Beef Poke Makes Debut at TASTE!
Beef was a hot commodity at the 2018 TASTE! Lancaster Festival of Food, Wine & Spirits. Held at the Lancaster Convention Center on November 16th and 17th — the area’s premier food festival welcomed nearly 8,000 guests who enjoy the pleasures of eating and entertaining with food.
The Beef Checkoff highlighted beef’s versatility and flavor profile to the crowds as they passed through the festival space. Chef Barry Strand from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, was on-site to demonstrate the new culinary craze of Beef Poke (or Poké), sharing nearly 1,600 samples of this tangy, trendy recipe to the millennial and foodie crowd. Poke is a native Hawaiian dish traditionally crafted with diced raw fish and served as either an appetizer or main course.
“We wanted to highlight this dish for two reasons,” Chef Barry explained. “According to Whole Foods Market Top 10 Trends of 2019, flavors of Hawaii and the Pacific Rim will be huge in 2019. This recipe capitalizes on the trend of poke using flavors from beef Ribeye Filet, instead of the traditional raw fish. Also, Ribeye Filet is a cut that not many people have tried before. You can ask your butcher to break this down for you, or you can get more hands-on and fabricate this cut yourself. There are cutting videos available on BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com.”
Along with a weekend of culinary demos, Chef Barry also showcased a step-by-step breakdown of the beef Ribeye subprimal, demonstrating how cost effective this can be if done at home. Attendees were fascinated by the cutting demo and watched in amazement as Chef Barry talked through the best technique to freeze beef at home as well.
“Buying beef in bulk and learning the proper steps to freezing beef in smaller potions is a great option for feeding your family on a budget,” comments Jennifer Orr, director of nutrition education with the Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative, a subcontractor to the Beef Checkoff.
New to the beef booth was a Recipe Inspiration Kiosk. This digital experience allowed consumers to learn more about beef fabrication, view checkoff-promoted videos, enter to win the Beef and Wine Entertaining Basket — and even share recipes with themselves from BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com. Of those entering the survey at the kiosk, 84 percent stated they have a positive opinion of beef.
Overall, the checkoff was glad to be involved in this local foodie event, educating consumers on the many benefits of beef from its versatility, economical capabilities and delicious flavor profile. The checkoff is thankful to JBS Souderton for helping to make this event a success through the generous donation of beef subprimals for the cutting demonstration and Ribeye Filets for sampling.
The event was sponsored by the Beef Checkoff’s Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative, along with the Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Iowa State Beef Councils. For more information about upcoming NEBPI events, visit the NEBPI website and Facebook page.
Internal links within this document are funded and maintained by the Beef Checkoff. All other outgoing links are to websites maintained by third parties.
The Beef Checkoff program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States may retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
