share with her family.  Beef was now back in her classroom and her home.  I thought that was worth the beef checkoff dollars used.

Why do they call it Hamburger? - Guest Olivia

I was picking up the girls from the bus the other day and the beautiful and intelligent Olivia comes up to me, to ask this question. "Why do they call hamburger, hamburger?" I said, "that is a good question"!  I then asked her if she would like to be a guest blogger and she took the challenge.

She found her information by reading What's Cooking America by Linda Stradley.

This is what Olivia wrote.  Hamburgers, the well known food that has been the backbone of so many fast food restaurants for so long.  While at Burger King or McDonald's have you ever looked at your hamburger and said to yourself, "it's made of beef, so why the heck is it called a hamburger?" Well, I'm here to tell you.

Ground beef has been around a LONG TIME.  Since the ancient Egyptians, for the record.  In the fifteenth century, this minced meat was a valuable food item in Europe.  It was bought and shipped to Germany as "tartare steak" and became popular in Hamburg.  In the late eighteenth century, the renamed food had turned itself into "hamburg steak". Sailors visiting the ports of Hamburg bought the meat and the name. They would sell it at the ports they visited. It was very different from the hamburger we know today.

It became a favorite food among the poorer classes. Eventually, it evolved into the hamburger as we know it.  It was quickly grilled on ships and served between two slices of bread.  This happened in the late 1800's.  It was eventually called a hamburger, and we eat them, a lot.

These are pictures of Olivia cooking some burgers for her family.

Olivia wanted me to share this quote from the famous comic Popeye. Will we be able to get Olivia to talk soon with us on the comic discussion of a country who eats the beef before it's paid for. (wink, wink)

Wimpy from Popeye on the subject of hamburgers

Eat More Beef Reminder Ribbons

I have been reporting from the front lines of the oil and gas drilling in eastern Ohio.  This past weekend I noticed that suddenly there are blue and white ribbons tied to nearly every fence opening in the neighborhood.  Usually these reminder ribbons are put up when someone is missing, to bring awareness to an issue or maybe in celebration of something.  I believe these blue and white ribbons may have been put up by the oil and gas companies to remind their employees to EAT MORE BEEF!

Do not even think about raining on my parade, by saying that these ribbons are really marking all of the pasture entrances their truck drivers should not enter.  I just know that can't be true, because every steak house in town is full of gas and oil workers eating beef (ok and maybe a little chicken and pork), but they are only awareness ribbons.

The girls and their kitchen

While I was working on a sewing project this past weekend, the girls were cooking.  They like to take your order and bring whatever you ask for, as long as they have it.  The best part is they also bring you a credit card to pay with.  You can see mine to the right of my meal.  Likely it will be a used gift card or old library card. This was a great meal of steak and baked potato.  It came complete with a salad (lettuce, tomato and egg) and sweet tea. The steak was so tender you could cut it with a butter knife.  I am hoping they will be making "real" suppers soon. What do your kids make in their kitchen? 

BEEFonomics

I spent the day promoting beef with the BEEFonomics program on behalf of the Ohio Beef Council in Lancaster, Ohio. I had two wonderful partners Connie Smith and Tiffanie Baker. Connie works with extension and is very active through the Fairfield County Cattlemen along with being a beef producer.  Tiffanie is one of my former students and an Animal Science major at the University of Findlay.

The program visually describes the bovine timeline taking students from conception to the plate.  We mention many of the environmental and animal health standards we work to achieve.  We also talk about food safety, optimal cooking and storing beef temperatures, and the nutritional value of beef. It ends with the cooking of beef stir fry.

One of the best things about sharing this information with the teacher and students is the feedback you receive about the program. Some of the things making that list this time are:

1. That Beef provides ZIP to your diet. ZIP stands for Zinc, Iron and Protein. It is unlikely to get the same amount of ZIP in your diet through other foods.

