MARKET NEWS October 5, 2017 CHEESE TRENDS Sequatchie Cove Creamery My Personal Favorites SPECIALTY INSIGHTS FUTURAMA (pt.2) The good, the bad and the ugly of our advancement in the food and beverage industry FROM OUR CUT SHOPS Beef Market Update Strips on the decline Re-Run: The Brisket The new player in NC BBQ Fish Market Update New Faroe Island Salmon, and a big week for local species Fresh Spotlight North Carolina Fresh Shrimp
BEEF MARKET NEWS 10.5.17 Greensboro, NC 336.545.3800 www.southernfoods.com
Beef Market News MARKET UPDATE Tenderloins: Increasing Ribeyes: Increasing Strips: Decreasing Ground Beef: Steady to Increasing HIGHLIGHT: THE BRISKET There s nothing like the flavor in a well-marbled and properly cooked CAB Brisket. As I travel the Carolinas, I m in awe of how timelessly popular and essential pork barbeque is to the cuisine of the Southeast. I m also in awe of how every city, small and large, is exploding with new neighborhoods, restaurants and chefs from all over bringing national and global influence to the Southeast. It s this outside perspective on barbeque that is creating a curiosity among chefs and increased demand from customers. Is it time to go beyond the hog and expand the legacy of Carolina que to cuts like smoked beef brisket? Many Carolina chefs think so. To understand the power of well marbled, precisely cooked brisket, just google Franklin Barbecue in Austin Texas. Patrons stand in line starting as early as 5 am to get a shot at this succulent brisket. Franklin Barbeque is a world famous smoked meat destination. To incorporate brisket in your BBQ repertoire, start by understanding what makes brisket so tricky to cook. The brisket is essentially two parts: The Flat has more meat, The Deckle or Point has more fat. In a perfect world, I might prefer a deckle-only smoked brisket, but that is just not economical. A deckle-on brisket will shrink by nearly 50% during a normal cook, and a majority of this loss comes from the deckle. Most BBQ joints prefer deckle-off to increase yield and this is where the way you cook is as important as what you are cooking. Technique is what will set yours apart. But I warn you, patience and discipline are essential to prevent a dry, flavorless result that could resemble pot roast more than barbeque. Brisket, Deckle Off Brisket, Flat Cut Brisket, Point Cut
When it comes to cooking brisket, everyone has an opinion and rightfully so. Every smoker, every oven, every rub and every brisket is different and there may not be another product in the culinary world that s as reactive to every nuance of these differences. The trick is to get to know your smoker or oven and then practice.alot. It is all about the perfect balance of time and temperature. The BBQ circuits are seeing more and more pre- and post-cook injections, and the amount of salt and sugar in a rub can help or hurt depending on the ratio. Interestingly, Franklin Barbeque does neither, they simply season very generously with course salt and black pepper and smoke overnight on very low, direct heat. Once you have mastered the perfect brisket cook, the next potential pitfall is slicing the brisket. In most Texas or KC BBQ joints you will be given a choice of lean or rich (fatty). If you wish to serve separately, you can just cut the brisket in half after a very long rest. If slicing the whole brisket at once, cut against the grain from the point first, then reposition your knife so that you cut against the grain of the flat. Photo courtesy of Kamado Guru Photo courtesy of Chowhound The bottom line is beef brisket has a place in Southeastern barbeque, and the complexity should not intimidate you. It can be a great menu performer highlighting your cuisine and your craft and be very profitable when a plan and a process is created to ensure success. If you want to get started, ask your account manager about our whole CAB beef briskets. Deckle-off Item #10052580 5/12# avg. and 10050429 1/12# avg. Beef market news provided by: Chris Casey CAB /Protein Specialist ccasey@southernfoods.com
SEAFOOD MARKET NEWS 10.5.17 Greensboro, NC 336.545.3800 www.southernfoods.com
