The biennial National Beef Cook-off opens today in Rapid City, South Dakota. At the three-day event, funded in part by the Beef Checkoff Program and sponsored by Albertson’s supermarkets, finalists compete in four categories for over $100,000 in prizes and a "Best of Beef" grand prize of $50,000. This event concludes a year-long process of selecting the top recipes, explains Dave Zino, director of the Beef and Veal Culinary Center.
Cut #1 :16 Outcue: "...the final twenty."
Zino said entries continue to be more sophisticated, and are utilizing more Beef Value Cuts – steaks developed through muscle-profiling research funded by the Beef Checkoff Program.
Cut #2 :19 Outcue: "...Beef Value Cuts."
Zino noted that the grand prize winner in 2003 featured a Flat Iron Steak, which may have inspired more contestants to discover and enter recipes featuring Beef Value Cuts.
Cut #3 :13 Outcue: "...this year’s event."
He added that consumers have more and more access to recipes and cooking instruction, and it is showing in the quality of the Beef Cook-off recipes.
Cut #4 :10 Outcue: "... out there today."
The national Beef Checkoff Program is administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, a group of 108 beef producers appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture. They represent producers from coast-to-coast and volunteer their time to help identify programs that can help increase beef demand. The checkoff was created in the 1985 Farm Bill, with oversight provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle and a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.