2. The participants found it unbelievable that it takes 2 years from the conception of a cow to get that calf to your plate.  Which is why, it was so disappointing when going to lunch with some of my friends at a steak restaurant the other day when they burnt my burger.  It took us 2 years to get him/her the hamburger and approximately 20 minutes for them to char it to a inedible crisp.

3. Several people raised their hands when asked if they thaw their meat in the sink.  I firmly told them that they should stop doing that immediately. Bacteria love to grow at room temperature. Gross.

4. The final topic that was found interesting, is our slide and discussion about the different cuts of meat and the proper cooking techniques for each.

5. We also had some great conversation about the effect of the drought on the beef industry.  We even talked about the labels found on the beef at your local grocery.

The teacher was inspired, with 29 lean cuts of beef slide and handout.  She mentioned she was going to Applebees tonight and was asking questions about the flat iron.  I think she may order it.

I squeezed in on behalf of the USFRA the handouts about logging on to food dialogues and voting for the next faces of farming and ranching, while we were cooking the stir fry. I couldn't resist.

I would like to send a big THANK YOU to all of the beef producers in Ohio who either graciously or reluctantly pay their check off dollars. Although a majority of this program is being funded through grants, at some point the Ohio Beef Checkoff will need to support and grow this program, bringing practical knowledge to students and continuing to help grow the beef demand.

Meal Plan - One Roast Beef = Two Meals

The weather is getting cooler and although I have not put away the grill, the crockpot is now being used. I put a roast in the crockpot all day, which makes a lovely aroma about the house.  I made mashed potatoes, homemade noodles and baked some bread.  It was delicious.

Tomorrow night I am taking the left over roast beef and putting it with my favorite BBQ Beef recipe and making shredded roast beef sandwiches.  The sides are to be determined.  Suggestions will be taken.  No Jaelin, we will not be having macaroni and cheese.  

Food Safety

As a producer of beef, I have my own concerns about food safety.  I am mostly concerned that many of us are uninformed about properly cleaning, storing and cooking our food.  Early this year I wrote a blog this is not a cooking blog. The blog has a great link to USDA's information on meat temperatures, freezer and refrigerator temperatures. I usually find myself wanting this information after a power outage.


 Last Tuesday I participated in another outstanding Ag. Chat on twitter, it perhaps was one of my favorites.  I was able to "chat" with a girl from the  Food Insight .  She was very educationally friendly.  In case you are wondering what educationally friendly is, I would describe it as being able to have a conversation with people about a topic they think they already know about, but really don't have a clue and them leave feeling informed but not dumb.  She did an excellent job!

I would like to pass the single best piece of information on to you that I learned. Don't wash your bag lettuce.  She said it has already been washed and by washing it again, you really just take the chance of contaminating it again. Do you wash your bag lettuce?

Fight Bacteria is another website that gives great resources and information on keeping your food and family safe.

We should remember that microorganisms grow between 40-140 degrees. This is why you should cook your hamburgers to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Do you use a meat thermometer?

National Cheeseburger Day

Today is National Cheeseburger Day, and that is awesome.

How to celebrate National Cheeseburger Day.

I would really like to go to Times Square in New York City and eat a burger here.

Guy's American Kitchen and Bar





I would also like to try the cheeseburger on a Krispy Kreme Doughnut. What will your next cheeseburger look like?  Where will you be eating your next cheeseburger?

Feed your Dreams and Starve your Fears

I awoke at 3AM yesterday in order to make it to the airport alone to board a plane and make it to Washington DC to talk with the United States Personal Chef Association http://www.uspca.com/.  This was a first time for me to drive to the airport and fly alone. I was able to starve another fear and feed another dream. I have lived to tell about it.

I do not do many activities outside of the agriculture circle. When asked if I would be the farmer/rancher/feed yard owner representative to talk with the personal chefs about the beef industry with Daren Williams from NCBA, of course I said yes. We had an insightful discussion about how beef is raised, the nutritional value of beef, and how the beef industry is helping the environment. It was so wonderful to meet these members of the beef community.  As I was preparing for this conference I began to realize the close ties beef producers have with chefs. I hadn't really thought of the close links between the two groups.  We share the same consumers, that have the same questions and concerns about our product. I feel proud to have this group of people out there that take a product that we have so much pride in as producers and use their talents to prepare a piece of beef that people enjoy eating with their friends and family.  I feel like I should send a thank you to a chef.