Seafood Market News The weather is finally cooperating with our fishermen along the coast - this is the best availability of locally caught species we have seen in the last 2 months! We are mixing it up this week with local Triggerfish, Wahoo, Red & Black Drum, Bluefish, Cobia & Flounder. The deck is stacked with fresh Carolina species, so support your local Fishermen! GROUPER (Mexican) Supply is good with plenty of big fish landed from the Gulf of Mexico. Pricing is steady. ALASKAN HALIBUT Alaskan Halibut looks great and pricing remains steady. Whole fish are running 10-20lbs each and fillets are 2-4lbs each. It s a great menu option until the fishery closes in November. BRONZINI We are now offering a new cut for bronzini - a tail-on butterfly fillet. TUNA Yellowfin Fresh Tuna is looking good this week, both 2+ and 2G fish are both down in price. SCALLOPS Fresh North Atlantic Dry Pack Scallops look great in supply and will be a great buy for the immediate future. Expect U-10 s to soften in price and 10-20 s to remain steady. This will be a great item to have on your fall and winter menus. OYSTERS Jarrett Bays are back in and look great! Check out this video of their farm and see what separates them from other oyster companies. SALMON Faroe Islands Salmon is now in stock. I would rank this salmon in between our Canadian and Wester Ross products. It has high fat content, rich buttery flavor and a firm flake. #10069982 Faroe Salmon Whole #10049153 Faroe Salmon Fillet Skin-On NC CATCH Our fresh NC crab is all Pamilco Sound caught and NC picked. The season will run until Thanksgiving and pricing will be steady until then. It s a great time of year to add crab cakes to the menu! #10064410 Crabmeat Jumbo Lump Fresh #10064407 Crabmeat Lump Fresh #10054498 Crabmeat Claw Fresh Local Spotlight: Fresh NC Shrimp We re finally seeing some consistent supply on fresh NC-caught shrimp. There is plenty of product in this week, and with the weather forecast we expect a steady supply going forward. All of our NC shrimp is caught in the Pamlico Sound and all-natural. Seafood market news provided by: Dave Forcinito Fishmonger dforcinito@southernfoods.com
ARTISANAL CHEESE TRENDS 10.5.17 Greensboro, NC 336.545.3800 www.southernfoods.com
Artisanal Cheese Trends SEQUATCHIE COVE CREAMERY Our favorite farmstead blue from Tennessee is back! The Sequatchie River valley is long, narrow, and it stretches from Eastern Tennessee into Alabama running through the Cumberland Platau of the Application mountains. It has been said that sequatchie is Cherokee for Possum or place with many possum. Among the possum is Sequatchie Cove Farm, a 300 acre third generation diversified farm 35 miles north of Chattanooga where heirloom pork, poultry, and Jersey dairy cows are raised along with a host of colorful vegatables throughout the year. Sequatchie Cove Farm Nathan and Padget Arnold started the farm s creamery in 2010 and began making cheeses inspired by visits to Savoie France. They produce raw milk cheeses made only with milk from cows as they graze fresh grasses and wildflowers on the farm. Theses cheeeses have gained notieriaty over the last few years for being at least as good as their French counterparts thanks to the Arnold s highly skilled cheesemaking. Also, they are considered to be very special because they are farmstead. The flavors of these cheeses reflect a very specific taste of place. Today, good farmstead cheese is getting harder to find. Probably the biggest news in the world of southern cheese right now as we head into fall, is that after many months of aging Shakerag Blue is finally ready and on the way! Shakerag blue is named after a hollow in the area known for having an abundance of beautiful wildflowers as well having been a popular spot for distilling moonshine during prohibition. Inspired by the moonshining, these densely packed blue veined cheeses are wrapped and aged in fig leaves and soaked in the same Chatanooga whiskey that has been distilled in the area since well before prohibition. Shakerag is rich and complex with undertones of dark chocolate and savory bacon, enhanced with bright notes of tropical fruit and salt that will light up your taste buds. Shakerag in all of its whiskey soaked fig leaf-wrapped glory! Artisanal cheese trends provided by: Sasha Shreders, ACS CCP Cheesemonger sshreders@southernfoods.com
LOCAL & SPECIALTY INSIGHTS 10.5.17 Greensboro, NC 336.545.3800 www.southernfoods.com
