Northeast Butchers Compete for Grand Prize Title
The craft of butchery and meat cutting offers beef consumers choices.
Above: Contestants in the inaugural Best BEEF Butcher Contest are (From left) Sallie Miller, chairwoman of the Colorado Beef Council; Gale O’Neil of O’Neil’s Quality Foods in Cranberry, Pa.; Benjamin Shughart of North Mountain Butcher Shop in Newville, Pa.; Cole Dougherty of Profeta Farms in Hopewell, N.J.; Joseph Malafy of Malafy’s Meat Processing in Red Hook, N.Y.; Kara Schrader of Schrader Farms Meat Market in Romulus, N.Y.; J. Myron Stoltzfus of Stoltzfus Meats Inc. in Intercourse, Pa.; Matt LeClerc of Valley View Farm in Templeton, Mass.; and Stephen Boyer of The Country Butcher in Tolland, Conn. |
It isn’t every day one gets to watch butchers from the Northeast region charged with the task of breaking down a beef subprimal into salable cuts of beef to appeal to today’s beef consumers. On May 9, the 2019 Best BEEF Butcher Contest took place at the Penn State Meats Lab, right across the street from the iconic Beaver Stadium, home to the Penn State Nittany Lion football team in State College, Pa.
Scheduled during the 80th Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors (PAMP) conference, this contest showcased eight butcher contest finalists from all over the region, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
The event was the beneficiary of several generous donations from beef and meat industry organizations and companies.
The Best BEEF Butcher Contest was a first-time event designed to celebrate the skills, knowledge and value that independent butchers and meat processors bring to the overall beef supply chain. Without the passion and dedication to the craft of butchery and meat cutting, beef consumers wouldn’t have as many choices and options available to them regarding the availability of beef.
The contest emcee was Christopher Jeffcoat, Littlestown, Pa., chairman of the Pennsylvania Beef Council. Sallie Miller, Briggsdale, Colo., chairwoman of the Colorado Beef Council, served as the contest moderator.
The largest portions of the contestants’ scores were derived from the 30-minute cutting portion where they were asked to break down a beef shoulder clod subprimal, fabricating the beef value cuts such as the flat iron, ranch cut and petite tender. Contestants were judged on the following criteria:
- Accuracy — how accurately did they fabricate the desired beef value cuts?
- Technique — knife skills/efficiency of movement, safety technique, portioning, denuding and trimming.
- Visual appeal — how well did they visually merchandise, label and display their cuts for the consumer?
- Yield — how much yield did they achieve from fabricating these beef value cuts as compared to the subprimal starting weight?
- Consumer sales pitch — how well did the contestant deliver a concise, factual, appealing and persuasive sales pitch for the particular beef value cut? They were asked by the judges to sell to a hypothetical customer within a 2-minute time frame.
- Lastly, each contestant was asked to correctly identify a selection of 15 fresh beef cuts, which were geared towards testing their general knowledge of beef cuts from the entire beef carcass.
The contest was judged by three beef industry professionals: Bridget Bingham, Pennsylvania Beef Council executive director; Bridget Wasser, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association executive director of meat science; and Jonathan Campbell, Penn State University meat extension specialist.
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Joseph Malafy of Malafy’s Meat Processing in Red Hook, N.J., was the grand-prize winner of the Best BEEF Butcher Contest. |
All of the contestants were honored at the PAMP Awards Dinner May 11, at the Penn State Hotel and Conference Center. The top three winners were awarded a banner to display in their market, as well as a cash prize. Taking home the honorable mention third-place award was J. Myron Stoltzfus of Stoltzfus Meats Inc. of Intercourse, Pa. Kara Schrader of Schrader Farms Meat Market in Romulus, N.Y., took home the honors of runner-up. The grand-prize overall winner of the contest was Joseph Malafy of Malafy’s Meat Processing in Red Hook, N.Y.
After the contest, Joseph Malafy commented, “I just enjoy cutting meat, and I have fun doing it. The most fun part of the contest was when I picked up my knife. I enjoy making everything look presentable for the customer. I’ve been cutting meat for 35 years, ever since I was 18 years old.”
The event was the beneficiary of several generous donations from beef and meat industry organizations and companies. JBS of Souderton, Pa., donated the beef shoulder clod subprimals, Bunzl/Koch Supplies donated the contestant sharpening steels and cut-resistant cutting gloves; Phoenix Scales supplied a digital counter scale, which was showcased during the contest; and Walton’s donated the contestant boning knives and white frock. Prior to the contest, spectators, guests, judges and contestants were given a complimentary beef brisket lunch that was made possible thanks to donations from Citura and the Pennsylvania Beef Producers Working Group.
The event was sponsored by the Pennsylvania Beef Council and the Beef Checkoff’s Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative through a grant from the Colorado Beef Council. For more information about your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.
Editor’s note: This article is from the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion & Research Board.