As we were preparing to go to lunch for burgers.  We had the opportunity to meet a famous chef from the Food Network, Mary Beth Albright. http://www.marybethalbright.com/

  

The flight home on US Airways was a little challenging.  I starved the fear of flying independently as the flight was delayed three times.  They finally loaded us at around 6PM, even though we were supposed to leave at 4:20PM.

They then realized we were missing one of our 50 passengers.  They went looking for her and retrieved the 90 year old woman from a plane going to Tallahassee.  When they loaded her she was confused and sweaty, but found her seat quickly. I was thinking great it is now 6:30, lets fly.

I was thinking if Jake was with me he would say this truck is awesome, we need one for the feed yard.

The pilot then gets on the sound system to report we were over our weight limit and would need to off load some fuel.  I laughed out loud, followed by laughter from the other passengers.  But he wasn't joking.

We finally left around 7:30PM. I then got lost leaving the airport and was fortunate to circle through the airport twice looking for 576 west, because I live west of Pittsburgh. I now know you have to take 576 east and I still don't know why - but that's okay.  I feel accomplished because I faced another fear of traveling alone and have a funny story to tell.  Even better I was able to share a story of raising beef for beef lovers. It was a terrific adventure to Washington DC and a privilege to meet all of the personal chefs. Thank you for the opportunity!!

BYOB

Bring Your Own Beef

Is there anything better then good company and good beef? Have you ever invited your favorite people over to share an evening together and ask them to bring their favorite cut of beef and share in an evening of grilling and festivities.  

This is all locally grown beef.  Beef producers, can you identify your steak?

I am happy to report everyone enjoyed their beef . . .

Landon enjoyed his first burger.

Carter with a Ribeye steak and A1 dipping sauce.

There was a lot of concentrating chewing.

Jaelin likes to place her steak clear back near her chewing teeth.

The lesson after the smoke alarm . . .

I had to try to brown this meat on the stove top thing again. So I looked through the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook again and found this Comfort Meatball Recipe and here we go . . .

I knew it couldn't be that hard.  I think I need a new frying pan and I am still taking suggestions.

Here is the recipe for the Comfort Meatballs. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/bbq-meatballs-comfort-food-to-the-max/

cooking beef and the smoke alarm

I have stated this before.  This really is not a cooking blog at this point.

However, when I was teaching in Nebraska there was a boy named Seth.  He was forever talking about Chicken Fried Steak.  He would talk about cooking this dish with his Dad.  He said his Dad made the best Chicken Fried Steak. He asked if I made Chicken Fried Steak.  Which I didn't. I usually answered with no, go weld.  Every restaurant in Nebraska serves this dish, with mashed potatoes and gravy usually. If you ever find yourself in Central Nebraska, two of my favorite are the Green Apple in Cozad and Tub's Pub in Sumner.

 Fast forward a year and I received this book for a present from my sister-in-law, Katy.

In it are some awesome recipes.  I made restaurant quality onion straws.  When I saw the pictures of Chicken Fried Steak it reminded me of Seth and Nebraska. So, I decided to attempt this Chicken Fried Steak.  The recipe seemed simple, however I have never fried anything on the stove.  Usually I fry only in the deep fryer.

Well apparently the oil was too hot or I chose the wrong pan, and after the smoke alarm went off (that is right above my stove), I ditched that pan and successfully fried the rest of my steaks. I am taking on suggestions for a pan to buy to fry in.  I need to make this again to perfect it.  It was good, Jake loved it the first time and really enjoyed the leftovers. He said it was better the second time.  Of course that may be because the whole house didn't smell like burnt grease.

just like to share the imperfections of my life - because it's funny

The recipe and other great ones can be found here http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/02/chicken-fried-steak/