Local & Specialty Insights FUTURAMA Reflecting on Part 1 ( Farming ) and some of the topics I did not discuss such as meat grown in labs, drinkable, flavorless nutrition and everything GMO, I m more aware of what can be lost as we navigate the positive and negatives of food technology. I thought of all of the producers I work with from Randy Lewis at Ran-Lew Dairy to the Farmers from the North Carolina Natural Hog Growers Association and realize even the most efficient processes and the highest profits will never replace the romance that we as a species find in food and eating. Pt. 2 COOKING My earliest memory of being totally blown away was when I first heard of a fella named Homaro Cantu from a restaurant titled MOTO in Chicago circa 2004. Chef Cantu was the creator of the Edible Menu. You can make an ink-jet printer do just about anything, and he did. Once the items are printed using a modified inkjet printer with soy based fruit and vegetable extract they are dipped into a powder made of soy sauce, sugar and vegetables before then being further processed by frying, freezing, or baking them. Then came a young alumni from the French Laundry to a restaurant titled Trio in the outskirts of Chi-town with a black truffle explosion. Grant Achatz was my hero! This is where mainstream modern cuisine was born. Soon I was eating Cold Fried Chicken and Everything Bagel Ice Cream with Smoked Salmon Furikaki from Wylie Dufresne and reading the book Natura from Albert Adria at the International Chef s Congress. I was certain that as chefs we had gone down a path in which there was no return. Escoffier was dead. And then everything changed..again. A return to the Artisan Real Bakeries started popping up, not making aerated microwave brioche but using real mother starters, old ones with very very good bread, then came charcuterie and everything cured, then pickling and now fermenting. Is the future of food the past? Not so fast. The weather is finally getting cooler and the debate in kitchens everywhere is should we old-school braise or sous vide these short ribs? Chefs are torn on the future of food. Purists are betting that simple cuisine is here to stay and bistros, cafes and butcher shops are popping up everywhere. Some however are pushing hard on the envelope to advance not only the flavor and form but the emotion of food.
Local & Specialty Insights 3-D Printing There has been an obsession over using 3-D printing in kitchens since Cantu made the first edible menu. At Food Ink, the main draw isn t even the food, but the way in which it s made. You see, everything at this London concept restaurant is 3-D printed. From the dishes to the dishes upon which they sit, you re eating at the throne of technology. For now this technology is nothing more than an automated pastry bag using food paste to design and build on each plate, but soon there will be cheeseburgers. Think about that... 3-D printed cheeseburgers via vending machine with 100% GMO ingredients and beef grown in a lab. Are we cool with this? Lasers, Centrifuges and Smart Ovens Some tech seems to be quality driven and not just a way to decrease human error and gain efficiencies. I for one always roasted meat in an oven, then there was the cook and hold, then the C-Vap and now the Smart Oven. Humidity control, directional air flow settings, variable time and temperature setting, knobs and buttons everywhere and it all connects to your smart phone. I though for sure chefs would buck this new tech, but from what I am seeing chefs are embracing Smart Ovens. Away with the old butane torch for Crème Brule and enter the Kitchen Laser. Super focused light beams that allow for food etching, caramelization and even carbonization with extreme precision. A welder s mask is now an essential tool in your knife roll. Centrifuges may be one of the craziest looking but most relevant technologies of all that I have discussed. In many foods, the high-speed spin concentrates the flavor molecules in a powerfully aromatic liquid layer that is ideal for cooking. A chef might use just the water and oil from a centrifuged tomato puree, for example, to make a consommé that has a brilliantly strong tomato flavor yet is perfectly clear. Every time I see a centrifuge I remember standing over a 50lb batch of veal stock to depouillage as a young cook. Remember that word? I didn t... thank you google! The Verdict So what is the future of food? Nobody knows. I am certain that we will see 3-D printed food vending machines and it is likely that we will order from touch screans instead of wait staff, but as chefs our future in not certain. It never has been. That is what I love about being a chef. I can still go reminisce with some of you about the horrible treatment we received as comis and the buckets of Pommes Champignons that we had to cut everyday with a worn out whisk handle, and with others I can enter your lab to see fermenting peppercorns and purple pizza dough. For Chefs the future of food will always be in our respect for those before us and our admiration of those ahead of us. Local & specialty updates provided by: Bobby Zimmerman Southern Foods Brand Manager bzimmerman@southernfoods.com